Want to be discreet? Go for small toys that you can carry around in your purse or pocket. Bullet vibes, for example, are effective at clitoral stimulation, incredibly mobile, and most importantly – won’t raise any eyebrows if spotted. Something else to consider down the line is how you clean and store your toy (if you’d like to keep things under the radar), but we’ll cover that further down. Need something accessible? If full wrist motion, and using your hands for long periods of time will be uncomfortable, or inaccessible to you, try using toys with more ergonomic handles or hands-free toys. Some toys, like rubber dildos, can be incredibly taxing on the wrist and arm as they require more control. However, something like a wand, with an extended handle, will be much easier to use. If you’ve got impaired eyesight, as well, you may want to make sure that your desired toy has obvious operating buttons, lights, etc – or better yet, an easy-to-use smartphone app! Our Favorite Sex Toys Still not sure on which toy will work best for you? Luckily, the adult toy industry is as booming as ever – and there are all types of toys to recommend. Here are some of our favorites for everybody.
The Magic Wand Great for: customizable clitoral stimulation This massager turned clitoral vibrator is a classic favorite. With a long handle and a vibrating silicone head with full rotation, the Magic Wand delivers clitoral pleasure you’ve never imagined. It’s also quite ergonomic, with an extended handle that allows you to manipulate the head without having to reach and stretch. The vibrating, soft silicone head, has a full range of motion, always finding exactly the right spot without much effort. If you’re looking for direct clitoral stimulation, the Magic Wand is the way to go. We haven’t come across a dissenter yet. vibrating magic wand toy Womanizer Great for: indirect clitoral stimulation
Are you looking for clitoral stimulation that’s gentle, indirect, and building? Try the Womanizer, the only toy on the market using a feature called ‘PleasureAir.’ The Womanizer gently sucks the clitoris into a soft silicone tip, where it’s exposed to gentle pressure waves. Delivering indirect, mind-blowing pleasure. Never be uncomfortable, or over-stimulated again with this unique technology! If you know the discomfort of an oversensitive clitoris all too well, then the Womanizer is definitely for you. clitoral suction toy Nova by WeVibe Great for: dual stimulation If you’re looking for dual stimulation; both clitoral, and vaginal, then look no further than the Nova by WeVibe. Nova stimulates the G-spot while the external clitoral stimulator flexes to gently vibrate against you no matter how you move. Hook your smartphone up with the Nova app to choose from 10 different vibration modes to find the one that works for you, and your body. Mio Ring by Je Joue Great for: enhancing partnered sex The Mio Ring is a fun, shareable, discreet, and small vibe. It’s perfect for bringing on trips or carrying around daily – just in case the mood for fun strikes you.
The Mio Ring is a wearable vibe made of soft silicone. You can use it on any body part, wherever a bit of stimulation might feel great at the moment. Because it’s so versatile, it’s perfect for playing with others. Just make sure to wipe it down between swaps! sex toy ring B-Vibe Rimming Plug Great for: anal stimulation The B-Vibe is the first plug engineered to create a rimming sensation using rotating beads beneath its surface. With a soft silicone body and six levels of vibration intensity, the B-Vibe Rimming Plug is a one-of-a-kind anal stimulator, perfect for anyone who loves a rimming sensation. butt plug Helix SYN by Aneros Great for: prostate massaging Massage your prostate and experience an explosion of pleasure with the Helix SYN. Covered in velvet-touch silicone, and embodied by a rigid frame, the Helix SYN is designed specifically to hit the right spot in just the right way. A perfect anatomical fit for most, the Helix SYN is a prostate godsend for beginners and the advanced. This toy is a no fuss, hands-free way to experience the insurmountable pleasure that is prostate stimulation. prostate vibrator How to Keep and Clean Your Toys Not necessarily the sexiest part of using sex toys – but inarguably, the most critical part – is hygiene.
Dildo BallSex toys get exposed to some very sensitive places and can quicklyspread disease, and bacteria, if not cared for correctly. There is a right kind of dirty in the bedroom, and then there’s the wrong kind of dirty. Sex toys that don’t get washed or stored can form a biofilm of nasty bacteria that can cause all sorts of discomfort, and worse, serious health complications. Learning the right way to keep your sex toy or dildo clean is imperative! Effectively storing your toys can also save you face if you share a household with family, kids, or roommates. When you know how to store your toy, depending on what it’s made of, you can also avoid breaking it, which is probably important to you if you’ve spent quite a bit of cash. If you’re welcoming a sex toy into your life, like a pet, it needs to be bathed, and put to bed. Let’s cover some of your cleaning and storage options!
Handwash A simple method of sanitizing your sex toys is to give them a good scrub in the kitchen sink. Alcohols and strong disinfecting detergents might be tempting when you’re thinking of that potential biofilm – but step away from the harsh chemicals! Remember that your sex toy is used on sensitive, intimate areas and shouldn’t be exposed to any chemicals that might cause you issues. Use fragrance-free gentle soaps, or better yet, get a cleanser specific for use with sex toys. Dishwasher Some toys can be washed in the dishwasher! Nothing’s as easy as throwing your dildo into a dishwasher and grabbing it after a cycle. The shortcoming of a dishwasher is that it very easily ruins certain toys. If your toy is made of a silicone or glass, for example, the heat of the dishwasher may warp it. Check the fine print of your sex toy before throwing it in with the bowls and utensils.
The UVee – Storage AND Sanitization It’s 2017, so you better believe there’s a hi-tech solution for keeping your toy clean! UV-C light can kill 99% of bacteria regardless of your toy’s shape, material, or function. There’s a storage and sanitization solution for sex toys called a UVee, which safely stores your toy in a locked box and sanitizes it using UV-C light. Purchase your HOME Play unit today! It’s also got charging capability – meaning you can lock away your toy, have it cleaned, charged and ready to go in just 5-10 minutes. This is a new cleaning (and storing) method that we are nuts about! For the lazy amongst us, the UVee is a total godsend. There’s nothing less appealing than hand washing your toys after a play sesh, but with the UVee handily within arm’s reach, you can roll over in bed, plug and store your vibrator in the UVee, and simply set and forget – now there’s an infomercial we’d like to see.
Butt Plug TailsDrawer and Silk/Satin Baggie If you’ve not got a futuristic sanitization and storage item like the UVee, you can store away your toys in a drawer. However, it’s important to note your toys’ material. Certain materials react with others, which could leave you with an assortment of dildos that have melted into shapeless blobs. It’s safer, and more hygienic, to keep your toys individually bagged. As for what type of bag; avoid plastic bags, as harmful chemicals can leach into your porous toys over time. Go for a satin or silk bag, which will protect your toy while giving it room to breathe. Lastly, if storing your toy in the drawer, always clean it before doing so. Putting away a dirty toy into your drawer will likely result in a bacterial biofilm forming, and nobody wants that! Best Practice Tips for Sex Toys We’ve talked about finding the perfect toy for you, how to clean it, and how to store it. Now it’s time for the fun part: our tips for getting the most out of your experience with your toy. It’s one thing to simply plug and play, but it’s an art to maximize your pleasure, and land some mind-blowing, life-changing orgasms with your toy of choice.
Tip #1: Lubricate, lubricate, lubricate Whether you’re stimulating externally, or internally, everyone’s bits need a bit of slip and slide to ensure comfort, and increase sensitivity. Avoid oil-based lubes. These react poorly to many toy materials and could damage them. Water-based lubes are best, while silicone lubes are unsafe to use with silicone toys. Lube is definitely a must use with toys. It eases friction, making your play sesh more fun and less chafey. Spit makes a great on-the-go, last-minute lube alternative, and is totally free. Whatever you’re lubin’ up with, just make sure you’re doing it; your sex toy will feel all the better for it. Tip #2: When sharing, use condoms, or cleansing wipes Sometimes, the best part about having a toy is getting to share it with someone special. If you’re sharing a toy during a single session, make sure to clean your toy between uses. We get it, it’s not easy to pull yourself away from the action to do a bit of dildo washing in the kitchen sink, but with consequences as dire as STDs, it’s worth it.
Of course, there are a couple of alternatives: you could use condoms between uses, ensuring that your toy stays clean. There are also quicker methods for cleaning your toy mid-act. Sex toy specific cleansing wipes work well. Better yet, something like the UVee, which charges while it disinfects, is perfect for when you have minutes to spare.
LOVEHONEY Bed Ringer Rechargeable Double Cock Ring $499 at Lovehoney Buy Now Male Masturbators Here’s the truth, jabroni: When most sexual wellness websites refer to “male masturbators” and “penis sleeves,” they’re often talking about toys that resemble the most iconic of the lot, the Fleshlight, which is a masturbator tool (often encased in a canister) that contains a textured tube or artificial mouth/anus/vagina. Some masturbators will allow for you to go hands-free, others vibrate, and many designs range from realistic-looking “Pocket Pussies” to Tron-inspired sleeves such as the Fleshlight Torque Ice.
FLESHLIGHT Go Torque Ice Clear Male Masturbator $595 at Amazon Buy Now $595 at Fleshlight Buy Now Butt Plug New to butt stuff? Take things slow by exploring yourself or your partner’s backdoor with a well-lubed finger, or a set of anal training plugs (and more lube). The bottom line for butt plugs is that they can provide a sense of fullness and stimulation that a lot of people love, whether they vibrate or they’re made of temperature play-ready materials such as stainless steel. Just make sure you’re purchasing a toy with a flared plug, such as the Shimmy vibrating plug by Unbound Babes, because your sphincter has naturally powerful suction powers. Not only does this toy have a great handle, but we’re pretty sure Prince would have loved it.
UNBOUND BABES Shimmy Vibrating Plug $61 at Unbound Babes Buy Now ADVERTISEMENT Couples' Sex Toys The better question might be, “What isn’t a couples' sex toy?” Common sense tells us that if you use a toy with a partner, well, then that makes it a couples' toy. That being said, many couples' toys are designed for wearing during sex or for helping partners control the timing of their orgasms, and there are many remote and app-controlled toys by brands including Lovense and We-Vibe that are specifically designed to be enjoyed by couples for a little kinky edging and dom-sub play, such as this Lush 3, which is designed to provide direct G-spot stimulation. LOVENSE Lush 3 App Controlled Rechargeable Love Egg Vibrator $129 at Amazon
Buy Now $1399 at Lovehoney Buy Now Prostate Massager As with their cousin, butt plugs, many prostate massagers will vibrate, but their overall purpose is to bring a little back-door pleasure by stimulating the male prostate gland. “Internal prostate stimulation takes a softer touch,” explains Anna Pulley in the VICE guide to prostate play, “and involves more precise movements and smaller implements, such as fingers or small toys, rather than dildos or penises.” The Hugo is a popular remote-controlled prostate vibe by the luxury sex toy company LELO, and it’s equipped with one motor for the prostate and one in the base for the perineum (read: taint) for providing ~loads~ of pleasure. LELO Hugo Male Prostate Massager $2199 at Amazon Buy Now $219 $1625 at LELO Buy Now Penis Pump Penis pumps ROCK. These toys remind us of those high-powered suction tubes at the bank, and they can temporarily enlarge the penis as well as help folks with erectile dysfunction (ED) to maintain an erection by creating a suction effect around the penis, typically in a plastic tube, courtesy of a battery or hand-powered pump and a band that fits, and increases blood flow to the penis. Edge makes a highly rated, hand-fueled pump in a clear, latex- and phthalate-free tube so that you can see all your… business.
Kegel DeviceEDGE Tracey Cox Ultimate Performance Stamina Penis Pump $499 at Lovehoney Buy Now ADVERTISEMENT Strap-On Dildos Strap-on dildos are dildos designed to be worn, often with a harness, during sex. “Pegging can totally happen between folks of any and all genders,” explains Archie Bongiovanni in their pegging how-to guide for VICE. “After all, it’s essentially just anal sex with a strap on.” These days, there are even companies such as Fun Factory making harness-free dildos for going down to Peg City, USA, and one-and-done harness and dildo bundles such as this Unisex Strap-On by Lovehoney, so you can smash that order button and know you’re getting everything you need to start pegging.
LOVEHONEY Advanced Unisex Strap-On Harness Kit with 7 Inch G-Spot Dildo $399 at Lovehoney Buy Now Thrusters These sex toys are often dildos or rabbit vibes that are specifically designed to mimic the thrusting power of a penis, and tend to be on the more expensive side (that kind of engineering costs money!) because they provide even more sensation to the penetrative experience. You know how that animatronic Abe Lincoln was the peak of technology at Disneyland for so many years? That’s thrusters, only for sex toy nerds. This highly rated Fun Factory toy would be a great first-time thruster, because it has a straightforward phallic design and seven speeds that are easy to control with its three buttons.
FUN FACTORY Stronic Real Rechargeable Realistic Thrusting Vibrator $1699 at Lovehoney Buy Now Anal Beads Definitely one of the more advanced sex toys, anal beads are made up of multiple balls or ribbed, spherical attachments that are designed to be gradually inserted into your anus in order to please and stimulate its many nerves. These toys are usually flexible, and as with any anal toy, will have some kind of handle or stopper at the base. These Sensual Glass Iridescent Anal Beads from Lovehoney are a great starting point—plus, they’re gorgeous.
Transgender FlagLOVEHONEY Sensual Glass Iridescent Anal Beads $399 at Lovehoney Buy Now ADVERTISEMENT Palm Vibrators Otherwise known as erogenous zone vibrators, these sex toys consist of a vibrator—usually one that’s rounded or shaped liked a Bintje potato—that can fit in your palm and be applied for direct, rumbly pressure to the clitoris or anywhere else on the body that gives you pleasure. They’re also one of the least-gendered vibes in sex toy design, given that they aren’t phallic, and one of our favorites is this aubergine dream by Dame. Not only is it fully rechargeable and made of super soft silicone, but it’s extremely quiet. DAME Pom External Vibrator $95 at Amazon Buy Now $95 at Dame Buy Now Finger Vibrators As with palm vibrators, finger vibes can be one of the most accessible sex toys for those who may not be able to firmly grip a sex toy, and they’re just as discreet to travel with as a bullet vibrator or a cock ring. They're also popular as couples' toys, since they can be used for focused clitoral stimulation during penetration (or whenever). Just slip this Fin vibe by Dame over your finger, and use it to please you or your partner. But please, don’t stick it up the back door. Remember: No flared base = no entry.
DAME Fin Finger Vibrator $765 at Amazon Buy Now $85 at Dame Buy Now Lipstick Vibrator Traditionally, a lipstick vibrator will indeed look like a tube of lipstick, which is cool in a secret agent sort of way. But the best feature of this kind of sex toy, other than the joy of its novelty, is that the flattened tip allows for a little more direct, vibrating surface area to be applied to the clitoris. As always, Dame has a futuristic and far more minimal take on the toy with their svelte design, and we especially dig that the flat portion of the Kip has even more surface area than your average lipstick vibe. DAME Kip Lipstick Vibrator $75 at Dame Buy Now ADVERTISEMENT Kegel & Ben Wa Balls Remember that scene in Fifty Shades of Grey where Dakota Johnson’s character wears silver kegel or “Ben Wa”' balls to a black tie event? Well, those little weighted balls—NOT to be confused with jade eggs, which we shan’t touch—are simply silicone or metal balls designed to be inserted into the vagina to strengthen pelvic floor muscles, or to give a sense of fullness and stimulation.
LOVEHONEY Main Squeeze Heavy Double Kegel Balls $199 at Lovehoney Buy Now Restraints Now that we’ve slung every last dildo over our shoulder like a Kipling fanny pack, we’re ready to get into some tantalizing BDSM (bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism) toys and savoir faire. One of the most common accessories of the kink, amongst beginners and experts alike, are restraints. Typically, beginners may enjoy starting off with Velcro hand-cuffs or cloth ties before moving onto more advanced handcuffs such as the Orion, which not only acts as a pair of belt-adjusted handcuffs, but is also capable of being slung over the door for some extra kinky times. UNBOUND BABES Orion Over the Door Restraint Set $39 at Unbound Babes Buy Now Nipple Clamps We were given nipples for a number of reasons, but our favorite might just be horny clamping. Nipple clamps, such as these bad boys from Bondage Boutique, walk the line between sex toy jewelery and BDSM accessory, because they’re designed to lightly pinch your nips (and sometimes, your clit) and are often secured to a stylish collar or chain that would make you the belle of the ball at any Berlin Diskothek.
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