Knead Me massage set - sensual kit discontinued by Jimmyjane - review by Cherrylane

The Knead Me set is a lovely massage set by Jimmyjane. Naturally, it's best use is for massage.

The wax of the Afterglow massage candle turns into massage oil when melted and can be poured directly from the candle onto skin without waiting for the wax to cool.

Ingredients for the Dark Vanilla candle included in the Knead Me set are as follows:

Soybean Oil, Shea butter, Palmarosa Oil, jojoba Oil, Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, Ambrettolide, Anisic Aldehyde, Anisyl Alcohol, Bacdanol, Cedarwood Oil Texas Light, Cedramber, Coumarin, Delta Dodecalactone, Delta Nonalactone, Delta Undecalactone, Dihydromyrcenol, Dioctyl Adipate, Ethyl Vanillin, Eugenol, Gama Decalactone, Gama Dodecalactone, Heliotropine, Hexyl Salicylate, Iso E Super, Iso Propyl Quinoline, Methyl Laitone 10 TEC, Veltol Plus, Vertenex, Vertofix.

Jimmyjane touts its natural ingredients, which dominate the first half of the list, in the description of this product. However, I really don't know what most of the products on the list are, how natural they are, precisely what they're used for, whether they have any interactions or allergenic tendencies etc. I did notice that the length of the ingredients list varied dramatically for each of the afterglow scents, so it's possible that it is just variations in products used to scent the oil.

The Massage M stone is a multi-use ceramic massage stone. A single small node can be used for pinpoint stimulation, while the four small nodes together can be used for multi-point stimulation. The larger broad side can be used for broad-pressure stimulation and can be used alone or with a partner depending on where you want the massage (more on that later). The stone can be heated or cooled to enhance sensation has the users see fit.

This gift set is wonderful for couples or even just as a gift to yourself. It would also be an appropriate and classy gift to give at a bachelorette party or as a wedding gift.

The oil from the candle is pretty slick and smooth. It's very easy to pour out of the spout and can be poured directly onto the skin. Before the massage began, the oil would have dripped around had I moved, though most people using it wouldn't be moving around. Once the massage started and the oil was being rubbed around and into my skin, it didn't go anywhere beyond where the hands put it. It soaked in very nicely.

Some people may find that the oil from the candle makes their skin greasy. Although I could feel it on my skin after the massage, I didn't consider it greasy. At the very least, not compared to all the oils I've had with other massages. I mostly felt like I'd been moisturized with oil, and that if I had been in a robe at a fancy spa and could hang out by a pool after then I wouldn't have noticed it on my skin at all. However, I was paying particular attention to everything because I knew that I had to write a review after, and I noticed it. In my opinion, it's just what using moisturizing massage oil feels like. I've used better oils, but this one is by no means poor in quality. Overall, the massage oil portion was quite nice.

Dark Vanilla is the scent of Afterglow candle that comes with the Knead Me set. You cannot pick a different scent.

Jimmyjane provides a description of the Dark Vanilla scent on the candles box, which reads:

“The exotic Vanilla Orchid as it was meant to be—rich and musky, with an intoxicating liquor finish. There’s nothing plain about it. Distinguish yourself.”

On first whiff, I didn’t get any of what they were talking about at all, and neither did my sensitive nosed partner. There was nothing musky or liquor-esque about it. In fact, we didn’t even smell that much vanilla. What we did smell was coconut. A lot of coconut. As time went on, the coconut smell faded a bit and the scent did seem to become a little richer and muskier — but only a little bit, and it still wasn't what I had expected. Once burning, the scent of the candle continues to get a little warmer and more complex, and less coconut-y (but still not what I expected).

I know they were going for a "genuine" tropic vanilla scent, but to me it really does tend to smell a bit more like certain kinds of sun tan lotion. I personally would prefer something less "tropical." I absolutely love vanilla, and the standard scents of my typical body products include honey, toffee, almond, walnut, Brazilian nut, cocoa butter, shea butter, nutmeg and ginger. These were the types of notes I was hoping to get with the Dark Vanilla scent, and unfortunately for me that's not what this particular vanilla scent was. Please understand that this part of my critique is really just nit picking about how the smell compared to my expectations. It's still a lovely scent.

The smell wasn’t overpowering at all for my partner or me. It lingers softly, pleasantly, in the air and on the skin for quite a while. I couldn't smell it just walking into the room, but you could notice it gently in the air when you walked past the candle. On the skin, the scent of the oil was delicate and we could really only smell it while the massage was in progress and when we were otherwise just that close to each other. My partner has a very sensitive nose and can't walk into a body product store or near the perfume counter at a department store without having a sneeze attack, so him not finding this overpowering or irritating was a definite plus.

Overall, the Dark Vanilla scent is a very nice, sweet and relaxing scent that I'm sure many people will love it. Everyone has their preferences with scents and although the Dark Vanilla scent may not be perfect for everyone, there will be very few people who truly don't like this scent. It's a great take on a classic, and I'm sure that's why Jimmyjane felt confident enough to use it exclusively with the Knead Me gift set.

The products in the Knead Me set performed very well.

The massage stone is easily one of my favorite purchases, and I found it had the potential to greatly enhance a massage both for the person getting the massage and the person giving the massage. Combined with the oil, tension against the skin disappears and the amount of pressure the giver has to apply is reduced. Using the stone helped my partner, who is almost always a little too strong with his hands for my preference, to find the right amount of pressure for me. Apparently it's easier for him to gently push the stone around than to be gentle with his hands! For me the stone helped me apply enough pressure to satisfy him. Previously I had to put nearly all my body weight behind massages for him but with the stone I only needed to apply what felt like moderate to firm pressure.

I even found that the massage stone was great for solo use as well. When I first got the product and opened it I had just come from a workout and my thighs were very tired. Most of the time when I'm tired after a workout I'll try and rub my muscles out with my hands so out of curiosity I took the stone from it's packaging and rubbed along my thighs. The level of pressure and multi-point stimulation I got with no practice or real effort with the Massage M stone was better than anything I've been able to get using my hands. It simply felt perfect and was nearly enough to justify the purchase of the stone all on it's own.

The candle performed very well and was fairly comparable to many of the oils that have been used on me in massages I've gotten at various spas, including at 4 and 5 star spas and resorts. A little bit of oil went a long way, and lasted enough for about a 30-minute massage. Although you can definitely feel that you have had oil on your skin, I didn't find this oil greasy or sticky or to leave any kind of residue worse than what I've experienced at the expensive spas. I don't think it's entirely necessary to wash off after using the massage oil. That said, I had been experiencing an unusual amount of skin irritation and breakouts this week, so I decided to shower after the massage anyway. After use, the remaining oil quickly re-hardens to candle wax and is ready to be reused when you see fit. Very attractive and convenient.

The Knead Me set is packaged in a fairly thin white cardboard box with grey blotches reminiscent of Rorschach inkblots. The box has a hot pink ribbon wrapped around it that’s a fairly cute touch. Inside the box is a crumpled up piece of tissue paper to take up extra room in the box, and the Afterglow candle and Contour M massage stone.

The candle and the stone are both packaged in their original/usual boxes that you would get if you bought them individually. Their individual boxes are made out a thicker cardboard that is much sturdier than the outer box (still nothing compared to the sort of cardboard box you get with products by some other luxury brands). Inside the individual boxes are the instruction manuals for each product. Both manuals are very nice, organized and clearly written.

The packaging is very discreet and cute, very fresh and streamlined. That said, the quality really wasn’t what I expected and there were some problems I had with it. Now don’t get me wrong, compared to a blister pack or no packaging at all, the packaging on the Knead Me set is very nice indeed. But that’s not the standard I like to set with luxury products. Here's my list of complaints:

1) The user manual for the candle includes sections in seven languages, beginning with English. In the section for every language besides English, there is a complete list of ingredients not just for the Dark Vanilla candle, but also for every scent of Afterglow candle. As they all have different scents, they all have slightly different ingredients. I would have loved to see these complete lists in English, but it is not provided in English. Not only does the English section not have the ingredients for each scent, it also doesn't include a list of ingredients for the Dark Vanilla candle alone. Instead, the ingredient list for the Dark Vanilla candle is printed in small letters on the bottom of the candle's box. This isn't a huge fault, exactly, but it was confusing and a little weird.

2) The first thing I noticed when I removed the Knead Me box from the shipping box was how big it seemed. Not big in general, but big around whatever was contained inside it. The lid and sides sort of bubbled and curved with excess length and width. That cute pink ribbon seemed to be there more to make sure the box didn't fly open, as no matter what you do the lid is never securely fit. The cardboard is so thin and flimsy that it flexes and stretches and tears easily. I found it really frustrating and off-putting as my very first experience with this product, as it wasn’t that nice to look at and was clumsy to handle. After handling this box just once, I was so annoyed that I ended up taping all the sides to try and help it be a little sturdier and easier to handle.

2.5) It’s not just the cardboard itself that’s the problem with this box, though. As mentioned, it comes filled with a bit of tissue paper to take up extra space. The tissue paper in my box wasn’t actually enough to properly fill it, and frankly, I thought it cheapened the look of the whole thing. I really don’t know why Jimmyjane didn’t bother to just have a box made that actually FIT the intended contents and instead opted for a box slightly too wide and about an inch too long, and then “making it work” by shoving half a sheet of tissue paper down there. Now, I may be being a packaging Nazi here, but hear me out. This is a nearly $50 gift set, and there are many different things they could have done to make everything about this set special, and they just didn't seem to do it. Compared to what I know it could be, it seemed a little lazy and sloppy.

3) The individual boxes for the candle and massage stone are much nicer and I really only have one complaint, which is with the design of the lid. I don’t really know how to describe it, but the precise shape of the tongue on the lid and the shape of the side flaps combine to make it really difficult to open the box without damaging it. They sort of lock together, resulting in the tongue wrinkling, bending and tearing when you try to open it. This isn’t a huge deal, but it’s really frustrating if you would like to keep these otherwise nice boxes to store the products in but can’t because you rip the lid each time you try and open it/ or that you have to struggle to open the lid without ripping it.

-Warm oil, never hot enough to burn

-Stone can be heated or cooled for desired effect

-Reduces stress on hands from giving massages

Despite my disappointments with the precise scent of the candle and finish of the packaging, I really do think this is a wonderful quality gift set. Although I would probably say that I might have regretted purchasing just the candle in the Dark Vanilla scent, I can't imagine regretting purchasing the gift set. Both items come at a discount and in very cute packaging and together have the potential to create a lovely romantic experience for just about anyone.