Bound by diamonds hog tie - wrist and ankle cuffs discontinued by Cal Exotics - review by Kayla

As pretty as these cuffs were, I wanted to be impressed, I really did. I'd heard bad things about the rest of the "Bound In Diamonds" set, but like some of my friends on Twitter, I was hoping this would be the exception.

The Bound By Diamonds Hog Tie set comes with four cuffs and the middle hog-tie piece. The cuffs are made from a strip of PVC for the cuff with a piece of polyester to hold on the D-ring of the cuff. Each cuff also has a "receiving" and "giving" end of velcro to keep the cuffs fastened on. Each cuff also includes a little line of "gems" randomly sewn onto one end of the velcro. The HogTie piece is a metal o-ring with four pieces of PVC hanging off of it. Each piece of PVC is looped around the O-ring then sewed right at the spot where it touches the original piece of PVC. A little snap keeps it in place. On the end that isn't towards the center, a clip attached to a D-ring was sewed on in the same fashion.

The cuffs look like they will fit any ankle or wrist that you want to put them on. The velcro extends a huge way around any sized appendage. To give you an idea: I can slip both of my wrists into one cuff and still have room to spare with as large as they go. I also can slip two fingers into the cuff, and it will go small enough to just accommodate my two fingers. The ankle and wrist cuffs are the exact same - they didn't include different sizing for the two different ones.

The boyfriend says they aren't horrible, but they aren't comfortable either. They're okay for anything light or anything quick, but for long-term play, they become uncomfortable and sweaty.

What the pictures don't show you is the back of the hogtie or cuff pieces. Instead of double-layering the PVC so it would look nice, they just left the back exposed, so it looks almost like a denim-material. (I'm assuming it's the back of the PVC, but it looks denim-like.) So, needless to say, if you were expecting it to look sexy from all angles, that's not going to happen. Especially when you consider that the stitching lines are clearly visible on this back side along with the little "loops" around the rings actually show some PVC on the back before it abruptly ends.

Each little cuff has a D-ring. The hog-tie piece has clips that clip onto the D-ring. While this means that you can clip each one individually, it also means that the cuffs and hog-tie piece would be compatible with other bondage sets that you happened to own.

However, this is all a silly point to make considering the circumstances. Within two minutes of slipping the cuff onto my subbie and getting the full set on him, the nylon piece that held the cuff's D-ring just completely fell off. We weren't even playing yet - he was just sitting while gently pulling on the cuff. It appears that the stitching just couldn't hold any sort of tension. The threads are all hanging out of both the nylon piece and the PVC piece of the cuff, and if it happened to one cuff, I assume it would have happened with the other three cuffs as well.

I really don't think I couldn't recommend this set to anyone if they really wanted to play with the hogtie capabilities. Instead, I think this set is honestly only good for using the cuffs for "fashion cuffs" and even that ability is doubted because the velcro is easily visible on each cuff. The hogtie piece looks a little bit more sturdy, but I still don't trust it - plus, the material is thin and the clips and O-ring don't seem very firmly stitched on.

If you chose to, the hogtie piece seems to be a little more well-made than the cuffs, so you could purchase the hogtie piece to play with other, more well-made cuffs. You also could take a risk with the cuffs and purchase a double-clip and clip two of the cuffs together to make cute handcuffs.

PVC tends to keep itself pretty clean. Warm water with a washcloth will shine up the PVC material. It should be safe around lubricants or water. (I'm not quite sure how you'd use a hogtie set in the bathtub, but to each their own.)

Overall, purchase this if you want the fashion aspect of it, but don't expect it to hold a hogtie position. If you had BDSM photography in mind, this would be adorable, but for actual play try something else.

Not fond of this set at all.

We haven't pulled it out since it broke. Honestly, I think the boyfriend most likely threw it away. If it doesn't work as a restraint set, what exactly is it going to work as?