Bound By Diamonds Diamond Whip by Cal Exotics is not a good toy for beginners. It almost turned my bf off to the idea completely being his first time. It took a lot of convincing to get him to realize it won't always be this bad.

I haven't used a whip in years (since my last partner) and I had an idea what to expect, pain obviously, but not the stinging and almost cutting feeling I got from this whip. Although the hard whipping experience wasn't what I expected, I have found other enjoyable ways to use this toy.

I can tell The Bound By Diamonds whip by Cal Exotics was made very simply. A 17" piece of PVC wrapped around a piece of wood. Cut the PVC up to where the wood starts, cover seams by diamonds, and you've got it.

There is 17" in length, with 12" of that being the tassels themselves. The whip itself is made mostly with PVC, 15% polyester, and 5% Stabilizer. The handle is wood, but wrapped in the PVC material. The "diamonds" are Quartz sands and used to cover up the seams on the whip handle. The diamonds are all connected by plastic (they are on a strip). Down the handle they are only connected by small nails every inch so you can peel up the side of the strip giving me the impression that they can easily come off or get snagged on something (although it hasn't happened yet). The diamonds around the top and bottom of the handle are stitched in the middle, but they seem to be pulled a lot tighter so they don't peel up like the strip going down the handle.

The tassels do not have weights on the ends, and they float for lack of a better word instead of hang straight down. They are squared off at the ends making it a little bit sharp and pokey. The PVC material is a very shiny material, but on the underside it's very dull and has a denim look to it.

The wrist guard/loop is made of the same PVC material the whip is. It is connected by an iron ring on the handle of the whip. I made the mistake of not putting my hand through the loop before using this. I had lube on my hands and the PVC material is extremely slippery. I went to whip it, and it flew out of my hand and into the wall.

With the material being so slippery I used the diamonds as a gripper, which worked wonders!

The handle smells a bit like wood and wood glue, but I had to actually put my nose up to it to smell it. It's not overpowering, or strong so it's nothing to worry about.

For being intended as a whip, I was really let down. I felt bad that my bf had to experience it this way. Thankfully he has agreed to try again. Used with even a little bit of a strong force it stung so bad, and continued to sting for quite a bit afterwards. It left my butt red and itchy for most of the day. The material is stiff causing the tassels to hold shape so well that it is hard to make a good whip or spank with it. The tassels are so lightweight you can't concentrate on one area of the body. When my bf spanked me with it, The tassels flew all over getting my upper thighs and my lower back, which stung terribly. It almost feels like kitten scratches when used with force. If you use the whip lightly it fixes the stinging problem, but then it kind of defeats the purpose of a whip.

Our second use with the whip went a little better. We used it as a teaser/tickler instead. The material is so lightweight that when it's moved down your body it dances around and it gave me chills. I love that! Given the fact that PVC is a harder material it is a little bit noisy when you shake it around. We lightly used it to spank each other, making it a bit more fun, but I prefer the hard rougher spanking that a hand/paddle gives over the light spankings this whip can give me.

The packaging was almost nothing. It comes in a plain plastic sandwich like bag, folded to fit inside. It has a tag connected to the handle stating what the product is, but other than that there is nothing. If it were to be sold in a physical store, it would be hanging up on a wire rack on the wall.