Aromatherapy massage oil - oil discontinued by Intimate Organics - review by Menarae

This delicious-smelling oil is for massage, but it also leaves skin wonderfully soft. I used it to pamper my feet (poor things have been beat up by awful shoes for the last couple of weeks.) It makes smoother skin nice and slippery, but it's not quite thick enough for more textured skin, like the soles of your feet. This is more because of the viscosity. I massaged my feet until my hands couldn't take it, and the oil hadn't completely absorbed into my skin. I actually had to wipe off my hands and feet with a towel so I could get up and walk around without leaving an oily mess everywhere, and the soles of my feet are still kind of slippery.

This oil is great for solo massage or couple's massage, as long as you both like the rich scent.

This massage oil is very thin, so you do have to use a fair bit. And it can be quite messy. Thank goodness the bottle is easy to handle with slippery hands, so reapplying doesn't have to be a disaster. It's a small bottle with a pop-top cap, so you can use it with one hand. Once on the skin, it is a very smooth oil, and not at all greasy.

To me, the sensual massage oil smells like chocolate covered cherries. Not my favourite treat, but still tasty. The smell easily overpowered the on-my-feet-all-day foot smell. With other lotions I've used in the past, the lotion's smell has changed drastically (and not at all pleasantly) once I start massaging it into my feet. The lemongrass extract is a deodorizer. However, over time the chocolatey smell does dissipate, leaving a perfumey, almost musky fruit scent. Which is not surprising once you look at the ingredients. This oil is scented with parfum as well as extracts. If you don't like chocolate or fruity scents, don't pick this one up.

Unfortunately... there is no cocoa in this massage oil. The chocolate smell comes entirely from the parfum mixture. I don't know exactly what goji berry smells like, as I've never had the opportunity to sniff pure goji berry, but the oil does contain lemongrass extract, which has a slight citrusy smell. I don't smell much citrus in this one, unless it's mixed well with the berry extract's scent.

As far as taste goes, I'm following the warning on the label. It's in white lettering under the product description and usage (which are in black text): "Attention: Do not ingest." I'm not sure what ingredients necessitate this warning, but if the makers of the product say don't eat it, you'd better not eat it. I know certain extracts are not safe to ingest, and I'm about 99% sure all the ingredients that make up the "parfum" are not safe to ingest.

During the foot massage, the sensual oil performed beautifully. Once I had enough on my skin, I didn't have to reapply. However, because it's a rather thin oil, I did have to move quickly to get the oil on my feet, instead of having it drip off of my palm. Be very careful how you apply this oil, too. If you apply it heavily in one area, it won't spread well, and you'll have one spot that's a lot slipperier than others. I also found it wasn't quite thick enough to make the soles of my feet nice and slippery, but it did cut down on the friction there.

It's been about three hours since I finished the massage. My feet are still a little slippery, even after toweling off and walking around a bit. My palms are just about back to normal, and the smell has just about rubbed off my palms, too.

I have several blisters on my feet at the moment, all in various stages of healing (evil shoes) but while some products irritate damaged skin, the sensual massage oil doesn't. But this isn't surprising, given the ingredients: sweet almond oil, sunflower seed oil, goji berry extract, and aloe leaf extract are all used to treat various skin ailments. The lemongrass extract is also antibaterial and antifungal. My hands, feet, and calves are nice and soft now. The sweet almond oil, sunflower seed oil, coconut oil, tocopheryl acetate, and aloe leaf extract are all good for softening the skin and restoring moisture to the skin. I might just keep a bottle of this stuff by my bed, and give myself a little rub-down at night.

I put a drop of the oil on an inflated latex condom. So far, so good...meaning this oil is latex safe. However, I'm not sure if all the ingredients are safe to use internally. Reading up on parfum ingredients has me a little concerned that this product shouldn't be going into the body in any way.

Pretty much all the oils listed in the ingredients are listed online as being water-soluble, meaning they're easy to clean and won't stain fabrics. There are also no dyes added to the oil.

A note for allergens: if you are allergic to almonds, stay away from this oil. Once of the carrier oils is Sweet Almond Oil.

The sensual massage oil comes as just the bottle. It's a fairly small bottle, about as long as my hand from heel to fingertip, and fairly narrow. I found it easy to grip while my hands were slick with oil. The black lid is of the pop-up variety, so it's easy to handle with one hand. The bottle is also recyclable; the little plastic type number is on the bottom of the bottle.

I think the packaging is tasteful. It shows a woman's abdomen (the same picture is on almost their entire line, except the men's anal relaxing spray) with the product name, company name, and product scent on the front, as well as the Certified Organic seal. (Nitpick: this product is not ENTIRELY organic, it just contains organic ingredients. The organic ingredients are the extracts, whereas everything else is not certified organic.) Product description and usage are listed on the back of the bottle in four languages. Ingredients are listed only in English. I'm happier to see the "not tested on animals" seal than the certified organic seal, honestly. There's also a little symbol that states the massage oil is good for eighteen months after opening.

I do have one complaint about the packaging. In the product description blurb, it says it contains certified organic extracts of goji berry, cocoa bean, and aloe vera. But according to the ingredients list, the organic ingredients are goji berry, lemongrass, and aloe vera extracts. Cocoa bean is not mentioned at all in the ingredients. It is possible that there is cocoa bean extract in the parfum, as that is a trade secret and doesn't have to be disclosed, but if it's not listed in the ingredients, it shouldn't be mentioned in the product blurb.

You could probably get away with leaving this product out on a dresser, as massage oil isn't strictly sexual, and you don't see any of the woman's naughty bits. As long as you don't leave a bottle of their lube or clit gel next to the massage oil... that might give you away. This would also make a nice gift for something like a wedding shower or anniversary. You can open this in front of your parents and not be embarrassed.

The sensual massage oil, like the rest of the Intimate Organics line, contains certified organic ingredients (in this case, goji berry, lemongrass, and aloe extracts.) It's also paraben-free, vegan, and not tested on animals (Yay! There's no reason to test our cosmetics on animals.)

The ingredients in the oil are good for a variety of skin ailments, from simple dry skin to damaged skin or minor infections. While the oil won't treat most skin disorders, it's unlikely to irritate your skin. Oh, I should mention that the lemongrass is also good for reducing stress and relieving symptoms of insomnia.

I poked around for information on all of the ingredients. I'd initially been concerned about the parfum and tocopheryl acetate, as those were the only two that weren't oils or extracts. Tocopheryl acetate is a form of vitamin E, which does wonders for the skin (especially damaged or scarred skin.) It can penetrate the skin and get down into the living cells, where it can be used. It also gets broken down and one of the results is tocopherol, which is an antioxidant and helps repair UV damage in the skin.

Parfum, on the other hand, might be sketchy, or it might not. Parfum is just another term for fragrance, which is deemed to be a trade secret, and therefore companies don't have to disclose in their ingredients what goes into each item's fragrance. If you have chemical sensitivities or are allergic to a lot of perfumed products, be very careful with this one, as I don't know exactly what's in it. A lot of the chemicals used in perfumes are pretty nasty... but there are others that aren't. And we just don't know what Intimate Organics is using in this particular oil. At the very least, the carrier oils are listed as water soluble, so it's easily washed off if you do have a reaction.

I'm fairly happy with the sensual massage oil. I would have liked it a little thicker, so there wasn't as much friction while I was massaging the soles of my feet, but this product wasn't designed specifically for feet, so I'll cut it some slack.

I am disappointed that there doesn't seem to be any actual cocoa in the product. From my research, there's a lot of yummy benefits to cocoa, including the whole euphoric, post-sex feeling that chocolate creates.