Ben Gay, Icy Hot, is that you?

I have a lot of experience with massage oils, but not so much for creams. Shunga Erotic Novelties has one and since I like their oils, I figured the massage cream would be a safe bet too. Although I liked Soft Moves Massage Cream more as a regular lotion, it does have some benefits for massage also. After it has time to dry, it makes the skin feel smooth and silky and won't leave you feeling stick or in need of an immediate shower. This massage cream also has a pleasant sweet taste so you don't have to wash if you want to do some body kissing after either.

Shunga uses very nice and natural ingredients in their products. These are the ingredients (straight off the jar):

Water, Stearic acid, Glycerin, Safflower oil, Sorbitol, Cethyl alcohol, Glyceryl stearate, Peg 100 stearate, Petrolatum, Triethanolamine, Flavor, Methylparaben, Sodium saccharin, Honey, Vitamin E, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazol, coloring

I imagine this too be thicker than it is. I thought it would be like my other creams, thick and immovable. But this is actually runnier than that. The consistency is much like a regular yogurt or a suntan lotion. As long as you use it in small quantities at a time, it will stay where you put it while massaging. I suggest dabbing your finger in the jar to get some out instead of tilting it. The jar is large and too much could come out this way. At first, it feels smooth, then a bit sticky. Given time to dry, it smooths out again. It doesn't ever feel greasy though.

The Soft Moves Massage Creme come is four scents: Cherry, Vanilla fields, Raspberry kiss, and Cre'me De Menthe Mint. I don't like artificially flavored vanilla or cherry things and my boyfriend hates raspberry, so I got the mint. I was expecting it to be like a toothpaste mint, but instead this smells exactly like Ben-Gay or Icy Hot. This was slightly off putting to me since I don't like to associate my massages with smells that remind me of painful softball or ballet injuries. However, the smell is not strong and decreases quickly with time, so this really wasn't much of a problem. The taste isn't of mint, but instead just a light sweet taste. This I appreciated as a nice change from the taste of oil.

I really liked this as an alternative to oil. For massages I suggest working in small areas at first and then working the entire area. I found that if I used too much of this at once, it didn't smooth in as nicely. Even when working on small areas, I found that the creme is sticky at first, but given enough time (about 5 minutes) to be blended in and then dried, it leaves the skin feeling very smooth and slightly silky. If you use too much, don't allow enough time, or don't massage it in enough, you may be left feeling a bit icky. So don't use this unless you have enough time to do so-trust me it is worth the patience! I also liked using this on my legs, but only if it wasn't a humid day.

This isn't the kind of massage cream that lasts very long. This is a good thing in one way because it blends in nicely and won't leave you feeling like you want to take a shower. It is a bad thing because it isn't best for using with massage toys. It will likely get absorbed too fast for that. I never did wash this off, but since it is water based, you could just use soap and water. After use, the smell stays but drastically decreases within an hour. About an hour after use, it just smelled sweet, instead of minty. At this point, I could not longer taste it, but it was fun to kiss immediately after the massage! My partner nor I had any bad reactions to this and were pretty pleased with the results.

The creme comes in a classy plastic jar. At 7 ounces (200 ml) it is pretty large also. It has a simple to open and close screw top. After using it a handful of times, I didn't even notice a dent in the creme. I imagine it would last a very long time. The jar can easily be placed among other toiletry items and go unnoticed because it is fairly discreet. The top says Shunga-Erotic Art, while the front has a Shunga Art picture of an animated couple in an embrace. The jar comes in a cardboard box with the same graphics, more explanation of the product, and the ingredients.

I am giving the Shunga Massage Creme 4 stars. I liked the ending result in smoothness but didn't like the dry time and how stinky it felt before that. The jar gives you plenty of product and I think it is a good price for that amount. I like to use this when I have time to massage my legs after a long day of being on my feet. It makes them feel luxuriously smooth and my boyfriend can't keep his hands off of them!