Smile Makers set out to make vibrators as ordinary a purchase as a face mask, and gave each one a character and a name. Here is the story behind the brand, how to choose among the characters, and the gel, oils and design-led toys I would put beside them.
Smile Makers: The Brand Putting Vibrators On The Beauty Shelf, And What To Pair
From a physician's paper to a beauty shelf
In 1883 a physician named Joseph Mortimer Granville published a paper on what he called nerve-vibration and excitation, describing an electromechanical vibrator for pain and nerve disorders. The popular story that vibrators were invented to treat female hysteria is contested, and the historians have been arguing about it ever since. What I take from the paper is simpler: the vibrator started out dressed as medicine. For over a century it has been wearing a lab coat.
Smile Makers took the coat off. The brand's own story says its mission is to normalize female sexuality by bringing vibrators into mainstream retail, and it says it was the first to put them front and centre in beauty stores. It was founded by two Swedes, Peder Wikström and Mattias Hulting, and the company is based in Singapore. Neither founder came from design or engineering, according to Vulcan Post, so they worked with focus groups and a team that included a sexologist and a gynaecologist. I like that honesty. What I find most interesting about smile makers is not the toy but the shelf, a vibrator placed beside a face mask, and the question of what it means to file pleasure under wellness. I think it is good merchandising and a bit of liberation at once.
The trick is that each design has a character, so choose one the way you would choose a friend. The French Lover, The Ballerina and The Romantic are the softer, more classic side of the range. The Artist is the most sculptural, The Poet is the dreamy one, and The Billionaire, The Firefighter and The Tennis Pro are the playful, gift-ready trio. Read the names as a personality test and pick the one that made you smile.
More Smile Makers, vibrators, gel and care
Here is how I would shop the second grid: pick the toy first, then the care that goes with it, and do not buy more than one of each at the start.
The Neighbor and The Surfer are the other two characters, and they round out the cast. The Pelvic Partner Pelvic Floor Trainer is the most practical thing here, and worth asking a clinician about first if you have a specific concern. Generous Gel is the lubricant, and check its label for compatibility with your toy before you use them together. Vibe Wash is the toy cleaner, which is the least glamorous product on the page and the one that keeps everything else nice.
Then the body care. Hydrating Body Oil and Regenerating Body Oil are the ones I would keep beside the bed, skin-soft and ordinary in the best way. Tickle Me Tender rounds out the set with a playful name, and I will leave it to you to read its label.
A pairing I like: the gel for the toy and the body oil for afterwards, both from the same shelf.
What I would skip: leaving a toy unwashed in a drawer between uses. Clean it after each use and dry it before you put it away.
Design led vibrators from other brands
Start with the material and shape you like, not the brand: a small bullet, a wand, a curved insertable and a wearable are four very different toys, and I would choose the one that suits how you like to be touched.
Dame's Arc G-Spot Vibrator is named for the spot it targets, and Fin is the second Dame design here. Lelo's Sila Cruise and Ida Wave are a pair from a brand that lives in the design world, and maude's Vibe Personal Massager is the one from a bathroom-shelf brand you may already know for body wash. Kiki de Montparnasse's Etoile Bullet is the one I would look at first if you want something that could pass for a lipstick on a dresser. We-Vibe's Moxie+ and Womanizer's Next round out the group for anyone who wants a well-known name. Read each brand's description for what the shape does, and pick the one you can picture yourself using.
A pairing I like: a discreet bullet for travel, and a larger design at home in a proper drawer.
What I would skip: a toy you cannot charge or store where you actually live. If you share a home, a design that hides in plain sight is worth more than a bigger motor.
Lubricants, arousal oils and serums
One rule worth writing down: water-based lubricant is the safe match for most silicone toys, so start there and read the label if you are not sure.
Nécessaire's The Sex Gel is the clean, minimal one. Dame's Aloe Lube is the one the brand calls pH-balanced and toy-safe, and DeoDoc's Intimate Lubricant Drops and maude's Shine Organic are the plain, dependable pair. Then the arousal products: Dame's Arousal Serum, Foria's Awaken Arousal Oil, maude's heat warming lubricant and the wellness-line Sex Oil. They are different formats of the same idea, and they suit people who like a ritual before the main event.
A pairing I like: a lube for the toy, and an oil or serum for skin, with a patch test on your forearm first. Apply the oil or serum to skin, not the toy, and see how it feels before you try anything new in the moment.
One more habit: check the ingredient list for anything you have reacted to before. Fragranced products and sensitive skin are a familiar disagreement, and a minute with the label saves a bad evening.
What I would skip: an oil with a silicone toy or a condom unless the label says it is compatible. When in doubt, use the water-based one.
The one I would buy first
I think the sensible way to start is one character, one gel and one cleaner. Smile Makers is good at that kind of small, gentle first step, and the beauty shelf is where I would want to find it. Add a second toy only once you know what you like, and then look at the design-led names from the third grid.
Granville put a vibrator in a medical journal. Nobody needs to write a paper now. You can pick a name and a colour, and put it in a drawer next to the face mask.
