Shunga massage candle by Shunga Erotic Art - review by Yumi

This is a massage candle by Shunga; they make an assortment of sensual products related to bath and body, such as massage things, body powders, lubes, etc. Shunga is the Japanese term for Erotic Art, and all of their products keep with the theme, with erotic 'ukiyo-e' styled prints on the packaging. I find their line of products is very similar in design, price, and quality to Kama Sutra. Kama Sutra being slightly more expensive.

Massage candles are a candle meant to be melted and then poured on the body for massage. The candle is made of oils that are solid at room temperature and melt with heat, but unlike wax, can be rubbed into the body and used for massage. While massage candles are most often found (especially the good ones) only at sex retailers, they don't have to be used for sex at all.

My boyfriend and I love massages of all kinds, but we love candles because they're just everything great in one; they make the room smell nice and have the pretty light of a candle, they give lubrication for a great massage, provide heat that is both relaxing and sensual, and makes things slippery for some possible excitement in the future.

The candle when unmelted is solid and slightly oily, with a soft white colour. After being melted and re-hardened, it becomes slightly spongy and rubs off on your finger less. When melted it becomes a warm/hot oily liquid, which pours on and will drip, as it's fairly runny. We didn't have any problem with it dripping too much, but one should be careful (both to not waste the lovely oil and also to prevent messes). The dripping can be used to nice effect on the curves of the body. When rubbed it is oily and smooth, and spreads very effectively. It spreads a lot and not very much is needed at all to cover a whole persons back/lower back and massage it for awhile. It stays slippery and smooth, becoming a bit more whitish with more rubbing. If you put too much on (oops), it will leave whitish streaks of material until you can find somewhere else where you can rub it in. One of my favourite things about it was not only do you not need much, but it stays soft and oily for quite awhile, allowing for long massages without too much re-application...and also promising a longer lasting product!

I got the 'exotic fruits' scent at my boyfriends behest. I wanted vanilla because I am boring and safe, but his choice was correct. It smells amazing. It's not overpoweringly strong, but strong enough. Sort of like bubblegum and candy, maybe watermelon candy or fruit by the foot? It smells really great, is what I'm getting at, but not overpoweringly sweet (like the last candle I tried, which was quite oversweet). I tried licking it because it was starting to make me want candy (maybe that's a bad thing?) but it didn't really taste like anything; it didn't taste gross though.

You don't need much of it for a full massage, and if you use too much it can kind of be hard to get rid of. It's great for longer massages, and smells really good, so even when you're waiting for it to melt, the room starts to smell wonderful. I think it will last longer than the last candle because you don't need lots of it, and my skin still feels kind of moisturized and nice from it the day after. We did wash off after, because we used quite a lot and got very slippery (I almost slid off the toilet after!) which can be a bummer. If you're careful you shouldn't need to wash.

The little spoon that came with it is a good idea, because you aren't supposed to pour hot wax straight out of the candle, but in application it doesn't really work. Even though you don't need much, the spoon is too small, and it's easier to pour it out. The Afterglow and Bwarm candles, while a lot more expensive, seem to understand this.

It says it has 45 hours of burn time, which is quite a lot for a candle that size, but of course I'm used to wax scented candles which burn faster (I have a scented one that is for 40 hours and is twice the size).

I love Shunga's packaging, it's very pretty and nice looking, very professional, which is always a plus. It's not the most discreet in this example, as it just comes as the candle in a tin with 'massage candle' written on top and erotic art on the lid and candle tin, as well as instructions and random words like 'erotique' and 'libido'. So I wouldn't leave it around if you're worried about judgement, but it's such a pretty package and massage candles aren't necessarily for sex, that I'm leaving it on my bookcase. I think it's very pretty

The package also includes instructions and ingredients.

One thing that I would prefer, would be a square container or a pour thingy on the container. The spoon is too small but pouring with a circular candle is hard and results in too much liquid. The circle is pretty, and standard for candles (massage and non-massage alike), but a square or a little pour thingy on part of the edge would just...be so functional!

Apparently it's made in Canada, so that makes me happy because yay Canada! I also love the ukiyo-e/erotic art theme of all their products, and their classiness.

I was super excited to get this; more massages, more candles! Yay for the pampered princess that I am! As soon as I put some on I knew I was going to like it, and I definitely enjoyed it a lot.

I'm not too concerned about ingredients, so I'm not sure how this would be for people who are sensitive to ingredients and things. It seems fairly good and doesn't smell chemical or nasty, and the list of ingredients isn't too concerning, however I'm not very knowledgable about these sorts of things, and don't have sensitive skin.

We bought this to replace our old massage candle, which I ended up throwing out awhile back. We'd been wanting one awhile and I knew this company made pretty good products, so we splurged. I'm glad my boyfriend chose the fruit scent, as it's really amazing and mood enhancing. The scent and 'candle-ness' of the candle got us quite in the mood for a long, sensual massage (one for each of us of course), and we rubbed each other down all over, still not using as much as the last candle. I immediately noticed this one felt nicer, smelled nicer, and lasted longer than the last, cheaper candle. It stayed for a nice long time, giving us quite a while for massages.

While I still hold massage isn't always for sexytimes, this time it was, and it was slippery and sensual and really got us going to try out some of the other new stuff we also bought.