Latest in our series of lube reviews is Ansell LifeStyles Natural. This is another one we picked up at the supermarket, so it should be fairly widely available. This was fairly cheap (under $10) for the 100ml, so I had no idea of what quality we were going to be looking at, but we decided to give it a go. It was sitting next to the KY when we grabbed that so we though why the heck not. We did restrict ourselves to two supermarket lubes though, even though they did have others available. Adult shops don't blink when you buy a bunch of lubes to try but a shopping trolley half filled with lube is likely to get some funny looks at the supermarket. And the kids were with us. Maybe next time.
It claims to be both paraben and fragrance free, and comes in a 100ml bottle with a pump top. It took us a while to open it because the pump has a lock on it, and figuring out which way to turn it was challenging. Then we discovered that the pump has a massive squirt on it (yes, you can insert your own obvious joke here). The pump is quite stiff and the hole where it comes out is quite small so if you aren't really careful when you squirt it, rather than just a blob on your fingers you end up with it halfway down your arm. Or all over the bed or somewhere equally inappropriate.
First off we tried it for regular sex. I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised. This lube is really very pleasant to use, similar to Sylk in many ways. Aside from the problems with the pump, it felt good, didn't smell odd or anything, and worked really well. Remarkably good for a cheap supermarket lube. Rating 8/10.
Next was solo play. I used one squirt (there must be a better word for it) and found that it worked really well. It lasted the distance and didn't need re-applying. Dave found it pretty good. Long lasting and one of the better water-based wanking lubes. Not quite the staying power of the silicone lubes but still impressive. The only problem I found was that it left my hand a bit sticky afterwards. Fortunately not as sticky as the Swiss Navy. Rating 8/10.
Toy test with the wooden dildo was next. Another application, which stayed on the dildo really well, and another successful test. Rating 8/10.
Lastly was the anal play. Now the first night we tried it, I was incredibly tense after a particularly difficult day so it wasn't a particularly fair test. We probably shouldn't have tried that night as I was too tense but even with my tenseness the lube did OK. The plug went in easily but I was too tense to really get into it that night. We needed a fair test to really tell. That fair test occurred a few days later. We used our Small Butty Vibe on me. The lube stayed on the plug, it was easy to insert. All seemed good, but... it just wasn't quite right. It's a good lube, don't get me wrong, and it did work, but it just isn't quite thick enough for comfortable anal play. Rating 6/10
Overall score? 7.5/10. If not for the Sylk this would be our lube of choice now. This even does better than the Sylk as a solo lube as it lasts longer. The Sylk wins for us as it is fully organic (yes, we are hippies... organic is important to us) and just slightly better as a regular sex lube. If we ever run out of Sylk though, we know this one is only as far away as the nearest supermarket.
