I went on a long vacation this summer. As a welcome home present to myself and my boyfriend, I splurged big time and filled an EF shopping cart. The number one item in this cart was the Kinklab Submissive Bondage kit. The elegant design and colors were what drew me in, but also the ability to accessorize the kit with other Kinklab products appealed to me. This is a good thing, but it's also a bad thing. If you are looking for a beginner kit which has everything you need, this kit falls short. It is indeed a good start, but it cannot be considered complete. The kit includes a blindfold, set of wrist cuffs (also available from Kinklab, you can buy the cuffs outside of the kit), a collar, and a leash. To complete my own personal purchase, I also got matching ankle cuffs, and a hogtie.

Although the hogtie is more of a personal addition on my part, there is no reason in my mind why the Submissive Bondage kit should not include the matching ankle cuffs. The kit is already considerably expensive, and to have to add on the ankle cuffs on top of this, it just doesn't seem like good advertising to me. Of course, for those who really do want a matching set, I suppose they have won – after all, I did buy both. If you're looking for partial restraint or standing restraint, I suppose you could just get by with the wrist cuffs that are included.

All of the pieces of the set are very nice in quality. I was immediately wow'd by how attractive the set was, and it is even nicer in person. It comes in a nice clear vinyl case, too, to keep all the pieces together. The collar and cuffs are made of smooth red leather, and coupled with black nylon webbing material which overlaps to fit to your individual size. The cuffs and collar fasten via a nice metal buckle, which doesn't manage to shake loose even if your slave struggles and protests. These cuffs stay in place, and keep the wearer tied down to where you want them. That is definitely a plus. The price factors in to the high quality of the metal fixtures and leather pieces. The leash failed to excite me as it is one-sided leather – meaning one side of the leather is finished, and the other is raw. I've owned nicer leashes for my dogs. The blindfold, however, is exquisite. It is slightly padded, fits snugly, and is beautiful red leather on the outside and black leather on the inside. It is held in place by a black elastic strap.

I'm fairly small, and was surprised that the wrists cuffs could tighten to fit snugly around my small wrists, unable to slip off. They could even go tighter! At the same time, the straps are long enough to fit a size much larger than me. The collar is the same. If you get the set dirty, you have to use leather-friendly cleaning solutions on it. You don't want to ruin the tender leather. My last critique of the set is the lack of a way to complete the tie-down process! The wrist cuffs have a shiny D-ring on them, but nothing to clip onto them! A simple double-sided clip would suffice to handcuff the hands together, or you could invest in leashes, tie-down pairs, or shoe laces to tie the hands to bed posts, shower heads, or what have you – but you have to get creative on your own, because the kit doesn't provide this for you. There is also a D-ring on the collar, but I think it goes without saying that the leash is supposed to attach here. If you were desperate, you could use the leash to tie up the wrists - but then you're short a leash for the collar.

Overall, the durability and sturdiness of this kit make it worth the money, but there seem to be a few practical and cosmetic shortfalls that could easily be rectified.

Calmly, I wrapped the black nylon portions of my cuffs around my wrists, tightening them securely and tugging to make sure I wouldn't be able to slip free. My boyfriend took up the red leather straps sewn onto them and buckled them securely. Holding my hair up obediently, he fastened the collar around my neck. "Get on your hands and knees," he told me. Clipping the smooth, red leash to my collar, he jerked my head up as he stood behind me, admiring my naked and bound form. Pulling me closer by force, he slipped the blindfold over my eyes and moved around to the front of me. With my sight gone, I could only wait in trembling anticipation for whatever he would give me. I struggled - but the restraints held. I was completely his to do with as he pleased.