K-Y jelly.

It's ubiquitous. It's one of the most celebrated brands in sex. K-Y is to personal lubricant what Kleenex is to tissues or Hoover is to vacuum cleaners. The chances are, even if you're a Sliquid or Astroglide user, there's been more than one occasion when you've referred to lube as 'K-Y' just because the name is so synonymous with the product.

A personal lubricant that's been on the shelf for decades, K-Y is designed for all 'intimate needs.' It comes in the form of a jelly - which some people prefer to more liquid lubes - and can be used to replace personal moisture in a number of ways. Anal, vaginal - or any other crevice with a bit of imagination (boobs are a good one) can be lubricated with this product, that boasts it's 'frangrance-free, non-greasy, condom compatible and so safe it can be used every day.'

K-Y is a jelly (it sounds so much sexier the way it's written in French on the box - Gelée.) This means it's got a thicker consistency than water and sticks around more stubbornly than water-based lube. How you like the viscosity of your lube is subjective - I prefer mine watery - but if you like the jelly consistency, K-Y pretty much set the standard.

The lube itself comes in a tube, so you can squeeze out as much or as little as you need.

K-Y may call itself 'jelly' but it won't be replacing jello any time soon.

That being said, the box is accurate when it describes the lube as 'fragrance-free.' It's also pretty taste-free, depending which body part you're sampling it from. The best description would be 'inoffensive.'

K-Y may have set the standard for personal lubricant, but that's not so say the standard hasn't been broken. In fact, compared to many other lubes, K-Y has fallen far behind. It's probably best described as 'the lube your mother would use' and if that didn't just kill your sex drive, seek therapy.

K-Y's biggest failing is that it dries out super fast, and the smooth slickness gets replaced with sticky, flaky icky-ness. Many people assume to solution is to slather on more - in fact you just need to get the residue wet again. Then it recomglobulates (I just made that word up) and you're back in business.

But it dries up extraordinarily quickly - so much so that I took to keeping a glass of water by the bed to dip my hand in and 're-wet' during sex.

It's also a sticky mess to clean up - the flaky residue turns slick and slimy in the shower, and you'll need soap and water to wash it off.

Another reason why K-Y is the lube your mum would use is because the packaging is very much a pharmacy-friendly sort. It's all entirely practical - a nice, clinical box and a squeeze tube inside. However, it's not exactly sexy.

And while the large lid of the tube is cool, because the tube 'stands' on its own and you can pop it open one-handed, you will always be frustrated by the fact that you can't squeeze all of the lube out of the tube. It's like toothpaste that way. It's not like toothpaste in any other way, however, so don't confuse the two (easier to do in the dark than I'd care to admit.)

None. Absolutely none. This is K-Y we're talking about.

As a water-based lube, it is worth mentioning that K-Y is completely safe to use on almost all sex toys, and with condoms. In that respect, it beats oil and mineral lube hands down.