I was contacted recently by the people behind Lucky Bloke, and asked if I would be interested in doing a review for them. Lucky Bloke provide a rather ingenious service: they supply packs of assorted condoms, allowing you to sample a wide variety of different shapes, sizes, thicknesses, textures, etc, without spending a small fortune. Buying condoms can be a bit like Russian roulette: you walk into a pharmacy, grab a pack of something off the shelves, and have no real idea whether they're going to be any good or not. If it turns out that they're terrible you've still got half a boxful that you've paid good money for, so either you use them up to the detriment of future sexual experiences, or you throw them out and say goodbye to that cash forever. Even if you've found a condom that you think you like, chances are there may be something even better out there which you just don't know about. Lucky Bloke's solution is both simple and effective: you get a pack of different condoms, you try each one out, and eventually through a process of elimination you determine which works best for you and you need only ever buy that brand again. No more wasted money and half-full packs of condoms lying around, what could be better?
As a single man I don't have much scope right now to be trying out dozens of different condoms, which is where Lucky Bloke's other service comes in, lube samples! Picking the right lube is just as tricky as it is picking the right condom, possibly more so, and to make matters worse lube can be expensive and come in great bottles full of the stuff. As a sex toy reviewer lube is my best friend, and so I'm especially loathed to risk making a mistake when buying some, which is why this is such a fantastic idea in my mind.
Lucky Bloke offers two different lube samplers, a regular selection and a flavoured selection, depending on your preference. The flavoured one is an especially useful thing to have considering that while you may be able to make the best of mediocre lube at any other time, when it's going in your mouth you really don't want to risk an unpleasant taste.
Each sampler contains 6 sachets of different lubricants, ranging in size from as little as 1.5ml, up to 3, 4, 5ml depending on the brand. The larger 5ml sachets are definitely preferable, and give you a better indicator of what the lube is like, but obviously Lucky Bloke have no control over how large the companies decide to make their individual sachets, even though uniformity would be preferable.
The assortment of lubes you receive contains a nice mix of well-known brands such as Sliquid and Pjur, as well as some smaller companies which you may never have heard of before, so you're sure to get the opportunity to try something new, and may even find a hidden gem that's yet to become mainstream.
The lubes are a mixture of silicone and water-based, and so are all condom safe, though if you're looking to experiment with toys then remember as a rule not to use a silicone lube with a silicone toy unless you've done a patch test and are confident that there's no reaction. One thing that all the lubes do have in common is that there's a full list ingredients on the back of each sachet, so you can check that they don't contain anything which you're known to react badly to. The only downside though is that if you do react badly to something then there's no way to avoid getting a sachet of that in your sampler, so you may end up with a couple of unusable ones. It may be an idea in the future for Lucky Bloke to consider offering a paraben-free sampler for example, to cater to people who are sensitive to such things.
Each lube sampler sells for $7.99, + $0.99 for shipping within the United States, or $1.99 worldwide, so that works out at about £6.53 or €7.60 including shipping, which seems perfectly reasonable to me considering what you're getting. Orders are despatched from Oregon via first class mail, and it took only a week for me to receive it in the UK which is surprisingly efficient, though delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods for mail. The sachets are packed into a small thin plastic box, slightly smaller than the size of a DVD case, and this in turn is placed into a jiffy bag / padded envelope, which all serves to protect the sachets well during transit, so you won't end up with a leaky bag of burst lube.
I was sent 12 sachets in total, and to give you an idea of what you might receive they were: Sliquid H2O, Sliquid Sea, Sliquid Silk, Sliquid Sassy, Pjur Original Bodyglide, Uberlube, Good Clean Love Almost Naked Lubricant, One Oasis, One Move, Delicious Encounter peach lubricant, and two sachets of Pleasure Works Please Cream. I'm not quite certain about the reason for the duplication of the last one, but other than that it's a really good selection and has introduced me to lots of lubes that I haven't had the opportunity to try before.
I'm tempted to review each of the lubes more thoroughly on an individual basis at a later date, but for now I will say that a couple of the ones which really stood out were the Sliquid lubes which are lovely and completely free from "DEA, gluten, glycerine, glycerol, parabens, PEG, propylene, glycol, sorbitol and sulphates" as well as being vegan-friendly, and also the Pjur lube which is the only brand of silicone lube which Tantus certifies as compatible for use with their silicone toys (though the Pjur sachet was the most stingy, at only 1.5ml of product).
I have to say I've had a lot of fun trying out all these lubes, and I'd definitely recommend the Lucky Bloke service to everyone. You get a great variety, for a great price, shipped securely and speedily; what more could you ask for? I'd definitely use them again myself in the future, especially when the time comes for me to find the perfect condom.
Go ahead and check them out at theCondomReview.com, you'll be glad that you did, and thanks to Lucky Bloke for generously sending me these samples.
