Finding a Water-based lubricant that you might like, is like finding the perfect pair of jeans. System Jo Agape Lube is like that comfortable pair of jeans that you always go back to. A comfy pair that you keep in the drawer for that rainy day. I’ve had this comfy lube in my line up for years and never gave it the limelight it deserves. 🙂
First Impression
When you are walking down the lube aisle or looking at the OVERWHELMING lube section on a website, the Agape’s appearance is “safe” looking and sometimes camouflages with the other bottles around it. With a frosty white label alongside with lavender and silver accents, its soft appearance is literally geared towards the female consumer psyche. (Good job System Jo packaging team! 😉 ) Agape’s inviting bottle has a comforting appeal. Think of it as a visually appealing easy introduction for partners who are trying to find a simple lube to propose during their next sexy time session. I was a bigger fan of their older bottles which had an awesome pump but they changed their bottle to have an easy push down-flip top now.
Unlike me, you’re probably not going to do what I usually do, and that’s where I literally open every single lube tester bottle to feel the consistency and take a whiff if it smells good or funky. Which I recommend, but if you do what everyone does and read the packaging where it shows a bunch of information and makes sure it checks down the “Temperamental vagina’s Lube” checklist.
- glycerin-free
- glycol-free
- paraben-free
Which this lube checks out! Not only does it pass the water-based basic lube checklist. This lube comes in various sizes to accommodate your needs, 1 fl. oz. easy for travel, and a 2 fl. oz. or 4 fl. oz. for your home base!
What’s inside?
The ingredients inside are Water (Aqua), Propanediol, Gluconolactone, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sodium Benzoate and Citric Acid. Haha Now take that confused look off your face because we aren’t all super scientists and know exactly what each of those things means. Heck, many people don’t even know exactly what they are eating with some of the processed foods out there. These ingredients aren’t as crazy sounding as they look, so I’m just going to break it down for the “ingredient-driven” consumer in layman’s terms.
Propanediol is natural and made from corn sugar fermentation, all in all, it’s a preservative that keeps the first ingredient, Water, nice and moisturized. Gluconolactone gathers water from all directions and creates a layer on the skin that soothes and softens it. This ingredient replenishes the moisture in the lube from the air and hinders the moister from leaving the skin. Sodium benzoate either covers or enhances the scent or is used as a preservative. Hydroxyethylcellulose keeps all the ingredients together, it’s a thickening agent and citric acid keeps PH levels in check.
This combo of ingredients allows this lubricant to feel like a close 2nd place to a girl’s own “natural” jizz. It’s not as thick as many gel-like lubricants but its thin enough to glide over the skin.
“JO AGAPE is a water-based personal lubricant for penile and/or vaginal application, intended to lubricate and moisturize, to enhance the ease and comfort of intimate sexual activity and supplement the body’s natural lubrication.”
Using this lube is perfect to decrease friction when you use a toy or penis in vag use. Especially, if you want to kick start the lubrication process since cowboy’s lube aka spit or a girl’s natural lubrication will reactivate it. Just a heads up, avoid using this one for anal, it tends to disappear too fast and isn’t that slippy and slide-y enough. It’s a water-based so just remember it will get “sticky” and almost “tacky” if it evaporates without any water or natural juices added over a little bit of time. You can use it for male masturbation but as I said it does evaporate a bit faster and you’d use an entire bottle.
Pros
- Easy to find in adult shops
- Doesn’t have a bunch of Water-based lube additives that tend to cause irritation and random health issues.
- Doesn’t mess with PH vag levels, which can be great for chicks who are prone to yeast infections, BV and UTIs.
- Easy to wash off.
- Doesn’t leave weird goopy stuff on the skin afterward, absorbs into the skin like a nice moisturizing lotion.
- Feels natural and not like a barrier between me and my partner.
- Condom & Sex Toy-Friendly.
Cons
- Has a distinctive smell, if it’s right up next to your nose. It almost smells like a playdough, barbies and cetaphil to me. Which, I don’t mind since I’m not sniffing it all the time. But, if you’re sensitive to smell, get a sample of this to test the waters if you like it or not.
- Don’t eat this. Do Oral before and not after you apply this on the skin. Agape doesn’t taste too good. It’s bitter, toxic tasting and leaves your palate undesirable for a hot minute or two.
- Dries up quick.
I do recommend you put this aside for the moment if you just shaved your downstairs. If your pores are open and have micro cuts this has a tendency to sting a bit. I’ve only had it happen less than a handful of times but I just want to give you a heads up since I know a few girls who thought they were allergic to this one at first when they actually weren’t at all. They were just dipping citric acid into mini shaving cuts.
Also, it’s pronounced Ahh-GAH-PAYYY, not a-gape. I had a guy get quite mad at me one time insinuating that I was telling him that he needed lube to help “gape” open his wife’s vag. Until I had to politely correct him that it was pronounced differently. haha
Many adult shops have the testers and even trial packets, I recommend trying this lube out, it might end up being one of your “comfy jeans” in the drawer.
Find it
Many adult shops carry the System Jo line, so be sure to support your local adult shops and give them a visit. I’d recommend giving them a ring beforehand.
Overall
To sum up my experiences and my thoughts on System Jo’s Agape would be rounded into one word: Basic. Not in a basic bitch type of way. It’s just a basic lube that isn’t bad but it isn’t something I go raving on and on about. I keep it because it does all the basic things I want a water-based lube to do. It’s just a necessity I like to have around when I want something compatible with a toy or I don’t feel like using it for extra stuff like tasting good. The bottle is a bit annoying in comparison to their old awesome pump but it’s not a dealbreaker that makes me not use the lube in general. This is one of my favorites from the System Jo lineup of lubes and you should give it a whirl. 🙂
Ultimately, überlube is my favorite silicone lubricant by far. Period.
plain glass bottle with a convenient pump ***ONE OF MY FAVORITE FEATURES** that has white and silver accents. The bottle’s appearance isn’t abrasive and if you left it out on a nightstand, a passerby wouldn’t really look twice since it has the appearance of a fragrance bottle. It looks high end, just like the actual quality of the lubricant. So, if you’d like to judge a book by it’s cover, this is a prime example where it’s okay to do just that. 😀 The appearance is welcoming and everyone that i’ve introduced it to with issues that lubricant is a crutch, have all seen past that. The simplicity allows you to think of just the product inside the bottle instead of all of the writing on the packaging that tells you why you supposedly need to buy and use it.
It doesn’t contain all the extra add-ons like flavors, scents and all that warming, cooling crap that has the possibility of causing irritation or infections. Since, I’m like majority of the girls out there, I have a temperamental vagina that hates anything that invades this ecosystem. It’s sensitive and has feelings and tells me with vengeance if it doesn’t like something. überlube is one of the few silicone lubricants I don’t have any issues with my ecosystem down there AND that’s saying a lot. Keep in mind there is a small sliver of people out in the world that have a silicone allergy, (I haven’t met one yet) so OBVIOUSLY don’t use it if you have that allergy. But, I found it to be the best for being body-safe and you can use it with condoms.
My only downer is that since it is a silicone lubricant, it isn’t compatible with certain toys depending on what it is made of. I suggestive that you help your toy’s life span, set it aside and only use uberlube if it made of Metal, Glass or acrylic.
