Insignia Alia - discreet massager discontinued by LELO - review by Missmarc

Alia was an impulse buy for me. I felt immediately attracted to the pink color and the gold on the inner part of the vibrator. Normally I wouldn't spend this much money on a clitoral vibrator. Ever since giving in, I’ve used Alia many times for stimulation on my erogenous zones. The hole in the middle fits nicely over the areola, while the pleasure point is wonderful against the clitoris. I had fun with Alia fully submerged in water as well.

One of my justifications for buying Alia initially was how I could bring it anywhere, even loop it on a keychain, and no one would know its true purpose! It’s so pretty and elegant; I feel a little whimsical and naughty at the same time carrying a piece of functional art around.

An unexpected, but brilliant, result of Alia is that somehow it became my boyfriend's introductory vibrator. There is a pretty good range of vibration for him to go through since he is not used to very intense vibrations. He likes it on the tip on his cock and on his scrotum. It's great to use on him while giving him a blowjob.

Gold Ring: body safe PC ABS plastic
Outer Portion: silicone

Alia is hypoallergenic, non-porous, phthalate free, odor free! If I buy a vibrator, it has to be 100% safe to the body. I am extremely picky about my toys and they must be made of material that does not harbor bacteria and is odor-free. The texture is pretty friendly to beginners. It’s lightweight and easy to hold either on your hand or between fingers. Alia is not a dust or lint magnet (unlike so many silicone toys), even when left out on a table for a few days.

I initially thought the inner ring was made of metal so I was a bit disappointed. Although visually pleasing and smooth, the paint starts flaking off on the seam on the inside 2-3 months after I bought it. The silicone is great; it’s soft, smooth, colored beautifully, and makes me feel luxurious and spoiled. After a number of uses however, the coloring fades out along the outer edge between the silicone and plastic ring. I would probably like Alia more if Lelo made the whole exterior of the vibrator out of silicone.

Alia takes an oval shape, like an egg, and fits nicely in my palm. The dimensions are:
Tip to butt of egg: 3 ¾”
Widest part of egg: 2 1/8”
Thickness: 1 ¼”
Length of inside hole: 1 ¼”
Width of inside hole: 1”

The pleasure point is positioned on the more tapered end of the egg, which contains the motor. There's a golden hole in the middle that I can use to put two fingers through and hold the vibrator firmly. With the control buttons facing outward, I can easily access the modes while pressing Alia's pleasure point against my clit. Since I am holding the other side of the unit, I love how my hand doesn't go numb when holding this to masturbate.

There are a set of 3 buttons on the side of the egg. The button in the middle cycles through all modes of vibration:

1. Constant vibration
2. Regular pulse
3. Fast pulse
4. Long drawn out pulse
5. Even longer drawn out pulse
6. Random crazy vibration (this mode feels like the vibrator's singing to me)

Modes 4 and 5 can be a little hard to discern, but there's a definitely a speed difference. Sometimes the buttons are not as responsive; I would press it, hear the click, see the light blink, but nothing else changes. However, the unit normally responds the second time around, so this hasn’t bothered me much.
The "+" will turn on the vibrator. Holding the "+" button will increase the vibration intensity. Holding the “-" button will decrease the vibration intensity. Continue holding the "-" button to turn the vibrator off. Pressing and holding both “+” and “-“ buttons for 5 seconds will engage the travel lock. This ensures the toy will not accidentally turn on, to conserve battery and avoid potentially embarrassing situations in public ;) Repeating the procedure or charging Alia will unlock the unit.

With every press of the button, the vibrator gives a firm click and a pink light blinks through the silicone over the buttons, making it very easy to identify that a button has been pressed.

According to manual, the noise level from Alia is less than 50 db. For reference, a quiet library is 30 db, and normal human conversation is about 60-70 db. From experience, I can barely hear it when it’s under a layer of covers.

To charge Alia, push through the silicone covering the indentation on the wider end of the egg with the charging plug. The LED will pulse to indicate that the unit is charging, and when fully charged, the LED will emit a steady white glow. It takes about 2 hours to charge Alia from dead to full, and from personal experience, one charge accommodates up to 4 hours of use. The silicone reseals itself when the charging plug is removed. For obvious reasons, do NOT charge when Alia is in water. With or without the silicone skin, the toy is still waterproof up to 1 meter.

One area of improvement for Alia is stronger vibration intensity. At max setting, it's sufficient to take me to orgasm while the pleasure point is pressed against my clit. With this price range, “sufficient” fails to suffice – I need “fantastic”. Just as I'm about to orgasm, I wish there was several more intense settings to push me over the edge. Even though Alia is 100% waterproof and works great underwater, vibrations are dulled, and it becomes definitely not strong enough.

Alia is really easy to clean with warm water and soap. Do not use scouring materials, silicone- or alcohol-based solutions, as those will damage the silicone on the toy. Do not boil the unit or put it in the dishwasher, which will damage the mechanical components. Since it's made of silicone, water-based lubricants are the way to go to avoid degrading the material.

Although some people are concerned that the seam between the silicone and plastic traps debris, it hasn't been a big issue for me, since Alia is used externally. We wash it before and after, then store it in the silk pouch provided.

Alia comes in a discreet gray box imprinted with “Lelo” in the middle. It’s embedded in black foam alongside a gold insignia brooch. On one side of the box, there is a flap that opens up. And you can find the charger, silk pouch, user manual, and warranty information inside. I’ve had this vibrator for a few months now. The gold paint on the brooch has already been oxidized; it is no longer the original color and does not look very appealing and therefore not wearable anymore. The same kind of process however did not happen to the toy, and I hope it never does. I hope they used sufficient gold paint or other manufacturing process on the toy so I can continue to use it without any issues.



I’m not a big fan of silk pouch because of several reasons. Firstly, the white lining is not sewn to the outside of the black cover. Every time I try to take out the vibrator it drags the white lining with it. Then I have to shove the lining back inside the bag to prevent more dust from being trapped. Secondly, some of the silk on the inside lining and ribbon started fraying, which creates lint that would stick to my vibrator. Finally, for a product that prides itself in quality and longevity, I would expect the accessories to be comparable in quality, but the bag is not – it should have been made better (on a side note, the bag provided with Lyla is far superior, and a much needed improvement).

Alia comes with a 1 year warranty against defects due to faulty workmanship or material. It does not cover cosmetic deterioration caused by wear and tear or damage caused by accident, misuse or neglect. Unfortunately, this includes the fading pink color along the outer edge of the silicone and the flaking of the gold paint on the inner plastic ring. Lelo requires you to pay for return shipping. I am used to warranty policies that send me a replacement item with a pre-paid box to return the defective item. I believe that if a company truly wants to guarantee their products for their intended longevity, they should pay for return shipping.

Lyla also comes with a 10 year guarantee, which I don't foresee myself using. The guarantee states that if your toy breaks at any point within 10 years after you purchase it, you can send it back to Lelo (again, you pay for shipping), and they will give you a 50% discount in their web shop on your next purchase. Their web shop is so expensive that even with 50% off, most toys are still more expensive than the price at which I normally find Lelo toys.

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