Questionable Tincture

Love tincture is a water-based extract that can be used to enhance sexual experiences. It could also be consumed with dessert or champagne as a sensual prelude to sex. It comes in two flavors: "Chocolate Love" and "Raspberry Rose." This review is about the Raspberry Rose formula.

Ingredients: Imported rosewater, vegetable glycerine, raw honey, brandy (21-23% by volume), organic raspberries, and wildcrafted damiana infusion.
The bottle warns that the product should not be used while pregnant or nursing. This is because the herb has a traditional use as an abortive.

The herbal ingredient, damiana, is what is supposed to act as an aphrodisiac. The first recorded use of the herb was by Spanish missionaries who noticed native Mexicans drinking damiana tea with sugar as an aphrodisiac. Modern science has been inconclusive about the effects of the herb, but studies have shown that it will cause increased sexual activity in exhausted or impotent male rats. In general, it seems to have a relaxing effect on the nervous system. (Reference: Wikipedia article on Turnera diffusa.)

The texture and consistency of the product is best described as thin and watery, though it is quite slick and not at all grainy. It is dispensed through a dropper attached to the cap of the bottle. One can consume it directly out of the dropper or put the liquid on a lover's body or even in a food or drink item.

The taste of the tincture is at first overpowered by the brandy. It has a slightly sour taste that slowly fades to reveal essences of the raspberries and rosewater. At first I did not like the taste at all. I tried a few drops when I first got the bottle in the mail and I honestly thought it was disgusting. After giving it a few more tries, I like it much better now. Although I have not tried it this way yet, I think it would go very well with champagne or white wine.

The smell of the Love Tincture is pretty bad. It smells strongly of alcohol because of the brandy and also reminds me of the smell of some medicines. Fortunately, the smell is only strong when you put your nose right up to the dropper.

As far as the product's claim to be an aphrodisiac, I didn't think it held up. When I tried it on my own, I didn't notice any differences in my mood or feeling, and then when I tried it with my boyfriend I don't think there was any extra arousal or sensation for either of us. Be careful if you plan on using this on skin because it can get a bit sticky.

Love tincture comes in an amber glass bottle. It has a rubber dropper cap attached to a glass dropper. The packaging is relatively discreet. The label reads: "Sensuous Beauty Love Tincture Raspberry Rose Natural Herbal Supplement." The tincture bottle looks rather medicinal, as well, so in a quick glance one would not necessarily think of an aphrodisiac.