It’s cute! It’s tiny! Even the packaging’s well-designed! It’s body-safe, discreet, and easy to travel with because it looks absolutely nothing like a sex toy and the battery’s easy to remove. It’s relatively quiet, ridiculously cheap and waterproof. It comes in colours other than pink and purple. So far, so good, right?

I received the sora-mikan colour scheme, which is the one I was hoping for as it combines two of my favourite colours – a chalky sky blue on the bottom, and a juicy tangerine upper half. The bottom half’s made from ABS plastic and the top half from elastomer, which I don’t really get the point of – both surfaces feel pretty much exactly the same and the elastomer doesn’t make a huge difference concerning softness, plus this means I can’t use oil or silicone based lubricants with it. Boo.

The mini’s easy to use; powered by one triple-a battery in the base, you twist the top half and it pops off to reveal the guts. There’s a nifty hidden button to turn it on and off with located on the side of the mini – as it’s concealed under the orange elastomer you can’t see it all, which is a feature I really like because I’m shallow, I guess. Another thing that’s important for me is that I can travel easily with it; because the mini’s battery powered I can just remove the battery and tuck it into my makeup bag, where it fits right in. It kind of looks like a cutesy perfume atomiser, actually.

Unfortunately, the mini doesn’t work for its intended purpose. Like, at all. The vibrations feel unusually strong in my hand; when I switched it on for the first time I actually jumped because they surprised me so much. All that power from a triple a battery? GOD HAS ANSWERED MY PRAYERS. Except…er, not so much, because the vibrations are so surface level that they just fizzle away to nothing as soon as I apply a hint of pressure. The mini buzzes away happily to itself but I can’t feel a thing. I was so confused by this that I thought I’d received a faulty one - surely the whole ‘deadened vibrations’ thing only happens to toys with an inch and a half of solid silicone between me and the motor? Apparently not.

I changed the battery twice, I used it underwater, hoping this would somehow give the vibrations a kick up the proverbial and force them to go deeper or diffuse or do literally anything but disappear into the ether as soon as I applied even the tiniest hint of pressure, but nothing changed. I’m fairly sure the tiny watch battery orbs that came with Tenga’s earlier Vi-Bo range were more powerful than this. At least they didn’t just dissolve. I don’t know what to do with the mini – it works okay if I use light, circular motions or gentle brushing strokes or traced over my underwear, but that is not how I get off. It’s a tool for teasing and not much else.

I’m disappointed. The mini had so much going for it! So much potential! I’m still not sure if I really believe in the concept of ‘beginners toys’, but obviously there are a lot of people out there who don’t want to or are unable to shell out upwards of £40 on a first vibrator, no matter how good the reviews are, and the mini could’ve been another, better option in a sea of mediocre bullets and flimsy pocket rockets. I was rooting for you, mini, and you let me down. At least you’re cute.

I was sent the iroha mini by the lovely people at Simply Pleasure in exchange for a review. Thanks guys! You can buy the iroha mini in all three colourways at Simply Pleasure for £16.95, and they also stock the original Iroha line, which I previously reviewed here.

I’m a big fan of Fun Factory; their silicone can feel draggy and almost powdery at times, but I have to admire the company who came up with Flexi Felix, the caterpillar who feels most at home in your anal cavity, and who consistently make body-safe products in eye-searing shades of orange, blue, red, and green in addition to the industry standards of cerise, purple or baby pink. The Boosty’s the first butt toy I’ve tried from them – I’ve been told that the Bootie is the original, and the one I should’ve tried out first, but it sold out before I could get to it.

The Boosty is available in a choice of aquarium pebble turquoise and petrol black, and comes in sturdy, non-gendered packaging with a drawing of a butt on. The Boosty is the most girthy plug I currently own, with three irregularly stacked bulbs of slightly different circumferences; the top bulb measures just under 4 inches around, the middle being the thickest with exactly 5 inches of girth, and the bottom bulb measuring just under 5 inches. The stem thins out considerably to 1.5 inches of both girth and length, with the base being 3.5 inches long. The base-to-neck ratio is perfect, actually, it ensures that the whole things stays put and feels completely secure, no matter how overenthusiastic (there’s no such thing! use all the lube! all of it! squeeze that bottle until it squeaks!) you may have been with your lube application.

The silicone the Boosty’s made from feels slightly different to the kind used for the other Fun Factory toys I’ve met* – it’s extremely smooth, firm yet flexible,  and without the dry and powdery finish that the Share has. There’s a faint but visible seam running down each side of the Boosty, which I’ll get back to later, and while the base is long it doesn’t entirely restrict access to my vagina, which is an issue I had with the terribly named Doc Johnson Mood Naughty plug. Yay!

I need to work up to the Boosty as it’s so chubby – my Tantus Meteorite works best as a prep tool, as it’s more of a play plug than anything else, or a moderately energetic finger-blasting if I’m with a partner. Currently I’m using the Yes oil based lube as my go-to butt lube, and I love it so far; it doesn’t absorb as quickly as water-based lubes do, and it seems to last considerably longer too. Normally I view toys that require a lot of work to use as a bit of a hassle and stash them away for longer sessions, but the bulbs feel really fucking good as you’re easing them in, and while it makes me feel nice and full, it’s got enough give to it that I or my partner can stimulate my g-spot while I’m wearing it. I can feel every bulb of the Boosty while it’s in me, and it kind of makes me wish I had a prostate because I’m sure the sensations would be nothing short of spectacular if I did.

Unfortunately though, there is one thing wrong with my Boosty. And that one thing is the seam. I can feel it. It’s not great. It makes walking around with the Boosty in a literal pain in the arse. It’s there.  I’m convinced mine might be a manufacturing accident as a) I haven’t seen anyone else mention it in their reviews, and b) it’s rougher on one side than the other – if I run my thumb over the right side I can barely detect it, but the left side feels more uneven and there’s a tiny little rogue dot of silicone sitting along it, too.

I’ve thought about trying to diy it, very carefully slicing along the seam with a scalpel, but I think this is far more likely to make things worse rather than improve it all. I’d return it for a replacement, but Lovehoney have since discontinued it. It’s a real shame because the Boosty is so close to perfect – if it weren’t for that meddling seam! It’s not a total waste; I’ll keep it as a play plug for now or as a warm-up plug for anal, and I’ll most likely buy a new one in future to compare the two. Dammit, Boosty.

I bought the Fun Factory Boosty from Lovehoney, who have since discontinued it. However, you can buy it direct from Fun Factory, or Sex Siopa.

*Do you ‘meet’ a sex toy?