Lustery couple Dusty & Peppermint are prolific, award-winning content creators who hope to inspire others to seek out more sensuality in their relationships. As deeply passionate and creative individuals, porn has been the perfect arena for exploring their deepest carnal desires.
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You can find Dusty & Peppermint on Twitter (@PeppermintDusty), and on all of their other channels at peppermintdusty.com.
Curious about “How To Watch Porn”? Check out our free online course at lustery.com/pov, and watch this space for the upcoming panel discussion featuring HTWP creators and instructors Paulita Pappel, Aria Vega, Madita Oeming, and Kody McCree.
Have thoughts, feedback, or story ideas? Send an email or voice memo to askaria@lustery.com. You can follow the show on Twitter & Instagram @lusterypov, and our host Aria is on Twitter @vegadreamcast.
This show features explicit language and sexual content, and is intended for a mature audience.
Theme song by LAS ODIO
Podcast Transcript:
Aria Vega [00:00:00] This podcast contains explicit content. Listener's discretion is advised. POV by Lustery explores culture, politics and creativity in the sex industry, one point of view at a time. I'm your host, Aria Vega.
Aria Vega [00:00:16] Lustery couple Dusty and Peppermint really stand out on the site. Their warm smiles and laid=back vibe are already inviting, then there's that debut video which moves at a deliciously slow pace, clocking in at one hour and 11 minutes long. There's actually no penetrative sex until the one-hour mark, but it definitely looks like it's worth the wait. As one viewer commented, "This is the most remarkable video I've ever seen in my 47 years of watching porn, and I'm not exaggerating!" Even Dusty and Peppermint's meet cute is memorable; a dating app story with multiple twists.
Peppermint [00:00:56] I saw his pictures and I saw a kindness in his eyes, and his genuine smile. I said, "I want to get to know this person better." So I reached out to him. He contacted me back, and we had a little bit of exchange online. But I'm like, "No, I need to see you face-to-face. I need to feel your energy. I need to sense that person." I think you felt the same. So we met for coffee, and this beautiful relationship evolved from there. The longer portion of it is that — I'll let Dusty fill in details of this — but we had a mutual friend in common that we had no idea until a few months after we started dating. We also lived— my parents lived in the same neighborhood he did. So I would visit my parents and then we'd go walking around the neighborhood, and I would walk by his apartment time and time and time again without even realizing it. So we started dating and like, "Hey, why don't you come to dinner at my parents house?" And we only had to walk four blocks up the street. So we were destined to meet, our lives were somewhat parallel and it just took this online spark of interest that put us in the same path. [To Dusty] you can fill in the details about the mutual friend, and I'll let you tell that story.
Dusty [00:02:00] Yes, I was dating somebody — this was well prior to meeting Pep — we were exclusive and we were dating for a while, but we were at a dinner party of this mutual friend of Pep's here...
Peppermint [00:02:12] ...Who was also friends with the woman he was dating!
Dusty [00:02:14] Yeah, and so she comes busting through the door, the friend of Pep, and is just like, "Oh, my God, I've got to tell you about this woman, she is just incredible, la da da, she's become just an incredible good friend." And I won't go into many details. But they had very similar backgrounds and stuff, so I'm like, "Okay, that's great." I'm not really paying attention to this, we're at this dinner party. I'm here and I'm like, "Okay, that's great." So we kind of go our course and we end up breaking off our our relationship. About six months later, I get this contact from Pep on this dating site that I signed on to. I saw her pictures that she had on there, there was a couple of pictures, and it just looked like —I don't know how to put it. It was like there was a kindness, there was a gentleness, there was a beauty and inner beauty, and it just it spoke to me. It's like, you know what, this is somebody who needs and deserves to be loved, and vice versa. So I responded back to her, and we had met up for for coffee, and we're sitting at this coffee shop and she starts talking, and she's telling me about herself and that kind of stuff. Then all of a sudden, this stuff starts coming into my head and I see that person coming and busting through the door, and I'm like, "Wait, what is going on here?" Bells are starting to go off. She says a few other things and I'm like, "Is this the person that that person was talking about it? [Out of] millions and millions of people, is this the person that person was talking about?" Okay, this is one of those moments you take notice. I'm like, "okay, do I tell her that I might know who she is?" I'm like, "No, you know what? I'm going to let this be, and we're going to let this, see where this goes and it'll be the right time. Sure enough, it ended up being the right time, when she was gonna introduce me to her good friend. They were doing a gig together, and I got there early with her and she goes off in the back. I see this other person's husband there, and I walk up to them and I'm like, "Hey, how ya doing?" And he goes, "Ah, so you're the Dusty!" And I'm like, "Yep!" And he goes, "Good to see you!"
Peppermint [00:04:19] Yeah, my friend and I were performing. We finished the show and I'm so excited for her to meet my new guy. I'm like, "Oh, I can't wait till you meet him!" So we go from backstage, and they're out in the audience and I say, "Oh, hey, here's my guy!" And Dusty's like, "Hey, I know you!" And my friend is like, "What are you doing here?" And that's when we realized the connection.
Dusty [00:04:38] I truly believe that, you know, you always have a choice, but there's moments in life that are signposts, and that it's up to you to know if it's significant. Fortunately, we were both in the right place, the right frame of mind to truly value what was being placed in front of us. And I'm deeply grateful for whatever experiences in my life that brought me to that point, to realize that and to value what this has, and what we bring to it.
Aria Vega [00:05:08] Yeah, and in your profile as well, you specifically mentioned being grateful for meeting in midlife as opposed to as young adults. And I'm curious, like, what types of things did you learn from your early relationships, or what contributed to that sense of readiness at that particular time that could not have happened sooner?
Peppermint [00:05:28] I think it just takes a certain amount of life experience to mature and to know yourself thoroughly, and to have a couple of relationships to say, "Okay, well, that didn't work." Whether it's you choosing the wrong partner and the wrong dynamics, or if you need to do some self-reflection and some growing... So having those relationships, knowing what doesn't work, you get a chance to say, "This is what I really need, this is who I really am, this is what I really want and what I really value." And I just don't know that you're mature enough to do that in your twenties. I mean, some people get married super young and they stay married, and that's fantastic. They grow and they evolve together. But if you're in a partnership that just you start to grow in different directions, I mean, something's got to give. You either realize that this isn't the person you're meant to be with, or you need to do some evolving and changing yourself if you want to stay with that partner. So I think having those experiences and those challenges, you know, we're not going into this relationship naive.
Dusty [00:06:28] I was taught from a very young age to evaluate my actions in relation to the actions of others. No relationship is one person's fault, you contribute to that relationship 100%. If it ends, then I learned from that experience, and I've made plenty of mistakes in relationships, you know, I have contributed to the demise of relationships. I remember when I was like five or six years of age, an aunt of mine or a cousin of mine had come out to visit us, and she did palm readings and stuff like that. I remember she was grabbing my palm after she read everybody else's palm and she said, "You'll have many loves, but you'll not find your true love until later in life." And she was 100% correct! I will do everything in my power to be the best person I can in that relationship.
Aria Vega [00:07:18] Another bonus of meeting when they did was knowing their bodies better too.
Peppermint [00:07:23] I remember on one of our first dates, I think it was like the second time we had ever met face-to-face. We just went walking around the neighborhood and we were like sitting looking at the ocean, and we both disclosed our astrological signs to each other. I'm a Scorpio, he's a Cancer, and when we said that, he said, "Oh, this could get very passionate!" And it's true, like, beyond either one of us in any of our sexual experiences so far, and the way that we're just so accepting and open of each other. We are on the same desire level, like compatibility, and it's just beautiful. I remember the first time we made love, we didn't even know each other that well. We hadn't had that many conversations about what we like and boundaries and stuff. We talked about sex a little bit, because luckily we're just both very comfortable talking about sex, as it should be. But that first night, it was really it was like,"Wow, this is just the beginning and there's just so much more to discover." And he's helped me, embrace my full expression of sexuality, and I've helped him embrace his. It's just, it's out-of-this-world phenomenal, really is. I know sometimes couples can get into a rut, or like their sex is routine. But I mean, every single time it's brand new to us, even if we are doing similar activities. I just love being with him, I love touching him, I love evoking pleasure from him, watching his head roll back and hearing him moan and and watching him quiver... I just I love bringing that out of him, and I know that he loves doing the same for me.
Dusty [00:08:58] She actually taught me to truly embrace blowjobs, like really enjoy it. Before her, I never really enjoyed a blowjob. The reason being is that through media, through the conversations you hear, you hear a lot of where it's like, it's either done through an act of like, "Okay, well I begrudgingly will do this" because it's not like truly embraced. So I don't want anybody doing anything with me that they're not just totally wanting to do. When she looks at me and she says, "I really enjoy giving you a blowjob," and plus she gags on my cock and kind of sits up a little bit and giggles, you know? Then I'm like, "Okay well, I can't deny that." She's brought a real joy to that, you know? I think a lot of women experience the same thing with men going down on them and performing oral, that it's done from a position of, "okay, well, I got to do this, I'll do this for five, three minutes and then get to fucking." I truly love going down on her, it's like meditation to me, and you know, listening to her, watching her respond.
Aria Vega [00:10:08] When did you first decide to start filming yourselves?
Peppermint [00:10:11] Within our relationship, we knew the sex was extraordinary. We would watch ourselves in the mirror sometimes, or get out the computer and just, like, film ourselves and watching it back like, 'Wow, this is really hot! I wonder if other people would be turned on watching this." We would also be at gatherings or parties or music festivals, laughing together, dancing, being affectionate, and we would have both friends and strangers alike come up to us and say, "I just need to tell you how beautiful it is to witness your love." So given the fact that we found our sex really hot, people enjoyed witnessing our love, so we felt a calling to maybe put that out there. I think one of the things that also inspired us to make a presence online was not that we wanted to make money having sex. We wanted to inspire people to have a wonderful relationship. Like Dusty was touching on, the best way to do that is to see an example of what it looks like. How do you treat each other? How do you communicate? How do you touch each other? How do you engage in that foreplay? So for us, it's about inspiring with our relationship and just having people see what that looks like. Rather than reading it in a book, actually seeing it in action... We like to lead by example, I guess. So we want to inspire people to seek the same sort of magic that we have in our relationship.
Aria Vega [00:11:31] These days, Dusty and Peppermint are everywhere. On top of their love story videos, the couple also appears on Chaturbate, ManyVids, Pornhub, Adult Empire, and other platforms, all while keeping active accounts on social media. The key to growing their following has been connecting directly with their fans and followers.
Peppermint [00:11:52] As far as promotion, we're on Twitter, and then we're also just now starting to dive into Reddit, which is cool because it's media-driven. We can post a picture saying, "Hey, we're online," or, "Check out our sexy stuff!" We can also join groups that have conversations, and we're in groups of "Relationships over 35" or "Sex Questions." So when you're having conversations with people, that starts to build rapport, and they become more interested in who you are, and what you have to offer.
Dusty [00:12:17] I think that one of the things that webcaming has really done to the industry is that it has allowed those who want to watch you [sic] podcast, which may someday turn into a vlog-cast. Everybody that subscribes then gets to actually hear someone talk and speak, and present themselves and express themselves.
Aria Vega [00:12:39] It seems like you do that especially well. You won Best Cam Couple from The YNOT Awards, and that is so much of where that authenticity gets to shine through for you. And I imagine that that's so much of what connected with judges and voters of that award. Yeah, how do you feel about that?
Peppermint [00:12:54] Yeah, that was it was super special because with YNOT especially, there's a lot of other models that were voting for us. So it wasn't just our fans that are voting for us, but it was our peers are voting for us and supporting us and validating what we do. Not just in sharing our sex life, but sharing ourselves and our lives and having the livestreaming platform where we get to broadcast our shows. Like Dusty said, it helps us not be just sex objects. They get to know our personalities. They get to know our struggles, our challenges, what we look forward to, our day in, day out. We'll have like mundane conversations on cam about like, "Oh no, we need to go grocery shopping and get this thing," or whatever. And viewers will say, "Oh, I love the casual banter!" Like oh, we forgot you guys were there. So you know, they really do get to see us.
Aria Vega [00:13:42] I started thinking, when you mentioned that occasion where you forgot the camera was there— given the fact that you are drawn to portraying intimacy and authenticity in your content, how do you sort of find the balance with that desire and the fact that any time you turn on a camera, you become a performer to some degree?
Peppermint [00:14:01] Great question. There are definitely times, especially when we're doing our live broadcasts where Dusty's holding the camera P.O.V., let's say I'm sucking his cock, right? I'm sucking his cock, I'm looking right into the camera, so the viewer has this awesome P.O.V. experience. Plus, I know if he's looking at the monitor and I'm looking at the camera, I'm looking directly at his eyes through the camera. So you know, it's exciting for us too, in that way. So definitely at times we're playing to the camera, we're doing things to entice the viewers. But then there's also times where we'll set it down, and we get lost to each other. Like the other night, I was like sitting on your lap and I was taking your clothes off and I was kissing you. But then we had missed all this stuff in the chat and it was like, "Oh, I'm sorry guys! We got a little lost, we have to catch up here." There is a moment where it's just, we get so into it and so into each other that, okay, we know the camera's there, but we're just we're doing our own thing.
Dusty [00:14:53] For me, I like playing with the camera. I like playing with the different angles so that I can see both Pep and myself. I love grabbing the camera and doing POV and moving it around to try and capture different angles. So it's honestly, for me, the angles that I'm finding are the angles that I like. Most times we have the big monitor on so we can see ourselves, and we could see it. So for me, I just enjoy playing with the camera. They get the benefit of seeing that.
Aria Vega [00:15:22] And I'm thinking now too, even with the prerecorded content, like the videos you make for Lustery, I notice that you'll also lean into that sort of interplay between performing and just being. Like the first video you brought out, was it cake or pie? It was something delectable....
Peppermint [00:15:40] Oh, muffins! Gluten-free, peanut butter, chocolate chip banana muffins. Like my favorite recipe in the world.
Aria Vega [00:15:47] I love that, because I could tell that it meant something to at least one of you, like that was not like just a random pastry. Again just these little details, I love that you brought that aspect of your lives and yourselves into that. It was clearly planned. It was a lightly scripted part of the exchange.
Peppermint [00:16:02] That was the only one where in the script were like, "Well, how are we going to start this?" And like, I don't know, I had just made some muffins. "Why don't I just...? Get in bed and I'll bring you some muffins!" Other than that, it just flowed naturally. It just gives us, like, a purpose. It gave me a purpose, I guess, to come into the bedroom. We could just turn the camera on and both in bed, but we thought that would be a cute little thing.
Aria Vega [00:16:20] No, it's perfect. Like an improv prompt, right? You get the broadest stroke in there, and then you do what you will with that, yeah. I'm just curious, are there any theater kids in the room?
Peppermint [00:16:31] I spent almost my entire life on stage. I started training in gymnastics when I was maybe seven or eight years old, and then I added on various dance forms, like jazz dance and ballet dance. On the weekends, we'd have classes and practices and rehearsals, and we do shows and productions. And it was just it was my life, it was my dream. So after high school, I booked it to New York. I danced professionally out there for ten years. So from the time I was eight years old till very recently, 52, I retired from performing. I had a big gap in there. Then when I was 40 I started taking aerial silks classes, and I loved it. I fell in love with the movement, the art. It was like ballet in the air to me. And I had a successful aerial arts career.
Aria Vega [00:17:18] Does your performance in porn feel like a natural extension of that performance work? To me, it seems to fit in there pretty well.
Peppermint [00:17:26] I guess it somewhat does, being somewhat of an exhibitionist, somewhat of using my body as a form of expressive art. So I think it was kind of a natural extension. Dusty renovated our back room. He tore out the carpets and we have wood floor in there with a pole. So occasionally I'll do some dancing. I'm recovering from an injury right now, so it's been on the back burner for a bit. But he's encouraging me to keep moving and keep expressing and keep dancing.
Aria Vega [00:17:52] What about you, Dusty?
Dusty [00:17:53] I don't have an acting or any kind of stage background in that sense. In my twenties, I helped some family with assistant stage management, so I got to learn extensively how to work with performers and calm them down and ease them, and make sure that whatever they needed they had and help them shine best they possibly could. And so I learned that, and then I had a lot of industrial arts background. So in a lot of stuff, I actually did a lot of stage building or stage management or production setting, and that kind of stuff. Nothing to the extent of lots of lighting or an understanding of sound and all of that, but mainly building stage props. And she's kind of inspired me to bring out characters and that kind of stuff. As a kid, I always used to dovoices and that kind of thing. So every once in a while we have a character called Pierre that comes out and helps Pep. I might have somethings in the backyard I've got to do, like some electrical [work] or something like that. Pierre will come over as the handyman, jack of all trades, and Pep is always having these little problems. You know, something gets stuck in her throat.
Peppermint [00:19:05] I'm the damsel in distress, and Pierre comes to rescue me. He has to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Dusty [00:19:10] Yeah, she's constantly passing out. I never met the character, I don't know who he is. I found him on Craigslist and every time — it's unbelievable — I've never been able to be here when he's here. He just shows up.
Peppermint [00:19:23] Think Clark Kent-slash-Superman.
Dusty [00:19:24] So strange.
Aria Vega [00:19:27] That's Lustery couple Dusty and Peppermint. If you're 18 or older and love porn with a slow and steady pace, don't miss their clips on Lustery.com. So, POV is working on some pretty big changes that I can't wait to unveil. The show will be back in four weeks with a special series highlighting our very first online course, How to Watch Porn. You'll get to know the instructors, including yours truly, and get exclusive insight into our porn literacy seminar. You can find a link in the show notes for more details. If you're into the show, please leave us a five-star rating and a review. POV is brought to you by Lustery, and this episode was produced by me, Aria Vega. It was edited by Kathryn Fischer and Adrienne Teicher. And the show's creator is Paulita Pappel. Lustery is the home of real-life partners filming their sex lives behind closed doors. Again, if you're 18 or older, you can find us at Lustery, and we're on Twitter and Instagram @lusterypov. I'll miss you, lovers. Be back soon.