This is definitely a beginners item, as it is made from a flexible and light-weight faux leather, which means you won't be able to give the same kind of good, hard, solid wallop spanking that you would with a real leather or wooden paddle. It's still a good inexpensive starter item that allows someone, or a couple, to experiment a little. If you're curious about paddles or spankings in general, this one will allow you to explore without being worried about hurting someone or leaving marks and bruises. The cute bright pink color and "xoxo" design make it very non-intimidating to a new user and the inexpensive price allows you to test out the kinky waters without spending too much. Most solid, well made spanking implements can be rather pricey, so it's nice to be able to try it out a bit and see if you and/or your partner actually enjoy a good butt paddling before going all out and purchasing a high quality one. On the flip side, if you decide you're not really into spankings after all, you're only going to be out less than ten dollars. I could also see this being useful as a novelty item for a gag gift.

As already stated, this particular paddle is an inexpensive beginner's item, therefore while I hate to use the word "cheap" I will say it is not a high quality paddle. When I first received it in the mail and took it out of the box, I noticed that the black stitching that holds it together is rather sloppy looking and that parts of the faux leather has "ripples". The edge is also unfinished, and you can clearly see the piece of cardboard that's in between the black and pink fake leather. On the positive side, I will say that it has held up pretty well during use and hasn't yet started to fall apart or really even look any different from when I first got it.

The size is nice, pretty much a standard paddle and unless you are SUPER picky and particular like me, it looks nice and its imperfections aren't that noticeable.

I'm quite content with this little paddle, although, to be honest, I wasn't really expecting a lot from it in the first place. I could tell from the price and the other reviews that is wasn't going to be anything amazing, but I ordered it anyway because I was curious as to whether or not it would actually leave an "xoxo" impression on my skin (it does slightly, if you use a lot of force, but it was rather difficult to do and the mark doesn't stay for very long). It's more of a cutesy, novelty item for me, (or anyone else who's familiar with the sting of a good quality paddle) but a great tool for spanking virgins. I had the chance to use it on someone who had never been paddled before and it worked well. I am quite heavy handed, but this paddle makes it difficult to actually inflict any kind of real pain on someone when being used correctly. For the most part, the only real use I have for this is as a fun prop. It doesn't really do anything for me in actual play time. It spends most of its time hanging on my bed post looking pretty.