Wet Natural’s Beautifully Bare lube was provided for review directly by Wet.
I appreciate that vendors and artisans are contacting me directly with toys for review. It’s great that my opinion has value and of course it’s always fun to get packages in the mail. Wet, having become aware of my desire to test many lubes, has sent me a number of products. I hope I have better reports about future products because this isn’t one I’m interested in using.
Beautifully Bare is a water-based lube from Wet’s Naturals line, all of which are glycerin-free and paraben-free as well as pH-balanced and hypoallergenic. As you may know by now from reading my blog, there are many dangerous ingredients in lubes which can cause harm when used and those two common ingredients are also two of the biggest sources of irritation and yeast infections.
If you’ve followed my sex toy reviews you also know that the label of “natural” or organic is of little bearing on whether the ingredients are safe or whether the product is any good.
What is inside this lube?
- Water
- PEG — a thickener found in many skin creams. Wikipedia says it has low toxicity but there are reports of problems.
- Hydroethylcellulose — a thickener
- Polysorbate-20 — a surfactant which helps to make things wetter
- Sodium Benzoate — when combined with ascorbic acid this preservative may form carcinogens
- Diazolidinyl Urea — a preservative
- Triethanolamine — this chemical helps with pH-balance
- Citric Acid — used as a preservative or pH-balancer
- Carbomer — any of several related thickening agents
- Tetrasodium EDTA — a preservative linked to environmental damage
- Aloe Barbadensis Leaf — a plant that is soothing to the skin, though people with onion and garlic allergies should avoid it
- Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Seed Extract — sometimes used as a preservative, there are many health claims about the use of this extract
- Tocopheryl Acetate (vitamin e acetate) — vitamin E can help soothe irritated skin
- Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract — another natural extract associated with many grandiose health claims
- Vaccinium Marcocarpon (Cranberry) Fruit Extract — cranberry is sometimes used to aid women’s urinary health
- Trifolium Pratense (Clover) Flower Extract — some people claim red clover can mimic estrogen. I’m not sure why this is a benefit in lube.
- Ascorbic Acid — vitamin C. But see above under Sodium Benzoate.
I’m not sure what’s ‘bare’ about this lube when it has an ingredients list that’s so long and varied. As always, you should research a lube’s ingredients and learn what is safe to use, but with so many that’s a lot of research.
The first thing I noticed about this lube wasn’t any of its ingredients but its smell. Like many personal care products, this lube had a small safety seal over the lid. When I unsealed it for the first time I felt overwhelmed by a wave of cloyingly sweet odor. It was so sweet that I double-checked that I had opened Beautifully Bare as intended instead of the Sensual Strawberry flavored lube I had also received in the same shipment. But no, this is another ‘unflavored’ lube with scented extracts added to create a terrible bouquet. When I let HoneyJ smell it she compared the scent to cough syrup.
To put a final nail in this lube’s coffin, when I tried using it for masturbation it dried almost instantaneously. Now, water-based lubes are not always the best for male masturbation but most of them last longer than this one. Between it’s failure for personal use and its terrible odor, I can’t imagine using it on another person, especially in the delicate chemistry of a woman’s genitals.
Once again, a “natural” product is full of dubious ingredients. Beautifully Bare is a bad lubricant, and I’m tossing my bottle in the trash. A much simpler and more “natural” lube (whatever that means) is Water Slide.
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Disclaimer: I am not paid for these reviews (unless you buy something via an affiliate link) but I am given free products in return for my honest opinion.
