Review: Red Jasper Yoni Egg

I've swooned over the South African retailer Yoni Eggs for ages now, and I was fortunate enough to be gifted with one from the founder in exchange for an honest review. Long story short, I love my egg and think that everyone should try one at some point, even if they already have a kegel exerciser.

Firstly, Juliet is a lovely person that was so kind as to allow me to collect my egg directly from her. We ended up having a long chat, and her commitment to personal wellness and the belief she has in her products was sincere and quite inspirational. She gave me the egg I had selected; a medium red jasper with a starburst pattern on it. Each egg comes in a little organza bag with a Yoni Eggs branded card attached. The organza bag sits inside a padded silky drawstring pouch for a little extra security, and the whole package is rounded off with some unflavoured dental floss for threading and a loose mascara wand for cleaning.

Basically, the presentation is gorgeous, and the products themselves are beautiful. I immediately fell in love with mine despite having been a little ambivalent about the stone itself initially. I'm a fairly gentle person; I like soft colours and the rose quartz stone would have been my first impulse based on appearance alone. Nevertheless, if you're getting a Yoni Egg, you might as well explore what they are meant to stand for. I decided to choose a powerful stone that has connotations of focus, determination, and strength to try balance out my personality. You can check out the significance of all the different stones on the website, but ultimately the choice is up to you.

But what does all this talk about the 'connotations' of a bit of rock mean anyway? For those that aren't into 'esoteric' stuff, here's a brief introduction: in the field of natural healing, crystals are seen as living 'beings' whose unique structures conduct electrical charges that assist with the transferral/transformation of energy. Human cells respond to this energy in ways that can be used for physical and psychological healing. This is how I understand the theory anyway; but feel free to do your own research. It's a little far-out and not for everyone, so if your logic-brain dismisses it all as rubbish, crystal therapy might not be for you. You can't deny that they are very pretty though, and hey, there's no harm in trying a more organic version of a pelvic floor trainer even if you dismiss everything else as silly.

The first thing you're advised to do is cleanse your egg in warm salt water and tea-tree oil overnight. This helps to rid the egg of bacteria in a natural way that doesn't mess with the 'energetic' properties of the stone. You cannot use boiling water to sanitise your stone, because the temperature change can cause your beautiful Yoni Egg to crack! Stick to a maximum temperature of 60˚C, which Google has told me is comfortable enough to put your hand into without risking a scalding. After a good soaking, your egg is ready to use! You thread a length of floss through the drilled tip of the egg, knot it off, insert gently and go about your day until you get tired. Then you remove the egg by gently tugging on the floss (which is discarded after every use), give it a clean using a spot of mild soap and the mascara wand for the drilled hole, and store it in its pouch.

This is the theory. It will work your pelvic floor in the same way that any pelvic trainer will, and if that's all you want, that's awesome. But it's not the same as yoni egg practise, which is an active and involved series of exercises that focus on developing dexterity and control of the pelvic floor, rather than just the ability to hold a weight inside your body. You can go online to look for examples of the kind of exercises I'm talking about, and some are listed on the Yoni Eggs page itself, but my favourite for developing crazy control is one where you take turns flexing the three layers of vaginal muscles in an attempt to move the egg upwards towards the cervix. Then you reverse the order to try move the egg downwards. This is super difficult for me, and requires a lot of focus, but it does make me aware of how my body really isn't used to this kind of conscious exercise. It really helps me gauge where my personal weaknesses lie, and definitely provides motivation for me to continue practise with the egg.

Another weakness in my personal physical conditioning is my inability to relax my pelvic floor and take a proper break. I tend to do all my exercises quickly, without focusing enough attention on the releasing aspect of the practise. This might not seem like a problem, because many of us have internalised the idea that a 'tighter' vagina is 'better,' and that it is important to work out the pelvic floor in order to develop that tightness. Actually, while there are definitely benefits with having a strong pelvic floor, it's actually more detrimental to have muscles that are too tight rather than too loose. If you can't relax your pelvic floor, you may struggle with penetration, experience generalised pain, and have trouble emptying your bladder. Basically, you need to balance each rep of pelvic exercise with relaxing completely, which is also supposed to help with 'melting' into orgasm when that pelvic floor is put to work in a sexual situation. This relaxation is definitely something I need to work on. As I type, I'm still feeling a little sore after forgetting I was using my yoni egg and wearing it for about thirty hours; even after doing my exercises. It's another lesson in the importance of giving your body a break, focusing on developing that dexterity rather than just endurance.

[edit: while some practitioners endorse unfocused yoni egg practise for hours on end, Juliet believes that it is better to just have a few minutes of intentional, mindful exercise. She advises that unfocused, just-going-about-your-day Yoni Egg use be limited to two hours, to allow your muscles to recover. But it's up to you!]

All in all, I love my Yoni Egg, and I'm so happy I chose the stone I did. While I haven't experienced a Wonder Woman-esque rush of empowering feelings, it's a gorgeous functional object and I was so happy to receive something with such beautiful spiritual and historical significance. Also, I highly recommend the service of the company as well -- Juliet runs her business according to strict ethics which I experienced first-hand. After getting home, I discovered my egg had a tiny hairline crack in it. Because the crack looked like part of the natural patterning of the stone, it flew under the radar of Juliet's quality control checks as well. She offered to replace the product for me, despite it still being completely functional. Now that's service.

If you'd like to purchase a Yoni Egg, order through their website! Otherwise, check them out on social media to learn more.

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ENDED: Win a R500 voucher with Faithful to Nature!

Oh Glow is really into ethical products, especially when they come from a local source. This is why we approached arguably the largest South African online retailer of all things organic, natural, and eco-friendly to help us explore some cool sustainable products, and we are so excited that they agreed to work with us. Faithful to Nature is a wellness company that stocks pretty much everything you'd possibly need to be as fabulous on the inside as you are on the outside -- and they deliver straight to your door. Want delicious, healthy food? Eco-friendly cleaning products? Vegan anything? Faithful to Nature has it all. They even stock some of our favourite sexual health brands, Yoni Eggs and Organic Machine!

We are super happy to have the opportunity to share a little of the Faithful love with our South African readers, in the form of a glorious R500 gift voucher to spend on the healthy goodies of your choice. I know! We're excited too!

You can enter our competition using the Gleam widget below. The winner will be chosen at random and announced two weeks from now. Each social media share gets you additional entries, and don't worry -- we're not stealing your personal information when we ask for your date of birth, we're just making sure everyone who enters is over eighteen.

Thanks again to Faithful to Nature for the lovely prize, and good luck to all!

Faithful to Nature R500 Gift Voucher Giveaway!

This competition has ended. Congratulations to the lucky winner!

Review: Trashcat Pentagram Cage Bra

 

TrashCat is a fairly new lingerie company that focuses on custom items like garters, decorative collars/chokers, and yes, cage bras. The entire range of stock is beautiful and worth sighing over, but I've been wanting a pentagram-shaped cage bra for simply ages. Everybody likes fancy strappy undies, or so it seems -- unnecessary bungee-cords are in these days, and lingerie that extends to your clavicles is very haute. I spent far too long drooling over all the babes on the internet who manage to look gloriously chic despite being a single ungainly dance-move away from disaster, and when I saw that TrashCat is both local and entirely handmade, I was super excited. Oh Glow is still a small, South African blog, so we love small, South African manufacturers and retailers. This review is for an item of my own purchase, but, as always, my reviews are entirely unbiased.

Firstly, TrashCat is an entirely Facebook-based brand. You send a private message with the code corresponding to the item of your choice along with your contact details, receive an invoice, and pay via EFT. The courier costs R99 extra, and I must say, the service you get is really fab. You can tell that the seller really wants her customers to have a personalised experience, and she is a delight to deal with. Justine gives regular updates on the status of the postage, is prompt with the waybill number and generally provides a lovely customer experience.

The product itself was labelled discreetly on the outer courier envelope, and was packaged in a cute little brown box that was closed with a ribbon. It's an understated prettiness that is neat and simple, and I kind of loved the minimalist touch of fancy. Inside was the cage bra in all its strappy glory, and as I lifted it out of its nest of tissue paper, I wondered if I'd need assistance. At first, it just looks like a mess of elastics -- not tangled, just difficult to figure out. Once I worked out that there were two hook-and-eye clasps on the back, things became a little clearer. But in my excitement, I still managed to get it a little twisted on my first try. What is the right side on even? Well, clearly not the way that has the decorative grommets facing outwards. That would just be silly.

Initially, I was a little ambivalent about the embellishments. I quite like simplicity in my dress sense, and the inverted pentagram is fashion statement enough. Despite this, they really grew on me and still have a minimalist appeal despite not being strictly necessary. TrashCat's attention to detail really impressed me -- if I had to make my own cage bra, I wouldn't have bothered with all the bother of clasps, grommets, and actual bra straps. I would have just popped of to the fabric store, spent an hour wrestling with elastic, and then scrapped it all in sartorial defeat. But this is pretty quality stuff, with adjustable shoulder-straps and a couple of hook-and-eye closure points to provide a little extra adjustable leeway. I did find that the two bands that circle my ribcage were a little tight at first, creating a little bit of splooge where it made contact with my squish, even on the loosest clasp. However, I know the elastics will stretch with time, and it's not an uncomfortable tightness so I actually prefer this to a larger band size. Also, the red marks created by the elastic makes me feel like I've been lightly branded by the dark forces, and I find this hilarious.

During wear, the bra is comfortable once you've arranged the straps in a way that suits you. Initially, I found the topmost band dug into the pudge created when my arms fall by my sides, but all you need to do is keep that band high enough when putting it on. I also found the clasps a little itchy -- I can't quite figure out what's rubbing me, but normally try to arrange the lower band clasp so that it sits on my bra band. None of those little details bothered me, but I did have to add some stitching to the left shoulder strap -- the loop which allows the hook of the bra strap to connect was a little loose and the strap kept escaping. About thirty seconds of DIY and it hasn't bothered me further -- I'm pretty sure it was an oversight anyway.

Despite these little niggles, I love wearing this lingerie item and have incorporated it into my wardrobe effortlessly. Unexpectedly, it also provides a shocking amount of support. Yeah, it has no cups so you'd probably want to wear it with a regular bra (depending on your preferences), but the elasticated pentagram effectively creates a sort of safety-net over your bust. This reduces bounce dramatically. I want all sports bras to incorporate a pentagram chest-net. Pentagrams will revolutionise jogging and impact sports. I tested this theory out by taking my cage bra for a night on the town, dancing up a storm and never feeling the slightest jiggle. Pentagrams. Who knew.

 Overall, I wholly recommend this particular TrashCat cage bra, although there are many other fabulous styles to choose from. Check out the whole range at the link below!

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Review: Organic Machine Love Butter

We've spoken about Joburg-based beauty and sensual product manufacturer Organic Machine before, but this time we're providing an honest review of their fragrant massage oil, Love Butter. If the jar looks a bit empty in these photos, it's because it is. I've almost finished it all; which shows how much I enjoyed this product.

Firstly, let's talk about the good stuff, by which I mean literally everything inside this massage oil. Organic Machine bases its brand on ethical beauty and sensual products, and this is no exception. Love Butter is made with unrefined Shea butter, cacao butter, and a blend of essential oils from primarily organic sources. These extracts are namely rosehip, jojoba, patchouli, ylang-ylang, rose geranium, mandarin, grapefruit, vanilla, neroli, cinnamon, black pepper, peppermint and vitamin E oils all selected for their aphrodisiac and enriching qualities. It's a long list of quality ingredients that makes up this handmade product. Organic Machine is a small business that focuses on individual attention to their customers, and Megan clearly goes the extra mile to make her clients feel special. We got handwritten notes from her with our review pack, along with special little slips of paper inviting us to write an affirmation and stick it up somewhere visible as a reminder. It's actually quite charming. While there are defintiely perks to mainstream manufacturers, nothing can beat small-time businesses for the personal touch.

And the packaging! Oh, the fabulous hand-embellished packaging. We previously reviewed samples of Glide, Peak, and Lickable, and I'm glad that we did get a chance to check out one full-size product because so much care has gone into accessorising the retail tubs. I love the attention to detail on the label and the hand-stuck lacy pattern on the rim of the lid. However, it's not all about how it looks -- we want to know the product works as well.

The first thing that struck me was the scent. Love Butter really comes on strong, whacking you right in the nose with its blend of aphrodisiac oils. The overall notes are of patchouli and rose, which is balanced a little by the spiciness of the black pepper to create a scent that is incredibly sweet and yet simultaneously quite zesty and flavoursome. Overall, it's quite exotic -- I haven't smelled anything like this combination before. The product itself is slightly tan and almost waxy to start out with, until you scrape out a dollop and warm it in your hands for a good massage session. The texture almost feels gritty at first, but I think that's just a shea butter thing -- it swiftly softens into a silky oil that feels rather luxurious.

My previous experience with Organic Machine's coconut oil-based lubes made me confident that this product would be similarly hardy and travel-friendly, so I purposely packed Love Butter into my suitcase for a ten hour road trip to see how heat and motion would affect it. Although it melts easily when in contact with the skin, Love Butter somehow maintained its consistency without liquefying and getting oil all over my stuff. In fact, the product seemed entirely unchanged, still bearing the un-melted scoops from previous massages. I don't know what car-friendly alchemy was used in crafting this magic massage oil, but I love it.

In use, Love Butter functions as a thick, creamy massage aid that spreads well once you work up some heat. It's very smooth, adds a decent glide, transmits warmth really well, and leaves skin feeling supple, moisturised, and well-nourished for ages afterwards. Basically, it's excellent for facilitating gentle, loving touch. I gave two people multiple massages with Love Butter, and got a few of my own in return. Everyone had a good time, but there were a few mixed reactions.


All finished!

Firstly, the scent is not for everyone. Even Megan mentioned she has since tweaked the formula to tailor the scent more to her liking. My one massage victim is a fan of sultry, musky perfumes and remarked on the flavourful aroma quite positively. She enjoyed the way the smell lingered long after the oil absorbed, creating subtly perfumed wafts that were emitted from her clothing from time to time. Minerva also found the scent very appealing, saying that it was the most powerful selling point of the product. My partner, however, was not so keen, although I doubt that Love Butter is entirely to blame. The first time I used this product with him, he was rather ill and said the strong, sweet scent was too overpowering for his nausea. Unfortunately, the second attempt only served as an olfactory reminder, triggering an involuntary bodily response. The third time was the charm though -- I gave him a glorious foot massage and the somewhat removed distance from feet to nose acted as a buffer, allowing him to just relax and not feel any Pavlovian triggers. He also liked the way the heavy oils revitalised his skin, making his crusty little hooves soft again.

Overall, I really enjoyed using this product and would recommend it to anyone who wants a compact, travel-friendly massage oil that goes a long way. The recipe has since been adjusted so the aphrodisiac scent will probably hold more widespread appeal, so don't let one sick boy's experience put you off.

Purchase Love Butter directly through Organic Machine's website, or hit them up on social media!

 

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