Tag: overpriced

Header image for a review of the Dame Arc vibrator

[Toy Review] Dame Arc Silicone G-Spot Vibrator

Published on by Amy

Sometimes, I unbox a toy and within two minutes I know exactly what my review is likely to say. I’ll sometimes be proven wrong in the course of the testing process but, well, I’ve been at this job a while now. More often than not, my first impressions are bang on. I opened up the Dame Arc Silicone G-Spot Vibrator and very quickly ascertained that my review was most likely going to say, “great shape, shit vibrations.”

Reader, I was not wrong.

Dame Arc: Details

The Dame Arc is a curved silicone vibrator with a ridged bulb tip, designed for G-spot stimulation. It is 7.5″ in total length and 4.5″ insertable. It’s waterproof, USB rechargeable via the included cable, and has a travel lock function.

The Dame Arc silicone G-spot vibrator

I hate this toy’s outer packaging! It comes in a white, pink and blue box with a line illustration of the toy, and frankly the aesthetic makes me think of a medical device. Not sexy. Unless that’s your kink, I guess.

The Dame Arc vibrator's external packaging. Picture by Lovehoney.

When you remove the outer sleeve, you find a plain pink box the same colour as the vibrator.

The Dame Arc comes in several colours including pink, purple, and ice blue. It comes with a drawstring storage pouch featuring the Dame Products logo. It is made of body-safe silicone, which is super soft and nice to handle. The toy’s body is rigid and it has very little “squish.”

Dame Arc Review: Great Shape

The shape of this toy is fantastic! It curves in exactly the right way to get that delicious come-hither motion against my G-spot, and the bulbed head is firm but not too hard.

The Dame Arc silicone G-spot vibrator

It’s comfortable to hold and easy to manipulate, with an ergonomic handle shape. The buttons are also sensibly placed on the underside of the curve (so they point upwards when the toy is inserted) and the controls are intuitive. There’s one on/off button that is also used to cycle between the 5 patterns, and up/down controls to control the 5 levels of intensity.

Dame Arc Review: Shit Vibrations

The Dame Arc’s vibrations are pretty pathetic.

Since I’m much more of a clitoral than a G-spot gal when it comes to vibrations, I decided to test this toy on my clit as well as internally. My clit was halfway to numb before I got anything approaching an orgasm out of it.

Obviously not everyone is into the kind of high-powered vibrations that I’m into, but in my anecdotal experience the overwhelming majority of people with vulvas would take stronger and rumblier vibrations over this weak, buzzy offering.

What I’m saying is: if you like gentle vibrations, sure, get this toy. (Except don’t because it’s a hundred fucking quid and a $25 equivalent will do the same thing.)

Verdict

Meh.

I’ll definitely be using this toy again, but I’ll leave it switched off and use it as a G-spot dildo. I highly doubt I’ll ever reach for it again for the vibrations.

The Dame Arc is also too expensive for what it is. You can get an excellent curved G-spot dildo for less than half the price, and the Queen of G-spot toys for only £30 more. There are both better and cheaper vibrators out there.

So yeah. I called it. Great shape, shit vibrations.

You can buy the Arc from retailers such as Good Vibes and Babeland, where it retails for $99.

Thanks to Lovehoney for sending me the Dame Arc to review. All views, as always, my own. Affiliate links appear in this post.

Header image for a review of the Pink B.O.B Allure Wand

[Toy Review] BOB Pink Allure Wand

Published on by Amy

Regular readers will know by now that I love wand vibrators. I’m pretty much obsessed with them. No other toys hit the spot for me in quite the same way. So I was pretty excited when Too Timid toys offered me their Allure Wand vibrator to review.

When I first received this toy and wrote the review, this toy was named the BOB Allure Wand. BOB stands for (wait for it) “battery operated boyfriend.” To which, I just… no. nope. Absolutely the fuck not.

Say it with me: toys are not boyfriends! Toys are not replacements for partners! Sex toys and partners occupy completely different spaces and functions in a person’s life! Mercifully, several years later, this godforsaken stupid name seems to have been ditched and now it’s just the “Allure Wand.” Much better.

Too Timid Toys Allure Wand Review: Details

My first impression of the Too Timid Allure Wand when I took it out of the packaging is that it’s really, really light. Ridiculously light for its size, really. This could be a really significant plus for those who find the heavier models too cumbersome.

TooTimid Allure Wand, a pink plastic wand vibrator with 3 buttons, a silicone head, and a white power cable
Image: TooTimid

The Allure Wand is mains powered and the cord is a massive 9ft long. The toy itself is about 12″ long and the classic wand shape. It boasts 20 different speeds and pattern settings.

Sadly, the epic array of settings, long cord, and light weight are about all the positive things I can say about this wand. In use, I found it… mediocre and forgettable, if I’m being generous.

The head has a silicone cap, which is body-safe. (It’s definitely silicone, it passed the flame test.) It’s a really weird silicone, though. It feels what I can only describe as rough and grainy. Under the silicone cap are foam inserts, for some reason. I suspect this is a money-saving technique but the overall effect is of the product being cheap and low-quality, not to mention unsanitary. Those inserts are bacteria traps from hell, seriously. The body is ABS plastic.

As of 2025, the Allure Wand retails for $99.95 at TooTimid. At around $20 more expensive than the iconic Magic Wand Original, this is ludicrously expensive for such a low quality product.

Too Timid Wand Review: In Use

I can juuuuuuust about get off with the Allure Wand if I crank it up to the top setting, but it’s not a toy I find enjoyable or pleasurable to use. The vibrations are reasonably strong but they’re also very buzzy. After a while, my vulva and clit felt semi-numb and tingly. It took me about 40 minutes to orgasm with it, which is a pretty poor show for a wand vibe (the good ones can get me off in two on a good day.)

Since I feel like I need to find something positive to say in my first Too Timid review, the Allure Wand’s buttons are intuitively placed, press easily, and make a nice satisfying “click”. The flexible neck is really annoying to me because I like to be able to press a toy hard against my body, but for others it might be a nice touch. This is purely a matter of preference.

The noise level is reasonable. However, I did notice that the head got a little warm after about 30 minutes of continuous use, so you might want to bear this in mind if you like to use your wands for lengthy sessions.

Too Timid Allure Wand: Verdict

Overall, I’m incredibly unimpressed. This toy is poorly made, poor quality, and hilariously overpriced. It feels like it’s about to either fall apart or catch fire any second. Safe to say it did not rock my world.

Looking for a great wand vibrator? The We-Vibe Wand 2, Lovense Domi 2, or anything by Doxy are great choices.

Thanks to Too Timid for sponsoring this review! All views are, and will always be, my own.

Header image for the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee review

[Toy Review] Hot Octopuss Queen Bee

Published on by Amy1 Comment

Update 01/03/2021: The Hot Octopuss Queen Bee vibrator is no longer available and has been replaced by the massively improved Pulse Queen. I normally remove obsolete reviews but I’ve left this one up because I think it provides important context on how Hot Octopuss’s vulva toys have evolved.

What is the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee?

I’ve been wanting to try the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee ever since I saw the prototype at Eroticon. With the Queen Bee, HO has created a toy for vulvas using the same “PulsePlate” technology as their revolutionary Pulse toys for penis-owners.

In HO’s own words: “Unlike conventional sex toys, the Queen Bee uses a ‘piston’-type mechanism in order to generate extremely deep and rumbly oscillations.” Basically, the Queen Bee is not strictly a vibrator. It oscillates rather than vibrates.

The Queen Bee is a dark steely grey and looks a bit like a weird, futuristic hairbrush. It’s not a beautiful or even a pretty toy. Its vibe screams “I mean business and I am not here to be decorative.”

Hot Octopuss Queen Bee hairbrush-shaped sex toy with the official packaging
Image: Hot Octopuss

It is made of TPE, which is usually a porous material. However, Hot Octopuss uses medical-grade, non-porous TPE that can be thoroughly sanitised. When I asked my contact about this, they provided a thorough and informative info sheet. This transparency, combined with Dangerous Lilly’s endorsement, gives me enough confidence to say that this toy is made of a body-safe material.

Hot Octopuss Queen Bee Oscillating Vibrator: What I Liked

As a lover of broad and rumbly clitoral stimulation, I was pretty excited to try out the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee. Before I delve into all my issues with this product, let’s look at the things I did like.

  • It’s new and innovative. In an industry where stolen designs, knock-offs and fakes are a constant issue, it is refreshing to see genuine innovation.
  • I find the Queen Bee’s controls reasonably easy and intuitive to use. It has 4 buttons: On/Off, pattern change, speed up and speed down. They’re easy to press and I found it easy to change the setting mid-use without breaking my flow.
  • It has six different settings (constant oscillations and five different patterns) as well as multiple speed options to choose from.
  • It’s very rumbly, especially on the lower speeds.
  • It’s fully waterproof.

Perhaps most importantly, the Queen Bee can get me off (though I need the highest setting to get there, and it’s a slow process.)

What I Didn’t Like

Hot Octopuss Queen Bee with button panel on back showing
Image: Hot Octopuss

Unfortunately, despite its cool tech and innovative design, this is where things started to go sideways with the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee oscillating vibrator. Here are all the things I didn’t like about it:

  • The oscillations almost completely stop when I press it firmly against my vulva. The sensation was much stronger and more satisfying when I held it very lightly. That’s a pretty big problem if you like pressure or being able to push against a toy in use!
  • It has a huge seam where the oscillating plate joins the rest of the toy. Fluids and bacteria could easily get trapped here, leading me to seriously question this product’s hygiene over time.
  • The material isn’t very smooth and has a very grabby texture.
  • It’s advertised as having a “gentle warm up massage” sensation if you use the back of the toy (opposite the PulsePlate) but unless you have an unusually sensitive clit you probably won’t feel anything. Pitching this as a “feature” is a stretch at best.
  • My God this thing is loud! I don’t really need discretion in my toy use, but certain types and volumes of noise tend to sensorily overwhelm me. And seriously, this fucker is enragingly loud. If you’re easily distracted by noise, skip it. If you live with other people and need a discreet toy, skip it.
  • A full charge takes four hours and only gives around an hour of runtime.

Hot Octopuss Queen Bee: Verdict

Meh? I was hoping for more from this, given the amazing reviews of HO’s toys for penises. Though I didn’t hate the Queen Bee as much as some reviewers, I certainly didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. I expect I’ll use it occasionally when I’m in a very specific mood but it’s unlikely to be a regular go-to.

Skip this one if you don’t love very broad stimulation, if you need pressure, or if you want a quieter toy.

Thank you to Hot Octopuss for sending me the Queen Bee oscillating vibrator in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.