Adult novelty items - Unnecessary things that just make life more fun - NO SEX TOYS, we have a thread for that

[Accept Only Substitutes]

@Aunt Carol and I have had a long conversation about novelty toothpaste flavors. I like mint, but it's hard to find a brand that doesn't slap yo mama in the face with the stuff. I prefer something more subtle.

We finally settled on hiSmile toothpaste. It comes in exotic flavors like Wasabi (sample only) and pistachio (limited edition). Along with butter (sample only), peach iced tea, latte, gummy bear, chocolate, red velvet, banana, and, of course, smooth mint, among others.

We thought a thread focusing on neat finds like this, stuff you don't need in life but that makes everyday adult life a little more fun would be a great thread. Not sex stuff, although that's fun too, just simple pleasures. If it makes you smile and happy, tell us about it.

Back to the toothpaste...

Aunt Carol has been working her way through the sample pack she bought. Each sample costs $1USD and is big enough for two or three uses. I'll let her go into that if she wants to.

I have tried watermelon, red velvet, and cinnamon donut so far.

Cinnamon donut is meh. The cinnamon isn't very strong, but it's kind of odd. I don't taste anything close to a donut, and like my husband says the flavor doesn't last the whole two minutes. Crest makes a better cinnamon toothpaste, but it's harder to find these days.

Watermelon is blah. It's not as good as kids watermelon toothpaste. At $11 a tube, hard pass.

Red velvet though, holy fucking shit. First of all it's bright red toothpaste. Red is my favorite color, so I love it for that alone. But it tastes exactly like cream cheese frosting. I don't taste the red velvet cake, but the frosting is on point. It's really awesome as a diabetic, helps keep the sweet tooth in check.

It's $11USD for a 60 gram tube, but the tube has a pump that dishes out a tiny amount of toothpaste. Which you'd swear isn't nearly enough, but it is. It's nice and foamy and the red velvet flavor at least lasts the whole time your brushing. So it feels like it's frugal, despite being $11 a tube.

 

[The Cheese Aisle]

Pimple patches but in different shapes and colors other than plain hydrocolloid bandage, like stars and neon

 

[DumbDude43]

gummy bear toothpaste?
butter toothpaste??
wasabi toothpaste???
these sound like prank items that you sneak into your friends bathroom to have a giggle when they freak out because their toothpaste tastes like horseradish lol

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

gummy bear toothpaste?
butter toothpaste??
wasabi toothpaste???
these sound like prank items that you sneak into your friends bathroom to have a giggle when they freak out because their toothpaste tastes like horseradish lol

Yeah, I suspect that's why butter and Wasabi are samples only. Can't talk about the gummy bear, I haven't tried it yet. Aunt Carol says it's kind of generic candy.

 

[Cat tit bingo]

Call me when they make orange juice toothpaste
Edit: oh no this is a gorl thread but I'm not a gorl! ,I just enjoy shitting up threads I see on the front page please excuse me and my testicles it was a honest mistake.

 

[Aunt Carol]

The funny thing about the Hismile toothpaste company is that they're known for their serious dental treatments, like the deep purple toothpaste that's supposed to help whiten your teeth the same way purple shampoo takes the yellows out of Grandma's hair.

But the "everyday smilecare" fun flavors are fun! There are 30 of them, but four are sold out in sample form. (Buying them all at once is an option, in which case you only pay $18.70.) I couldn't find a formatted list, but here's a screenshot with their little icons:


I've been really impressed by the banana, which tastes like an actual banana, not banana Laffy Taffy. The Chupa Chups Cola flavor tastes like cola candy, and the chocolate is amazing.

Artificial chocolate, in my experience, is always disappointing. Any chocolate-flavored hard candy tastes like a chocolate scratch-n-sniff sticker--Hismile's Choco-Vanilla Chupa Chups flavor bears this out, although it's probably aimed at the Chupa Chup connoisseur, not the chocolate lover. However, the Wonka tie-in chocolate toothpaste is wonderful. It doesn't taste like eating chocolate, but it tastes like the smell that hits you right when you walk into an old-fashioned chocolate store, the kind where they make the chocolates, too. And it's a disquieting opaque light brown, the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a diaper. A++

Gummy bear was sort of bubble-gummy, generic candy, but everything else I've tried has been aces for verisimilitude. The vanilla has a deep, soft flavor, not like the candle-vanilla you usually get. Beats out the Crest vanilla toothpaste (RIP) handily.

Call me when they make orange juice toothpaste

?

 

[Weed Eater]

If you're going to take the time and money spending at least $10 on a tube of toothpaste, you may as well start investing in the fancy Japanese toothpastes like Apagard or brands who are copying these Jap brands. The Apagard brand is pretty expensive, I've seen two tubes go for $30 online. The mint flavor they do I've noticed is not as strong as American mint toothpastes.

The ONLY brand I've come across, and I've had the pleasure of testing myself, that is similar enough to the Jap bullshit is Boka and their range of toothpastes. Their "Ella Mint" is a very tame mint flavor, it's not very spicy at all. The only other flavor I have from them is the "Coco Ginger", but admittedly I'm not a huge fan of it. They say the coconut oil/taste is "subtle", I highly disagree. Other flavors from them include "Lemon Lavender", a limited edition "Cherry Blossom", "Watermelon Mint", and funnily enough;

Call me when they make orange juice toothpaste

This Boka brand happened to release an "Orange Cream" toothpaste flavor.

But yeah, I really like Boka. I loved the benefits I got from the Apagard paste, but Boka was able to cut out the Jap middleman/price for me. And yes, the hydroxyapatite toothpastes really do work. I personally have sensitive teeth, and I was a Sensodyne user for a while until I made the switch. The hydroxyapatite helps to combat the actual issue. Sensodyne masks the issue until you get to the point where you're forced to make appointments for dental work, at least in my case.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Pimple patches but in different shapes and colors other than plain hydrocolloid bandage, like stars and neon

I saw these recently--the decorative ones, that is. I would have loved it if they had been around (and in fashion) when I was a teenager. Very 17th Century French Nobility.

Edit: oh no this is a gorl thread but I'm not a gorl! ,I just enjoy shitting up threads I see on the front page please excuse me and my testicles it was a honest mistake.

I think the only thread in Beauty Parlor that's forbidden is the Man Hate thread. You and your testicles can talk about fancy toothpaste if you want to.

And yes, the hydroxyapatite toothpastes really do work. I personally have sensitive teeth, and I was a Sensodyne user for a while until I made the switch. The hydroxyapatite helps to combat the actual issue. Sensodyne masks the issue until you get to the point where you're forced to make appointments for dental work, at least in my case.

Before 2009, Sensodyne in the US still had Novamin (sodium calcium phosphosilicate) in it, but now if you want effective Sensodyne you have to order it from another country. The world of business is weird.

 

[Dysnomia]

We finally settled on hiSmile toothpaste. It comes in exotic flavors like Wasabi (sample only) and pistachio (limited edition). Along with butter (sample only), peach iced tea, latte, gummy bear, chocolate, red velvet, banana, and, of course, smooth mint, among others.

I have a question: How do you feel fresh without the mint? I remember having those berry toothpastes as a kid and I found them really weird. Do the flavored toothpastes have that umm... Freshness? or do they just taste like the flavors? I don't know if I'm making sense with that. Because I'm thinking more of kiddie toothpaste.

 

[Aunt Carol]

I have a question: How do you feel fresh without the mint?

Magic? A lot of non-mint toothpastes do have menthol hidden in them--the Hismile watermelon is the only one I've noticed it in while brushing, but usually you can tell after. It's the same kind of witchcraft behind Sprite Chill, where you don't actually taste the mint but you feel the menthol.

Usually kid non-mint toothpastes don't do this.

It's $11USD for a 60 gram tube

Their website is a trainwreck but if you scroll down there's a pick-your-own 3-for-$22 bundle that makes the tubes $7.33 each.

 

[Moss Monster]

Understand that this is less of a novelty item and more of an item that produces novelties. Buy a projector. Doesn't need to be expensive, but it should either be able to project from a USB or from your computer. You can use this, and lineart, to readily make murals on a surface. Use a pencil or marker to follow the outline of an object onto a wall or what have you, then paint it to produce shading etc. Like a colouring book. I've been putting a seasonal new mural on my games room wall quarterly for years. It's bundles of fun.
Similarly, acetone printing is easy and a heap of fun too for producing interesting looks on things. You might also consider a laser cutter to cut panels of vinyl sticker sheet to produce stencils, or stickers.

 

[assigned Karen at birth]

Finally, a thread where I can talk about my obsession with Japanese stationery/office supplies: washi tapes, little zipper bags/boxes, sticky tabs to mark passages in books that I want to remember. Highlighters in every color of the rainbow that don't bleed through thin paper.
The great thing about a stationery habit is that it's pretty cheap compared to clothes or makeup (neither of which I ever buy anymore). You can spend thirty bucks on stickers and gel pens and get a pretty neat little pile for your money. My biggest splurge is Kaweco fountain pens, which are still in range of $30 each, which is cheap enough for me to own like 6 without feeling guilty.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Finally, a thread where I can talk about my obsession with Japanese stationery/office supplies: washi tapes, little zipper bags/boxes, sticky tabs to mark passages in books that I want to remember. Highlighters in every color of the rainbow that don't bleed through thin paper.
The great thing about a stationery habit is that it's pretty cheap compared to clothes or makeup (neither of which I ever buy anymore). You can spend thirty bucks on stickers and gel pens and get a pretty neat little pile for your money. My biggest splurge is Kaweco fountain pens, which are still in range of $30 each, which is cheap enough for me to own like 6 without feeling guilty.

Yes please!!

I found a grab bag of 30 rolls of random washi tape on some website. Aliexpress or Etsy maybe. Got some really cute tape, got some really ugly tapes. I don't know what to do with them, but I love them.

I love stationary and scrapbook stuff. I never use it, but I do love it. I always go through the office supplies section in any store, especially the discount/thrift stores. You never know what you'll find!

 

[Brenda Holiday]

I think it's unnecessary but I like the cleaners that smell like something other than bleach. I was given one of those Meyers spray cleaners and it was pleasant to not be choking on bleach scent while cleaning.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

I think it's unnecessary but I like the cleaners that smell like something other than bleach. I was given one of those Meyers spray cleaners and it was pleasant to not be choking on bleach scent while cleaning.

Mrs. Myers stuff smells so good. I love the honeysuckle ones.

 

[assigned Karen at birth]

Yes please!!

I found a grab bag of 30 rolls of random washi tape on some website. Aliexpress or Etsy maybe. Got some really cute tape, got some really ugly tapes. I don't know what to do with them, but I love them.

I love stationary and scrapbook stuff. I never use it, but I do love it. I always go through the office supplies section in any store, especially the discount/thrift stores. You never know what you'll find!

I use washi tape instead of regular tape for wrapping presents. It's great for making the wrap job look festive when your wrapping paper is just a cut-up paper grocery bag. I also use it to reinforce the fraying covers of my favorite paperbacks.

Secondhand/vintage office supplies are such a find! I also check estate sales for that stuff; once I found a perfectly un-used Virginia Slims address book that's like the size of a business card. You have to write the addresses really tiny, I love it.

 

[Aunt Carol]

I think it's unnecessary but I like the cleaners that smell like something other than bleach. I was given one of those Meyers spray cleaners and it was pleasant to not be choking on bleach scent while cleaning.

The Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day line of cleaners is a perfect example of a sensible self-indulgence. It's not boutique or anything; it's made by S.C. Johnson and available at most stores. But you have to clean things no matter what, and unless you're an advanced vinegar person you're going to be buying something. How nice it is to have things smell like gardenia for an afternoon after you mopped, in a different way than throwing candle or an air freshener over lingering Lysol.

Dish soap is probably the best implementation of this. If you're handwashing dishes, or just some pans, you're running hot water, adding soap and standing over it for a while, like a scaled down version of a potpourri warmer--or a spa treatment if you remember the old Palmolive ads. Something pleasantly fragrant for this chore is a treat where you don't expect it. It's not like using Dawn is a hardship, but this is nice.



The Mrs. Meyer's seasonal scents are particularly well-done. Right now it's Dandelion and Fresh-Cut Grass; later there's a Pumpkin Spice, of course, but I like the Peppermint and the Iowa Pine that come after that. Their pine surprisingly manages to smell not like a candle, and not like Pine-Sol. Just pine.

 

[A Cat in a Minefield]

I love pastel colored highlighters. They are way less offensive to your eyes. I now really dislike the neon colored ones. Reading text is way more comfortable when highlighted with pastel colors.

 

[assigned Karen at birth]

I love pastel colored highlighters. They are way less offensive to your eyes. I now really dislike the neon colored ones. Reading text is way more comfortable when highlighted with pastel colors.


View attachment 6047919

If anyone has recommendations for highlighters that won't bleed through Bible paper, I'll take 'em. I love Stabilos for regular paper, but they're too much for my little King James paperback.
The ones with the least bleed that I've found so far are Zebra Mildliners, the pastels are incredible


@Aunt Carol I think you've convinced me on Mrs. Meyer's. I've always just grabbed the cheapest bottle of Ajax from the bottom shelf and now I'm realizing that might have something to do with why I hate washing dishes so much.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

I have a question: How do you feel fresh without the mint?

I thought about this last night when I was brushing and here's what I determined.

The red velvet toothpaste has a very subtle fragrance, not sweet like it's flavor, but a hint of menthol.

The mouth doesn't end up with the cool/tingly-ish flavor/feeling you get from mint, but it does still feel similarly clean. The flavor completely disappears on rinsing.

I haven't tried to smell my breath afterwards (or more likely, sticking my mouth in my husbands face "smell this!") but I can't imagine it would smell bad, not with the clean feeling you end up with.

@Aunt Carol sent me some stuff to add to the OP, I will do that tomorrow sometime.