La Metropole is a chic little vibrator from Extase. It comes packaged in a white and purple box, with a full sized photo of the product on the top and product information on the sides and bottom. Inside the box is La Metropole, a black suede pouch for easy and discreet storage, a small booklet showcasing other Extase products, and an instruction manual in several languages that covers care and cleaning.

This vibrator is nicely designed and meant to be discreet. It resembles a vial of perfume or mascara with its white top and metallic blue bottom with white script-like design, and it would go completely unnoticed with other makeup items in your purse or bag.

La Metropole is petite at just 4 1/2” long and about 2 1/4" insertable with about 3/4" in diameter. The vibrator is made of ABS plastic on top and an aluminum alloy on the bottom. It has a shiny, sleek look with a nice metallic sheen on the bottom half. The tip has a slight curve for g-spot stimulation, although how well this works will depend on the shallowness of your g-spot. The tip also works well for clitoral stimulation. This vibrator is not meant for anal use because of its small size and lack of a flared base.

This vibrator is powered by 1 AA battery which will operate it for about 4 hours. If not removed, the battery will last up to 80 days, although the full 4 hours of use might not be possible. The vibrator unscrews between the white and blue. Inside is a battery holder which fully removes from both halves, and includes the button control from the bottom. The battery direction is clearly labeled. While unscrewing the halves is simple, it can be quite tricky to get the threads to line up and put the pieces back together. Once the threads line up you’re ready to put La Metropole to use.

La Metropole is controlled by one push button located on the bottom. Pressing the button for 2 seconds turns it on, and pressing it for 2 seconds will also turn it off. When on, the button glows with a white light. The light is bright and steady regardless of which vibration mode the toy is on. If the battery is low on power, the light will flash on and off indicating that a fresh battery is needed. The 2 seconds for on and off make La Metropole ideal to travel with as it won’t turn on accidentally in your bag.

La Metropole features 5 modes: steady low, steady medium, steady high, double pulses (short long pairs), and triple pulses (short short long pattern). The vibrations are buzzy and felt mostly in the tip, although they can be felt down the shaft. Even on high, however, the vibrations are pretty weak, moderate at best, mostly due to the use of a single battery to power them. They are quiet, however, and although the pitch of the vibrations changes depending on the amount of pressure used, La Metropole can barely be heard.

This vibrator is splashproof but not waterproof, so care should be taken when cleaning. It should not be submerged in water, and water should not be allowed to come in contact with the button on the bottom. Both top and bottom pieces can be cleaned by unscrewing them and removing the battery holder before washing. Water and a gentle soap should be used, and the vibrator should be dried with a soft cloth. If La Metropole is cleaned with the battery compartment removed, both pieces must be completely dried before reattaching them. Never use acetone, alcohol, or petroleum-based cleaners. Both water-based and silicone lubricants are safe to use, but massage oils (as well as hand creams) will damage the toy.

I was pretty taken with the look of this vibrator. Mixed in with the makeup and other things I carry in my purse, it blended right in and it wasn’t at all obvious what it was. I also really liked the color and the metallic base.

What I didn’t like was the strength of the vibrations. The high speed was surprisingly weak for me and, while I liked the pulsing patterns, this vibrator had no intentions of getting me off regardless of what I had planned. It was fine for teasing, but not much else. As a g-spot vibrator, I found this wasn’t long enough to work for me, and it was quite difficult to hold and maneuver that way.

The other thing I had a lot of trouble with was screwing the two pieces together. For some reason the threads didn’t want to align, and it always took me a few tries to get them back together.

Overall, while it looks good, it’s tricky to put back together when replacing the battery, and it just isn’t strong enough for me.