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?

My plug came in a tiny little velvet bag, which I have of course managed to break the drawstring on and cover in miscellaneous fluff in the month or so I’ve had it. The plug itself is TEENY. I know this is the ‘small’ version (from what I can gather, Rosebud plugs come in four sizes- small, large, XL and XXL) but this is truly pocket size. It’s shorter than a lipbalm tube, has a reassuring weight to it, and while being smaller than I thought it was, it’s my favourite shape for a plug to be, with an almost lollipop-like bulb, a tapered tip, a long skinny neck and a flared base. I’ve never actually lost something up my butt, but I’ve read enough cautionary tales and had enough gruesome stories told to me by a pal who’s training to be a nurse to be extra super cautious. I pretty much view buttholes as distant, organic relatives of vacuum cleaners at this point.

The gem (crystal?) on my plug is the ‘white lagoon’ colour, and it is beauuuutiful, opalescent and milky with a warm pinkish shimmer to it. I’m officially infatuated with something that lives in my butt. There is one thing that’s less than perfect about it, and it’s weird – there are little black clusters of something around the edges of the jewel. It looks like soot. When I first took it out of the package I gave it a good wash, went in there with a soft toothbrush and cottonbud soaked in Lelo cleaner and most of it came off but there are some traces of whatever it is stuck right in the difficult to access crevice between the steel and the gem. I’m not concerned and I’m just assuming that it’s something to do with the process of inlaying it, maybe, but still. It’s weird. If anyone else has one of these plugs I’d really appreciate you telling me if yours came with this ~mystery substance~ too!

Being the eager lil bunny I am, in my rush to get this thing up there I forgot that steel’s generally PRETTY FUCKING COLD, especially when you combine it with silicone lube from a bottle that’s been sitting on your windowsill all night. This led to the butt equivalent of brain freeze. That’s a thing. I can tell you first hand that that’s a thing now. You can warm this or any other steel toy up by running warm water over it or alternately, clenching it between your thighs for twenty minutes or so if you’re especially concious of your water bill.  The good news is that this little plug fits me like it was made especially for my body, and it’s easy to insert and easy to remove. The tapered tip does look a bit pointy but it doesn’t feel that way at all, and I think it’s just the right size for the material it’s made of. Like a good set of kegel balls, I can feel it in there but not to the point where it feels off and I want to remove it.

The Rosebud plug gets major points from me for actually staying put, too. I know it’s a fairly common sex tip (‘remove a plug or a string of anal beads at the moment of orgasm for heightened sensations!’) but I can’t get into that. I like my plugs to stay where I put them until I want them to remove them myself, intentionally, thankyou.

The one thing I don’t like using this plug for is keeping it in during penetrative sex as it’s too firm for it. Penetration with fingers feels stupid good with this in, it’s definitely a dick thing – silicone or otherwise. My male partner said it felt like I ‘had a frozen grape sitting up there’ and I got this feeling that I was being uncomfortably compressed and took it out eventually.

Glass toys are a no-go, too, I tried it with my very lovely recently acquired Double-O, but the rigid, bulbous head of the Double-O banging against the plug wasn’t something I’d ever want to repeat. I remember reading a quote years ago by some horrible man I don’t remember the name of where he said he ‘wanted to click his fingers inside women (he) didn’t like’ and that’s what that feeling brings to mind.

I think I end all my reviews with ‘I’m so happy I bought this!’ but I really am! It’s made me even more curious about trying the Large size, and I want a glass one more than ever. And another thing – I’d only ever seen bits and pieces of the Rosebuds line before finding the website, but GO LOOK. I URGE YOU TO LOOK. You too can have Athena’s face poking out of your rear end if you wanna! It’s amazing. And it’s in very charming translated English, which makes me feel a bit like a knowledgeable French person is murmuring in my ear about bespoke anal jewellery. If I ever get super rich you can bet I’ll have the most sophisticated butthole in the northern hemisphere.