I Took Libido Gummies For A Month & (Spoiler Alert) Now I’m Horny

It's well-established that men care a lot about their declining libido. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has made a killing off men's need for a functioning sex drive. At its peak, Viagra raked in annual sales of just over $2 billion. Even my own daily antidepressant was developed for people who wanted to take SSRIs without losing their erections. In our society, the hard-on is of utmost importance, whereas women's sex drives are expected to be low. The (completely untrue!) stereotype of the horny man nagging his sexless wife is at the center of nearly every male-centric sitcom — and those beliefs have trickled down and been internalized by a lot of us. This is why I love that I've been able to dedicate my time and energy to encouraging women that it's okay to be horny — no, it's incredible to be horny. We deserve sexual pleasure and orgasms just as much as our penis-possessing counterparts.

And, now more than ever, the vagina could really use some TLC. With National Orgasm Day just around the corner, there have been a crop of unbeatable sex toy sales popping up left and right. But the unspoken pressure of engaging in sexual activity that ends in a satisfying orgasm can have the adverse effect of making us want to get it on even less. Between bodily autonomy being compromised by the government like it's NDB, work schedules, family and relationship dynamics, and the pressures of everyday life and obligations, stress levels are high. It's no wonder that my own libido is. . . struggling. So when the opportunity to review desire-enhancing gummy supplements formulated specifically for females presented itself, I was primed and ready to partake in a monthly pack.

Though my expectations were low (our friends over at Vice reviewed the male gummies with less than enthusiastic results), I couldn't resist the opportunity to naturally bolster my own fledgling sex drive. Luckily, the gummies from R29-favorite (and notoriously chic) sexual wellness brand Maude promised to enhance my libido from the ground up. According to the website, Libido combines a slew of bizarre-sounding herbal ingredients like fenugreek extract, French maritime pine bark extract, and sea moss with magical S7 — which the brand claims can raise nitric oxide levels by 230%. In layman's terms, the blend of seven plant-based ingredients increases blood flow and delivers more oxygen to your lady parts, making it easier to feel sexual arousal and, thus, orgasm more easily.

We're obviously skeptical of bold promises with no medical backing, but I knew things couldn't get worse for my declining sex drive. So, I popped my first gummy. And as I chewed, wondering what exactly fenugreek extract tasted like, I was fairly delighted. The gummies tasted great. In fact, they tasted so good, I made sure I ate one before my morning coffee every single day despite my usually poor pill-taking tendencies. Plus, unlike most gummy vitamins, these supplements are low in sugar, so I didn't even feel bad despite it tasting like candy. The gummies, which used to be sold in a one-a-day packet that mostly resembled birth control, are now available in a chic bottle that'll look right at home on your bathroom shelf. The bottle upgrade made the gummies not only easier to store (feeling right at home among my other bottles of vitamins and supplements), but also reassured me that no one would be raising a brow in my direction. Rest assured, this bottle now looks just like any of your run-of-the-mill pharmacy gummy vitamins, making me less self-conscious about the need to take them in the first place.

After about a week, I definitely felt something going on. The website says that the effects of the gummy build up over time (it approximates four to six weeks), but after only seven days, I felt acutely aware of my sex drive. Though I'm not sure I can entirely attribute the results to the vitamins, when constantly doing a daily check-in with my libido, I recognized that the ebbs and flows of my sex drive were pretty normal, and not nearly as low as I initially thought. It's also possible I just wasn't used to thinking about how much I actually wanted to have sex on the daily, but...it turns out, my sex drive didn't need that much of a boost to get me going again. Either that, or these magically delicious gummies are also magically potent. Because spoiler alert, after only a week of my daily gummy, I felt hornier than I had in weeks. Regardless of whether it's a placebo effect or not, I'd say they worked. I'm still working through my monthly supply, but I've never felt more eager or ready to get it on. My current favorite vibrator (shout out to Tracy's Dog OG!) lives in the shower now, getting a daily workout (and occasionally more than that), a far cry from the once-weekly masturbatory session I've been forcing myself to have.

If — *gestures to everything* — has got your sex drive feeling less than enthused, give these gummies a whirl. At the very least, you'll be more ready to do some solo playing. We could all use a good de-stressor right now, and, as Maude knows, the best tension relief is an orgasm.

Grab a monthly pack now, or a smaller sampler from Sephora (while supplies still last!). And while you're at it, maybe add a Maude vibrator or two to your cart, and even some of their best-selling lube. You'll be reaching your orgasm in no time.