Sensory Pleasures
We believe pleasure fires all the senses, but how many of them do you pay attention to? When you focus on a sense, how does it feel? How can exploring each sense, individually or collectively, elevate our sexual experiences?
Aristotle’s work ‘De Anima’ is widely credited with first numbering the senses we have known and acknowledged for thousands of years; sight (vision), hearing (audition), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch (tactition).
Neurologists tend to consider at least nine senses, some say there are as many as 21 senses, not even including some physiological experiences such as hunger, thirst, pleasure, and pain. Evidently, the list goes on.
Sensation play can be a fun way to push your boundaries, to explore what ignites passion for you. Pleasure isn’t all about the destination, it’s in the journey. This is another fantastic avenue of self-discovery, understanding your body in new ways. When you lose one sense, others are heightened. For example, lightly stroking the body with a soft feather tickler while your eyes are covered with a silk blindfold can be very pleasurable.
We decided to take a look at each of the five main senses, and the role they can play in your most intimate moments.
Visual
Given the nature of Coco de Mer, one would assume this is our main focus, and for so many it is. We all know how impactful beautiful lingerie can be, for a partner and for ourselves. We know when we see our partner that sense of attraction. We know the pleasure we get when we see something we like - coffee, cake, flowers, fine wine, fresh fruit, a smile, a Coco de Mer gift box… They all have cognitive reactions.
Try holding that look and focusing on your view. Explore the sensation.
Without the visual aspect, a different experience arises. Your surroundings feel different, the air feels different, you hear things differently, and your tactile responses are different. Be it with a silk blindfold or something slightly more structured like our black leather blindfold, both have intriguing impacts and provide all kinds of intensified experiences.
Sound
We all know the impact of slow, smooth, even husky vocal chords - it’s why so many imitate when implying seduction. Lowering your voice, speaking slowly, it creates an inviting, intriguing atmosphere - Equally, a firm tone can have quite the results. Draw your audience in, physically and mentally.
With the world of erotica finding new realms of pleasure, audio stories are an enticing way to arouse the senses as well. Listening to other stories, other desires, those fables of pleasure, it’s an emporium of intrigue and can make for a wonderful backdrop to solo play, or an added dynamic for couples. Dipsea and Ferly come highly recommended by our team.
Taste
An intriguing fact that feels apt for us to share, is that what most of us have grown up believing are taste buds on our tongues, are not taste buds. They are fungiform papillae - translated from Latin as “mushroom-shaped nipples”, and each playing host to 50-100 individual buds. The several thousands of taste buds we do have can be found on the roof and walls of your mouth, throat, and beyond. Just when the body couldn’t be more fascinating…
Most of the sensory experience with tastes happens in the brain, with cranial nerves and taste bud receptors in your mouth sending molecules of your food to olfactory nerve endings in the roof of your nose. It’s no wonder people enjoy aphrodisiac foods so much, or people are often responsive to a well-cooked meal.
Reader, take note.
And why not feel inspired by Cosmopolitan’s suggestions for aphrodisiac foods?
Orgasm Balm is one of our most popular products from the Intimate Play collection. A stimulating balm infused with nourishing essential oils and menthol extract, it creates a wonderful combination of sensory delights, heightening taste and tingling sensations alike. Just a dab will do, so use it somewhat sparingly, but enjoy liberally.
Touch
The way we touch is intrinsic to how we feel. It is one of the wonders of the world. Touch is one of the central forms of perceptual experience, though it is often considered secondary to vision, in both philosophy and psychology. Thought to be one of the first senses to develop, unlike many of the other senses, it is inherently multisensory, given the diversity of its manifestations.
From head to toe, we have touch points. Digits, orifices, skin. As a human body, we feel all over. Then, stepping away from our touch receptors are the factors that contribute to those sensory experiences. Textures and temperatures allow us to experience so much tactically.
Taking other senses away adds a different dimension to the sense of touch, think of closing your eyes and feeling water. When the lights are off and pulses are racing, what happens when your vision is impaired? Equally, combining touch with vision and the other senses can heighten your experience, sometimes to an overwhelming extent.
When focusing on touch, consider how your body feels as well as what you are feeling. How does your skin feel when your partner breathes gently over your skin? How does our Seraphine Silk Slip feel to the touch? How is it different to the sheer, delicate lace of the Marella Kimono? How does the dripping of a warm massage candle feel on your body? When toys come into the mix, what sensations do you experience? Being conscious of how your body feels, and the textures, it’s a mindfulness that allows you to explore, understand and appreciate yourself which is utterly invaluable and truly empowering. Considering the sense of touch for a partner can often be an arousing spectacle or thought, creating a different intimacy, a new appreciation, and ultimately a new respect for their body.
Impact play is another way to explore different tactile sensations. Consider the feel of a feather tickler gliding across the skin, or the contrasting charged energy spanking tools bring into the mix. Impact play explores tactile sensations with heightened eroticism, involving the application of carefully controlled stimuli to the body. While this can create a sense of pain, it then releases pleasurable endorphins, creating a sensation similar to a runner's high or the afterglow of orgasm. Communication and aftercare are incredibly important for creating the sublime sensory delight you deserve.
When it comes to toys, to be a true sensory joy, every aspect of the experience should be considered. The colour and texture, the strength and performance, and the details and finishing touches, all add to the delight the toy brings.
Well-designed packaging can entice us further, elevating the journey and adding another layer of sensuality. From being presented in its own luxury vegan leather case in our sumptuous chocolate shade, the rose gold detailing and an inner drawstring bag, every step of unveiling a piece from The Pleasure Collection heightens the experience.
Take your time and indulge in curiosity.
Smell
Is there anything more off-putting than a bad smell? Turning that around though, try reliving a moment when you come near a smell that you love. Your favourite perfume, your partner’s scent, how does that make you feel? When you focus on the different notes to a scent, take a moment to feel your response. That smell of fresh strawberries evokes an immediate sense, as does a fresh flower, herbs, seawater, those natural elements create a natural sensation. There are fragrances that are used for that experience - base notes are used to linger, top notes to arrest your attention for a moment. Heady notes are there for a reason.
Our Enraptured Figment Massage Candle is something of a multi-tasker in the sensory world. Drawing up nature’s goodness, the blend of fig and orange blossom is a favourite within our team, and the nourishing oils make it an indulgent moisturiser or an equally soothing home candle to switch off from the day and slip into evening mode.
This seduces the senses and relaxes the mind all at the same time - and it comes with a small bamboo spoon to help you pour the warm oil onto your skin, playing further into the sensory experience. Delightful, to say the least.
With so many sensations to consider, the opportunities are endless. Whet your sensory appetite and discover new realms of pleasure.
