Most of this post is with regards to the original Lovense Lush. It has since been updated to the Lush 2. I’ve kept this article mostly the same but updated where necessary throughout the post for the Lush 2 so that you can get a good feel for what the Lush used to be like, and what it’s like now. Spoiler alert – the Lush 2 is a big improvement on the first gen Lush.
The Lush might be on sale at the moment – 2019, check out the official Lovense site to check.
Long Distance Relationships Suck!
Most people will know that long distance relationships are incredibly difficult to maintain. They’re hard work and sometimes, well, sometimes they can just suck! Being away from your partner on a regular basis is emotionally straining, and the lack of intimacy is more than a little frustrating. This is still true. Granted, technology has come a long way which makes the distance a little easier. It’s still difficult but there are ways to stay connected while apart and one of the best ways is with long distance sex toys and my favorite option would be a remote control vibrator.
I’m in a long distance relationship. Because of this, I’m always looking out for new technology coming on the market, something that’s going to make those long months away from each other a little more manageable. Mostly, what I’m looking for is something that’s going to make communication easier and something that’s going to enhance our long distance sex life.
I was recently sent the Lovense Lush, a bluetooth vibrator that’s designed for:
- solo play
- discreet public play
- long distance play
The information that I had seen about this was that it, apparently, had strong rumbling vibrations, that it’s rechargeable, that it had unlimited vibrational options and was waterproof. It sounded pretty damn good, so I was understandably excited to give it a try.
The packaging
The Lush vibe comes securely packaged in a cardboard box. The box is incredibly sturdy so it can double as a storage box. However, it’s not overly discreet. The packaging is crammed with information about the vibrator. I’m actually amazed at how much information is on the box without it looking cluttered. Somehow, it actually manages to look rather clean. Inside the box, you’ll find the USB charging wire, the Lush and an information booklet. Tragically, it doesn’t come with a storage bag. Storage bags are one of those things that I feel all sex toys should come with. Thankfully, though, you can just pick one up separately easily enough, if you need somewhere discreet to store your toy.
A lovely sturdy box to keep your toy secure when not in use.
Before use, you have to charge up the Lush vibrator. To do this, simply plug the charger into a USB port or wall adapter (not included). I have to admit when I put the Lush on charge, I did feel like I was piercing it. It takes a little bit of force to get it in there and, honestly, the first time I did this I was worried that I’d broken it. My fear was short lived, as while the vibrator is charging, the button (near the charging port) lit up. A constant light will show while the unit is charging and the light will turn off once it has fully charged. A full charge will give you approximately 1.5-2 hours of playtime.
You can see below the difference between the 1st gen and the 2nd gen.
Material
The Lovense Lush is made entirely from a matte textured silicone. Due to the fact this vibrator is wearable, the shape is a little hard to describe. There is a bulbous part that is internal and a ‘tail’ (it’s actually the antenna, but I can’t help but see it as a tail) that sits outside of the vagina, pretty much touching the clitoris. The shape, for me at least, reminds me of sperm, an association which I didn’t piece together until I was physically holding the vibrator. Now, all I can think about is sperm, every time I’m holding it.
Why I wanted the toy
I wanted this toy, a remote vibrator for the long distance aspect of it, which makes the following two features as important as the other. I say this because, although the quality of vibrator itself is hugely important, the quality of the app that comes with it is equally crucial. If the app is shit, then the app controlled vibrator is useless to me – as I found out with the OhMiBod Bluemotion Nex 2. But, I had a lot higher hopes for the Lovense software. So, let’s have a look at how easy the Lovense app is to install and set up.
Setting it up
The first thing I noticed when setting this up, was in downloading the application. You’re not able to just search for Lovense, because if you do , ALL THE THINGS will be found – and, notably, none of those things will be the thing you’re looking for! Instead you must search for Lovense Wearables. I’ll admit, that when I first looked at the user rating score of 3.8, I had a mixed reaction. Part of me was happy that the application had a higher score than the OhMiBod fail that I’d previously used; the other part was a little sad that its score wasn’t higher than a 4. But then, I read the reviews, and I was really happy to see that replies had been made to several of the reviews asking for feedback of their issues. This made me incredibly happy as, to me, it shows that the company is interested in making their app better.
Setting up an account was effortless, and connecting the vibrator to the application was exactly how I would expect this process to go: painless, straightforward and easy! I’ve taken screen shots of the process, so most of it doesn’t have to be explained.
To connect the vibrator to the app, simply tap the button in the top right hand corner of the Lovense app. Then hold in the button on the vibrator for a few seconds. A light on the vibrator should flash. The Bluetooth on your phone should then find the vibrator. Click on your Lush and then everything is connected. Once connected, the vibrator light will no longer be flashing but will become steady. I’m amazed at how easy this process was; it actually took me less than a minute to connect up this vibrator.
So my side of the connection was pretty damn painless. It was time to make the OH download and see if his experience was just as easy…. and…. it was! HUZZAH.
He was able to connect to me easily – always a plus. The application has a chat function which, honestly, for me, is pretty useless as we’re generally on permanent Skype. However, I’m aware that it may not be useless for everyone else, so this was the first thing we tested. We had a little play about with the messages, saw how quickly they’d be received (since we were also on Skype at the time) and played around a little with the photos. By ‘played around’ I mean: I sent him a picture of my tits to make him happy, because he’s complained that my messages via text just ‘weren’t sexy enough’. All of these functions worked really well; messages were sent and received with no effort at all.
First use
It was then time to play with the vibrations, and this is where we also hit problems. By now we’d been playing with the application a good 20 minutes, the toy was connected and it hadn’t disconnected for either of us. However, when we started to actually use it, things went wrong.
- Visibility: he wasn’t really sure on what he was doing and, as such, just moved his finger around the screen. It turns out that little lightning bolt is the highest setting, and also where it displays the possibility of over-heating.
- Disconnection: not often, in honestly, but we were disconnected a handful of times.
- Vibrations: while in use, I complained to the OH that he was being a little bit too mean! He was letting me have the higher vibration for a few seconds and then moving it to the lower vibration a little too much for my liking. But when I complained to the OH about this, he advised me that he hadn’t yet moved his finger from what we determined was the higher vibration.
What next
So, with the issues at hand, we gave up. I was more than a little deflated as I was really hoping for more. I then proceeded to email Lovense in regards to the issues I had. And, this is where things began look up. Let me just say right now how impressed I am with Lovense. Seriously, I was incredibly impressed, and this is why:
I was emailed back and asked for details of both of our phones (my OH uses the One Plus One and I use the One Plus Two, both Android devices), screen shots and more details of the issues. He advised me that with problem 1 – that this wasn’t a problem with OH’s phone, it was, in fact, the way that the app was designed. He admitted that it was a bad design and informed me that an update for the app would be out later THAT DAY to rectify this issue. We weren’t quite sure why we had the disconnection problems, however, I’ve not had that problem since the app update (or it could also have been because of problem 3). Eddy advised me that problem 3 was because I had the first batch of toys. This model had a tendency to over-heat and, to stop them from overheating, they don’t stay on full power for over a certain amount of time. This is why the vibrations were going higher and lower when I complained to the OH. The newer model was then sent out to me so that I could have constant vibrations and provide a more accurate review.
So in testing, the OH and I had three issues when using this, and the three of those issues now seemed to be resolved.
Moving on to the newer model
The newer model (looking exactly the same) arrived and we put it to the test. The OH had been working a lot, so, when he was free, I didn’t want to spend my time with him pissing around with the application. I wanted to know what to expect and to test some of the initial problems that we had with it first, so that when the OH was home we could actually play – because: orgasms. So, I enlisted the help of my friend Reenie, during one of our Skype conversations. I said, “HEY! Reenie, would you like to control my vibrator?” Like you do. These are normal questions to ask friends right?! Reenie, like my OH, is also in Canada so the distance remained the same.
Reenie of course reveled in the idea, proceeded to download the app and create an account. This took, at most, three minutes. The problems we had were getting her to be able to connect, although I’d accepted her and we could chat to each other using the application, she didn’t have the controls to be able to control my vibe. We couldn’t figure out why. So we pissed around with the app for a little bit; closed it, opened it. She sent me screen shots. Eventually, I told her I was going to LOG OUT of the application, close the application then re-open it and log back in. She also did the same thing, and that seemed to do the trick. She was able to request permission to play with my vibrator. And play she did!
The controls worked great, there were no overheating issues, and we didn’t once disconnect in the 40ish minutes that we were testing everything. Reenie sent me cute messages and I also learned that she can be quite menacing when given control of someone else’s vibrator.
How did the newer model, the Lush 2 go?
SUCCESS!
When using the vibrator with my OH – properly and not just testing the controls – we ran in to some other issues. So the original issues were no longer there, my partner and I weren’t disconnected like we had been previously, the vibrator didn’t overheat which meant that I could have it as powerful as I wanted for as long as I wanted he could have it as powerful as he wanted for as long as he wanted; all in all that was pretty good. However, I was absolutely freezing (the temperature has really dropped here recently). As such, I decided to have a lazy masturbation session, and what better way to lazily masturbate than to hand the controls of your vibrator to someone else, put it in and just lay back with your pants still on (knickers and trousers, I’m all class baby), and enjoy the pleasure? I couldn’t think of a much better lazy masturbation plan to be honest, so this is what I did.
The Lush, however, had different plans. No, it didn’t disconnect me from my partner, it disconnected the vibe from the app once. It was a bit annoying but can be re-connected quickly.
How do I like to use it?
I mentioned that I prefer to use this vibrator clitorally, I’ll explain why. Although this is designed for internal use, I found that, internally, it didn’t make me orgasm. Yes, it felt great, but just didn’t quite get me there but I can find it quite difficult to have a g-spot orgasm. I couldn’t really move/rock the vibe while it was inserted; the ‘tail’ is too flexible for me to be able to do that. And, although the tip of the tail does provide some clitoral vibrations, the vibrations for that aren’t nearly as strong as I need them to be able to orgasm. The tail is an antennae, not a vibrator. The vibrations that you can get from the ‘tail’ are just the vibrations traveling – If this were a dual vibrator and we could get stronger vibrations in the ‘tail’ the Lush would be perfect for me. The deep rumbling and powerful vibrations of the ‘head’ were ample enough for me to clitorally orgasm. Add in the fact that the OH controlled as and when I got these vibrations, and it just made it that much better.
Oh, I forgot to mention: my favorite part about the app! I can grant access! YES! My partner doesn’t have to constantly ask for permission to control my vibe. I can give him unlimited access and, so long as the vibrator is turned on and connected to the Bluetooth, he’s free to ‘turn me on’ any time he damn well chooses. Not having this function was one of my major annoyances of the We-Vibe 4 Plus. Good job, Lovense! We tested it out with me going for a walk around the local park and him turning it on whenever he pleased. It was magnificent and so naughty. I loved a bit of public play.
Wrapping up my review of the Lovense Lush and Lush 2
All in all, I really like the Lush 2 remote controlled vibrator. I wish it gave me a g-spot orgasm, but like I mentioned, I struggle at times with g-spot orgasms. I’ve found that, internally, I need more movement than vibrations. The application has a few bugs, but I have no doubt that Lovense will nip those in the bud and iron out any problems with it.
It’s a well-made vibrator. The vibrations are pretty damn awesome (though, vibrations in the ‘tail’ would be much appreciated), and for LD play it’s great.
I also think the company are pretty awesome. They make it quite clear on Reddit, in their app rating responses and via email that they’re dedicated in to making this work for YOU, the consumer. That’s something I really admire. I can’t wait to see what else they bring to the LDR table because, right now, they’re doing a great job.
Editor’s rating
As an alternative remote controlled vibrator, you can check out my Lelo Lyla 2 review or the Lelo Noa.
The other Lovense toy I have is the Hush butt plug.