In a supermarket, I came across a box of “Durex Play O: women’s orgasm gel. For more intense orgasms”.
I’d already heard about this product, so I took a closer look. The description on its packaging didn’t tempt me at all (patience, I’ll explain it all in more detail). But I thought that, all the same, it would be a shame to miss out on a nice thing, if there was one. And testing it would at least allow me to write an article about it.
So I bought it. The moment the box passed into the cashier’s hands, just after a huge cucumber (to begin with, I’d gone to get things for making sushi), she gave me an amused look.
Well, remark no.1: you look daft when you buy an erotic thing in a not-at-all-erotic shop, between the pasta and the tomato sauce.
The presentation
Design-wise, it’s fine, the look is pretty and quite understated. However, in terms of the things they tell you to make you want to buy it, actually, it doesn’t really make me want it.
The “promises” on the back of the box: meh, meh
On the back of the box: “By the way, before offering you this product, Durex asked women to test it and the results are in: 79% of them had an orgasm while using Play O”.
Here, I feel like I’m reading spam. And then, in a sample of women comfortable enough with their own sexuality to accept the role of beta-tester for an erotic product, the fact that 79% of them achieve an orgasm while masturbating doesn’t seem so miraculous to me.
Brand and naming
Play “O” as in orgasm, of course. But I imagine there is also in this name a reference to the famous novel “Histoire d’O” by Dominique Aury, which inspired many BDSM enthusiasts (originally, the letter “O” was, it seems, for the first name “Odile”. I’ll leave you to keep fantasising about Odile.). For my part, I couldn’t help thinking of Play Doh modelling clay.
On the Durex website, I’m kindly told why orgasm is good for my well-being. Thanks for the lesson, I wasn’t aware. I’ll immediately launch an information campaign to point out that getting your fingers caught in a door is bad for your mood, that will be just as instructive.
The bottle
The contents of the box are, fortunately, more pleasant to look at. A glass bottle, (too) small (barely larger than a nail varnish vial), but pretty, hermetically sealed by a cap that unscrews. Once the cap is removed, you screw on the dispenser nozzle, and it’s ready.
Effectiveness
So, broadly speaking, it’s a lubricant with a hot-cold effect (whether you like or dislike hot/cold effects on the vulva is another matter). Fine, but no more. It’s neither irritating nor anaesthetic, which is already not bad.
For those who have never tried heating or cooling gadgets, I still recommend trying it. Without being absolutely brilliant, the sensation remains interesting nonetheless. You might like it, so it’s worth knowing if that’s the case; you have nothing much to lose by testing it. For the others, if you’re looking for a product with a hot-cold effect, you’ll be served, but don’t expect something more original.
Still, the bottle is small
While looking up information on the internet to write this article, I realised I had paid nearly twelve euros for this bloody thing, or more expensive than the big big tube from the same brand… Well, it’s not exorbitant, but one would still appreciate it if the bottle wasn’t a miniature.
