Kittens grin collar - collar by Leatherbeaten - review by Luscious Lily

This is, hands down, the most comfortable collar I've ever worn. I'm very picky about what goes around my neck - if it irritates me, it's gone. The soft, supple leather is a dream against the skin. The decorative spikes are well made, sharp, and have a nice shine to them, quite unlike the spikes often seen on lesser collars. They also don't irritate like the inside of some spikes I've seen. The buckle isn't your standard toggle buckle; while it takes a little getting used to, it's much sleeker and less bulky than the buckles on many collars.

It's a collar that some may be comfortable wearing in day to day life, while others may not be comfortable wearing it outside the bedroom. Either way, it's a fantastic little collar. A well-executed fusion of form and function, it's a luxurious offering to my inner punk child, well made and sexy.

The design of this collar intrigued me from the start. I usually steer clear of spikes, because they tend to be either cheap or gaudy. I could tell from the photos that these were neither. Against the narrow band of black leather (5/8" wide), they looked sexy, and almost understated; almost, but not quite. They looked cute, in a feral sort of way. The name suits it well; it's like the grin of a kitten - and have you ever seen the evil mischief those cute little bundles of fluff can get into? But I digress.

I have a very tiny neck, barely 13", so I went with the Small. At its loosest, it can be made to fit up to a 17" neck, and at the tightest an 11" neck. In practice, however, both of these extremes are pushing it. At the smallest end of either size, you may find that moving the buckle off-center keeps the loose end of excess leather from sticking out to the side of your neck. This collar fits best when you're somewhere in the middle of its size range; if you want to share it with your partner, and you have very different sized necks, you should consider getting each of you a different size.

Buckle is a bit of a variation on the standard toggle buckle. Instead of being attached to one side of the collar, with a loose toggle to pass through the holes, this buckle is a free piece of hardware that can be moved around on the collar, and even completely removed. The two ends of the leather are passed through the metal loops in an overlapping fashion and adjusted to the desired fit, and a rounded metal spike on the crossbar is then pressed through the holes. The length is just right that this spike never irritates the neck of the wearer unless the collar is adjusted far too tight. In fact, I never even felt the spike unless the metal was very, very cold: it then registered as a tiny cold spot against the warm leather. It's a great, sleek buckle design that looks good and is very secure. You may need help, or at least a mirror, to put it on yourself. No matter how many times I wear it, my fingers can't figure it out by themselves.

Now, about the leather. Oh, the leather! I adore a good piece of leather, and that this certainly is. It’s incredibly supple, and it only grows softer and more luscious with every use. The outside has a smooth finish, while the inside is soft suede that cradles the delicate skin of the neck. While not as severe and visually imposing as heavier collars can be, the light leather molds to your skin and moves with you. It’s a dream to wear, and the leather never smelled like anything but good, clean leather.

The workmanship of this collar is fantastic. I didn’t have any experience with Leatherbeaten’s products when I was sent the Kitten’s Grin, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I’ve seen has me saving up my pennies for more of their pieces. This is a collar that will last a long time if you take care of it. The leather is high quality, and isn’t going to split and crack and die on you without considerable abuse.

The hardware is very sturdy, and has resisted my (reasonable) attempts to test its mettle. It has survived day-long wearings, getting tugged on by small children, being tossed into a backpack for a weekend, spending some travel time gently coiled in a bag with some (wrapped) toys of harder materials, and worn at the same time as a necklace for a few hours bumping against the chain. It hasn’t shown a single scratch or ding. This hardware is going to last. It’s not going to part company with the leather, either. Out of curiosity and in the name of science, I tugged and twisted and pulled at the spikes with increasing strength, and they showed no signs of strain. From the looks of it, you’d have to actually cut the leather to knock these spikes loose.

The Kitten's Grin is a wonderfully comfortable and sexy collar. Unlike other collars, I can wear it for hours at a time without discomfort. It can't be used as an attachment point for a leash or other restraints, but it wasn't designed to do so. It is a fantastic visual addition to play time, whether it's worn as bondage by a submissive or as adornment by a dominant. We found that it works great either way, and thoroughly enjoyed it. And since it's tame enough to wear out and about, the Kitten's Grin would have us both grinning about the other things that had been done in that collar, regardless of where we are.

The one quibble some people may have with this collar is that it cannot be used as an attachment point for bondage. Nowhere on it is there a ring of any kind that could be used to attach things to it. I refute this complaint for two reasons. One, it would have disrupted the aesthetic developed in this collar; remade with a ring, it would still be attractive, but it would have a very different vibe to it. As a stylistic choice, this fits the design better.

Two, the collar simply isn’t practical for attachment that is anything but decorative; the chain to nipple clamps, perhaps. Collars with serious attachment points tend to be broad and heavy for a reason: it distributes any force applied around the neck more evenly. This collar is too narrow and lightweight to do so effectively, and sharp forces applied asymmetrically to the neck can end in someone being seriously hurt. More experienced players would be aware of this element and could take special precautions to avoid injury, but beginners might not realize what a strong, sharp jerk on a leash to a collar like this could do. Please, as with any BDSM toy, be careful.