D I.Y Sex Toys: Self-Love Edition
Zee Krstic is a content strategy manager for Hearst Magazines, leading audience acquisition and affiliate revenue growth for Country Living, House Beautiful, ELLE Decor and VERANDA. He previously served as Health Editor for Good Housekeeping between 2019 and 2023, covering news, wellness trends and executing product reviews in conjunction with the Good Housekeeping Institute. Prior to joining Hearst, Zee fostered a background in women’s lifestyle media with seven-plus years of digital editorial experience, including as a site-wide editor at Martha Stewart Living. Zee currently produces design and lifestyle service content as a contributor; he has written about food and dining for Time, among other publications. If you plan to travel with your vibrator, look for a sex toy with a locking system and a carry case to avoid any embarrassing buzzing suitcase moments. Plastic is the firmest option, while silicone has a more velvety feel.
“The angled tip can be tilted for pinpointed pleasure, or you can roll the vibrator across erogenous zones like your nipples, perineum, or vulva for a more smooth and diffused sensation,” she says. There’s a huge range of insertable vibrators and sex toys that target this zone, including dual-stimulation ones (like rabbit vibrators), curved toys, and models with bulbous heads that pulse or thrust. A popular option for power-hunters, this 13-inch wand has four intensity settings and four vibration patterns. It also has a flexible neck that lets you apply pressure at different angles for a more targeted sensation. It has a cord, so you never have to worry about it crapping out on you mid-session.
With all that in mind, here are some of the best remote-control sex toys. I don’t think the Pulse II works very well as a partnered toy, for several reasons. They’re definitely not intense enough to create significant pleasure for a female partner. It almost feels like there’s a cancellation effect with the oscillations and the vibrations. It’s too hard and bulky to feel very comfortable pressed in between two bodies, and any sort of thrusting is awkward and even slightly painful. I appreciate the effort to involve a partner , but this just feels like a toy that’s meant to be used on its own.
The stroker-style ones may require an erection for you to penetrate them—but aside from that, a lot of vibes feel great regardless of how your boner may ebb and flow. While this is commonly seen as a toy for vulvas, it can be—and is—enjoyed by many people of all genders and anatomies. Its vibrations are so satisfyingly deep that they feel good on pretty much any erogenous zone vibrators, from clits to dicks to taints to nipples. It’d make a great gift for a partner, too, since you’ll both be able to enjoy it, both separately and together. And unlike any other toy on this list, if the Magic Wand Rechargeable dies on you mid-session, you can just plug it in and keep on going, because it’s wired to be useable while charging. They all have a mouth, and inside that mouth is a (typically) silicone membrane that an internal motor moves in and out.
Seeing it out successfully requires skill, focus, and often at least least one helping hand. But what if you want to use that hand to touch other erogenous zones, or scroll through the news on the phone, or knit a blanket? For those pursuits and also for reasons of increased accessibility for a number of folks who can’t use hand-operated sex toys, hands-free vibrators are important. This wearable G-spot vibrator is designed to give you both internal and external sensations, with a flexible arm that hits all your sensitive spots. Plus, it comes with an impressive 2-hour battery life, so you can play for as long as you want.