Sometimes I look at a product and go "what the fuck were you thinking?". That's exactly what I thought about this collar. In fact, it's enough of a point to cause this collar to be virtually unusable for me. Something must have happened between when EF received this product to now because this collar doesn't resemble the picture on EF anymore. (It does slightly, but regardless, check my video if you want to see what it looks like.)

The Ruff Doggie Styles Heart Beat Collar is a very small collar (in width) intended for kinky use. It's about nineteen inches long which makes it large enough for most individuals to wear on their neck. It's also 1/2 inches in width which is why we picked it out - large width collars are uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time while I wanted something the boyfriend could just wear around the house with no intention of rough play. The collar is still the sparkly purple/pink and looks pretty feminine. It honestly looks a bit like a pet collar which is great if that's your thing. (I honestly didn't mind the colors, and if I did (like one of the reviewers did), I just wouldn't buy the thing.) The collar buckles with a buckle - non-locking.

There wasn't any sort of packaging for this collar. It just came sitting by itself in the EF box (packaged discreetly.) It came with a little tag hanging off the back of it to let me know what company manufactured it, but aside from that, it basically was packaging-less.

This is where some of the changes begin. The collar does have those little gem inserts that you can see on the picture, but instead of being the pink like the picture shows, each one is actually a small little pearl/diamond/mirror-looking thing now. You can see your reflection in them which is a little creepy if you choose to look at your submissive to see ten mini-yous. That wasn't really a deal-breaker though. A surprise, but certainly not a dealbreaker.

The dealbreaker? The O-ring. As you can see in the pictures, the O-ring on the old version of the collar was opposite of the buckle. On the new version? It's right next to it! I mean, RIGHT next to it. They touch. Instead of an O-ring, it's also a D-ring now with a little heart pendant hanging off of the D-ring. Which was cute. But it's RIGHT NEXT TO THE BUCKLE. What in the world? This means that, when you wear your collar, if you want to strap anything to it, you have to look at the buckle on the front side instead of in the back of the neck where it belongs.

For awhile, I considered I might be the biggest idiot on the planet and that this d-ring was actually just a piece to help hold the excess collar length down, but I don't think so. It's too oblong and in-the-way to seem to serve that purpose - plus, if that was the point, why would they put a little heart charm on it? Part of the attractiveness of a collar is having the buckle in the back with a smooth surface on the front side. However, this doesn't have that. With the clipping ring right next to the buckle, you are forced to have the buckle in the front (which to me, is like wearing your underwear on the outside of your pants) if you want to clip anything to the collar. It looks very unprofessional and for sure would get you laughed at in a large group setting.

However, if you don't want to use the D-ring to clip to leashes, you could get away with leaving the D-ring and the buckle in the back of the neck and just having the little gems and the collar itself show on the front side. That just makes it a cute collar (though you can't clip to it). The weight on the back of the collar also does tend to make the buckle and D-ring slowly move towards the front with regular use too which is annoying, but nothing that a necklace doesn't do anyway.

Aside from that, how is it? Pretty good. It's a comfortable collar. I can honestly say we didn't get the best of wears from it since the boyfriend has been sick with a horrid cough for the last four weeks and wants nothing on his neck. However, I had him wear it for a couple hours, and aside from irritating his cough, he said he didn't mind it at all. It wasn't itchy or anything. None of the gems have fallen off or even seem in danger of falling out. Each gem seems firmly glued into the little "socket" that it was intended for. It didn't cut into skin, and it wasn't sweaty. It was basically a perfect little collar that looked adorable.

For cleaning, you just have to wipe this down with a damp washcloth. Leather doesn't enjoy soap. I'd recommend keeping it away from any sort of blood, bodily fluids, or lubricant just to keep it nice and clean. Wiping it down should get rid of any sweat though. For storage, you can keep it basically anywhere you'd like - it doesn't have any storage limitations.

If the D-ring wasn't right next to the buckle, I'd recommend this without a second's hesitation. It's comfortable, cute, and well-made. However, the buckle being right next to the D-ring really brings down the usability of the collar unfortunately. It's still a neat collar, but if you want it for leashing, it now becomes a whole new problem. If you are okay with that, I'd say go for it. It just doesn't look as pretty. If you just want it for the collar and not for leashing, I'd definitely recommend it as well.

This collar has held up to the occasional use that we give it, but honestly, we usually use other collars instead of this one. However, it is a decent collar, and if you're okay with the buckle placement, it's worth looking into it.