Tristan - anal toy by Vixen Creations, Inc - review by Coralbell

Tristan is a butt plug, designed for Vixen Creations by sex educator and anal expert Tristan Taormino. I find this plug works best as a warm up for other anal toys, or for anal sex with my partner. It is not comfortable for longer term wear for me, but that is dependent on anatomy, so it may work well that way for others. With it's short length, Tristan really isn't designed for thrusting, but it does what a plug is supposed to do and stays in place nicely. The large base assuages any fears of the plug slipping inside. I wouldn't recommend Tristan to someone who is totally new to anal play, but if you've used smaller toys, or a couple of fingers, Tristan could be a great next step.

Tristan is made from Vixen Creation's premium silicone. It's non-porous, phthalate free, and has no odour. This is my first Vixen toy, and I was surprised by how squishy the silicone is. I thought my Ryder was pretty squishy, but Tristan is much softer - almost as soft as my O2 dildo. This can help make it easier to insert, and makes the plug a little more comfortable to wear. The neck is flexible, but still has enough firmness that it doesn't bend to the side when I insert the plug. I'm able to bend the base in half with my hands, but it takes some force; it's thick enough that it isn't floppy at all.

I have Tristan in purple, and the colour is extremely different from the pictures on the product page. It's a much lighter shade of purple, with blue swirls and shimmer.

Tristan's shape is pretty unique. The body of the toy is rather short, and sort of spade-shaped, rather than having the traditional long taper. The neck is the same length as the body, and not much thinner. The base is large, with curved cut-outs on the sides to help it fit between the cheeks more easily.




Below you can see the Tristan in comparison to the Tantus Ryder and Happy Valley Pleasure Plug 2.




Tristan has a much larger base than my other plugs.

I find Tristan works very well as a warm up for anal sex. The wide neck helps stretch and prepare the anus much better than a traditionally shaped plug with a narrow neck. The shape of the tip doesn't make for the easiest insertion possible, but as someone with a bit of anal experience I didn't find it too challenging. Inserting a finger or two first helped me to slip the plug inside easily.

Once inserted, the plug locks nicely into place, and doesn't slip out, even when I squeeze my PC muscles. The base is quite large, so there really shouldn't be any concerns about it accidentally slipping inside.

Tristan does not work for me for longer term wear. I find it too uncomfortable to wear for the duration of a sex or masturbation session. I usually like to use my plugs for double penetration with my partner or a vaginal toy, but I haven't been able to use Tristan that way. I would never want to wear it throughout the day or walk around with it inserted.

To make it comfortable for me, it would need to either have a smaller base to fit between my cheeks better, or have a longer neck so that the base landed farther away from my anus, where there is more room for my cheeks to spread apart. As it is, the base feels a bit too wide, and my butt cheeks put outward pressure on the base, which causes a slight pulling feeling on my anus. It feels a bit strange, and after about 15 minutes I start wanting to remove the plug. I think Tristan would work better for someone with a larger frame, who wouldn't find the base as large in proportion to their pelvis, or someone with a tiny butt, so that the base would fall almost at the outside of their gluteal crease (is it tacky to say butt crack in a review?). For reference, I'm 5'4" and a size 6, with narrower hips, but a larger butt.

Since it's made from non-porous silicone, Tristan is easy to clean, which is very important in an anal toy. It can be cleaned with soap and water or toy cleaner. It can be sterilized by boiling it for 3 minutes, wiping it down with a 10% bleach solution, or running it through the dishwasher with no soap.

The silicone picks up a lot of lint, so you're going to want to store this is a bag or pouch, or rinse it off before using.

Silicone lubes can react with silicone toys and damage them. Either stick with water based lube so you don't have to worry, or do a patch test on the base to see if your silicone lube will react. I have used my Tristan with hybrid lubes and haven't experienced any problems.