Naughty love

Enough with the chocolates and roses. Be bad this Valentine’s Day!

I decided to scour Austin’s novelty shops for the best sexy valentines. Remember that right now my postings are being read by my professor, so some things will have to be left to your imagination.

First stop: Forbidden Fruit. I went to the North Loop Blvd. location, but they have a shop on 6th St. too. I love these stores because the staff is so friendly, and if you’re at all self conscious about going into a sex shop, they’ll put you at ease immediately (I’m more uncomfortable walking into a Starbucks but maybe that’s just me). My fav V-Day offerings were:

• Breakfast-in-bed hemp and soy candle – It doubles as a candle and massage oil, comes with a little scooper to remove the melted goodness, smells like dessert and is more environmentally-friendly than wax.
• Edible ink pens – Chocolate and strawberry flavored, write then lick!
• Body frostings – These came in fancy little tins and looked very gourmet, mostly chocolate and espresso flavors.
• Gift basket for bad girls- The employees at FF assemble this themselves, it’s $50 but packed full of pleasurable items for her and an easy fix for guys who waited til the last minute.

FF also carries my favorite line of panties: Honey Dew. I always end up adding one or two pair to my collection when I visit this store. I picked these up today:

Second stop: 365 Days 365 Ways. This was an intended stop, but I found out that the store is no longer open on South Lamar! Instead, it has been replaced by Cindie’s, which was described as “the bastardly, big-box style Wal-Mart of all sex shops” by a woman on Yelp reviews. Anyway, the doors were locked at Cindie’s and its XXX enter-at-your-own-risk appearance was a little off-putting.

Third and final stop: Sinsations on South First St. If you live in North Austin, it would be worth your while to drive to Sinsations if you’re looking for plus-sized lingerie, a gigantic variety of condoms or any type of sexy costume. They also had more gag gifts than Forbidden Fruit (the best was a tank top that read, “It won’t lick itself”). Overlaps in inventory, but items still worth mentioning, were: candy hearts with naughty messages, a fun line of Kama Sutra items, and many remote control “pleasers.”

Also, if you’re wondering why certain items aren’t mentioned, I’ll let Molly Ivins explain the odd and utterly ridiculous Texas law on sex toys.

*A shop I didn’t explore was HOBO on Guadalupe. It’s strictly for boys, and uncharted territory.