LifeStyles Skyn - male condom discontinued by Ansell - review by Jul!a

The rundown: A condom's basic function is to serve as protection, whether that be from becoming pregnant or from diseases. Some condoms endeavor to make the journey as pleasurable as possible, and thus you end up with condoms that are supposed to feel like nothing.

The packaging: A pretty little black and gold box, it definitely houses condoms and there's no getting around that. The outside has an expiration date, and mine indicates that they were apparently expired when they came to me. I just noticed while writing the review. Inside there are directions on how to use a condom and all that jazz as well.

The boring specs: The "average" condom is about 7.5" long, 2" wide at the base and along the shaft and in the head, and .0027" thick. Dimensions online list these as being 2.08" wide at the base, 7.4" long, and .0027" thick. Out of my own stash I come up with about 7 1/4" long and 2" wide across the base and up the shaft. My husband is about 5" long and about 5" around and they weren't overly loose or anything like that. If you routinely need the size of a Magnum, you might want to avoid these, but otherwise use your best judgment.

The potentially interesting design features: In theory, these condoms are supposed to feel like nothing at all. The thickness, to the touch, feels like most other condoms on the market, and the design looks to be about the same. These are however made of a material called polyispropelene, which is basically a synthetic form of the natural latex that most condoms are made of. While thicker than polyurethane in most cases, it tends to be more forgiving and cheaper.

The exciting "what it was like" part: Despite arriving expired, mine still functioned properly and admirably. The purpose of this condom is to "feel like you're wearing nothing at all" and it was a 50/50 with us. To my husband they didn't feel like anything out of the ordinary as far as condoms go. They were there but they didn't detract from the experience at all. To me they felt a lot less like a condom and a lot more like my husband's penis. I could still tell that it was there, but only because I couldn't feel the heat from his penis as well as with nothing. There was no latex scent, and there was lube there, although I needed to add more.

The important safety stuff: Ok, real quick let's talk about things you should and shouldn't do with condoms. Do add more lube if you feel like you're drying out. Lack of lube can cause increase friction and cause the condom to break. Do keep your condoms in a cool, dry location. Don't keep them in your glove box, in the wallet you sit on all day, and at the bottom of your purse are not good places for condoms. In the purse it could get punctured, and being in all that heat can also degrade the material which is again, not good.

Knowing that the batch of three I got was expired when they arrived, I'm not planning on using the third one. However I am planning on buying more of these in the future. The two that we used were enough for me to decide that these are worth keeping in our collection if we can get them for a good price, and since they're a bit cheaper than the Trojan Supra condoms, I'm more likely to go for these.