Massage therapy kit - sensual kit by Kama Sutra - review by Sam (aka Jul!a)

Massage oils can be used for all sorts of great things, from massaging, of course, to being a moisturizer for the skin to being added to a bath or loofah to soften the skin while getting clean.

These particular massage oils work pretty well for all of the above, but seem to work best as a moisturizer.

Each of these oils has a similar consistency, runny, but not in a bad way. It feels like a drier oil, and never leaves the skin feeling greasy at all. Getting it out of the bottle is pretty easy too, it's not so runny that it drips right out as soon as it's turned upside down, you can control how much you want; drip by drip if you want.

Between the fingers, it feels pretty nice at first, and then quickly absorbing into the skin enough to allow you to easily feel the skin to skin contact, but still having plenty of lubrication between everything.

This is a sampler set of sorts, letting you have a taste of each of Kama Sutra's scents without having to purchase the full size bottle. Here you get the following 5 scents:

Sweet Almond: "A sensual combination of calming oils for relaxation and de-stressing." This scent is hard for me to place. I've heard it really does smell true to listed scent, but to me it smells very sweet, almost candy like and mildly fruity. After being rubbed into the skin I've found that it seems to smell almost a little bit like baby powder, oddly enough. Maybe not baby powder per se, but something light and fresh.

Healing Blend: "A rich blend of pure essential oils for soothing muscles and restoring harmony." Essential oils here are listed on the back of the bottle as being elemi, clary sage, clove, and nutmeg. Out of these, I think I'm smelling the clove the most. I find the scent in the air to be rather relaxing, but inhaled directly to be a bit too much.

Pleasure Garden: "An aromatic mix of pure essential oils for sensual and seductive intimacy." Essential oils listed on the back of the little bottle are Italian bergamot, ylang ylang, neroli, rose, lavender, and sandalwood. This one smells the most of the rose, and some might find it to be overwhelmingly like potpourri. I can smell a hint of something else in there too, but I can't pinpoint exactly what it is.

Soaring Spirit: "An invigorating blend of pure essential oils to energize and refresh." This one lists its essential oils as "invigorating notes of" citrus, geranium, ginger, and fennel. To me, I smell mint, or something very close to it. Something along the lines of mint chocolate chip ice cream. The scent itself is very invigorating in a good way.

Serenity: "A soothing mixture of pure essential oils for quieting body and soul." Lists its notes as being "a soothing blend of" warm cedar, sweet marjoram, and the scent of orange groves and lavender. I was able to detect the lavender and a little bit of the cedar, and can't quite put my finger on everything else. However I'm notoriously bad for being able to distinguish herbs from one another. This one really does give off a relaxing vibe, and has a very nice calming effect.

The strength of each scent varies, but each one seems to stay pretty close to the body. You'll be able to smell it if you're within a few feet of someone, but I don't think across the room. I would avoid trying to taste any of these.

For us, these oils just didn't perform very well, at least at first. With somewhere between a quarter and a half dollar size squirt onto my back, my husband was able to spread it around, and that was about it. He got a few good strokes in, but it soaked in way too fast to be usable for massaging, at least for us. I tried on him, using the same amount, and could just barely cover his entire back, and by the time I got from the bottom to the top, it had soaked in. Adding more helped, but I don't want to have to use a ton of oil all the time. When used with a massage stone it seemed to work a little better for providing a nice glide, but hand to hand just didn't work for us without adding a whole bunch of oil.

Since it soaked in so fast, we didn't feel the need to wash any of it off, but should you feel the need to, you can start by wiping off any excess you don't want with a spare towel. Worst case is taking a shower, but that probably won't be necessary. If you choose to leave it on, you'll be left with soft, smooth skin.

All 5 bottles come in a nifty plastic ziploc envelope of sorts. It's convenient because it will hold each bottle, and not let any leaks in or out. There is a little insert that calls this a massage therapy kit, but it's not particularly risqué. However it's easily removable if you don't like looking at it.

Each bottle has 2 ounces of oil in it, and features a convenient click top, similar to a shampoo bottle. The caps come off so that you can remove the little freshness seals and start using your oil. I've noticed that all 5 of my little bottles seem to leak if left on their side at all, and I'm not really sure why. The only thing I can think of is that there was oil on the rim of the bottle before the cap went back on or something like that. Either way, I recommend keeping these bottles upright.

Each of the bottles seem to have the same ingredient list: glycene soja (soybean) oil, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, pistacia vera seed oil, C 12-15 alkyl benzoate, caprylic.capric triglyceride, prunus amygdalus dulis (sweet almond) oil, lecithin, fragrance, tocopheryl acetate.

I kept hearing all sorts of awesome things about the Kama Sutra massage oils. I've tried the Shunga ones, along with a whole bunch of others, and I've found myself favoring the Shunga oils. To me, those are more fruity and candy like, while the Kama Sutra ones are more earthy and spicy. I do like the Kama Sutra scents, I just like the Shunga ones more.

For massages, these were a total fail for us. I'm not sure why, especially since I've heard so many awesome things about them. Maybe our skin is just be drier than other people's. But nonetheless, these probably won't get used for massages much in the future. I will still continue to use them for moisturizing purposes, since I do feel they do a pretty decent job at that. I like that I don't get left with the greasy feeling that the Shunga oils give, but I don't like having to continually reapply for massaging. But between the fail massages and the leaky bottles, I'm still a little torn on whether or not I'll ever invest in a bigger bottle. Time will tell.