Beth says: “Men try to pick out lingerie for a woman, but then what happens is, they’ll pick something out that they see in a magazine or at Victoria’s Secret, and it looks great on this airbrushed 20-something-year-old. We figure out who the person is—we have lingerie for different body types. A babydoll would be our go-to because it’s flattering, and it’s easier to fit.”
2Lingerie, $60
Beth says: “Men try to pick out lingerie for a woman, but then what happens is, they’ll pick something out that they see in a magazine or at Victoria’s Secret, and it looks great on this airbrushed 20-something-year-old. We figure out who the person is—we have lingerie for different body types. A babydoll would be our go-to because it’s flattering, and it’s easier to fit.”
3CBD (cannabidiol) massage candle ($25) and intensive cream ($30)
Beth says: “The candle burns at a temperature that’s low enough that the wax turns into a massage oil, and it smells good. Both products have the CBD, so they’re going to help with muscle relaxing and feeling good. Intimacy and sexual activity help alleviate pain anyway, so combining them is good.”
4CBD (cannabidiol) massage candle ($25) and intensive cream ($30)
Beth says: “The candle burns at a temperature that’s low enough that the wax turns into a massage oil, and it smells good. Both products have the CBD, so they’re going to help with muscle relaxing and feeling good. Intimacy and sexual activity help alleviate pain anyway, so combining them is good.”
5Love and Laughter: Sexy, Meaningful Fun for Everyone by Beth Liebling, $24.95
Beth says: “I wrote it from my female perspective. I was not comfortable talking about sexy stuff and getting what I wanted in my marriage. It’s about my journey. One man told me that the book was a sex-language translator, that he was able to talk to his wife better. We can’t see another perspective unless someone shares it with us.”
6Love and Laughter: Sexy, Meaningful Fun for Everyone by Beth Liebling, $24.95
Beth says: “I wrote it from my female perspective. I was not comfortable talking about sexy stuff and getting what I wanted in my marriage. It’s about my journey. One man told me that the book was a sex-language translator, that he was able to talk to his wife better. We can’t see another perspective unless someone shares it with us.”
7“Do You Know What Turns Her On?” and “Do You Know What Turns Him On?” quiz books, $7.99 each
Beth says: “Especially when people have been together a while, you think you know, but you don’t. You don’t even know what questions to ask. Just take this out to dinner, or take two or three pages. It just starts things off. It’s such a great way to connect, to laugh, to learn.”
8“Do You Know What Turns Her On?” and “Do You Know What Turns Him On?” quiz books, $7.99 each
Beth says: “Especially when people have been together a while, you think you know, but you don’t. You don’t even know what questions to ask. Just take this out to dinner, or take two or three pages. It just starts things off. It’s such a great way to connect, to laugh, to learn.”
9Rabbit fur flogger ($45) and blindfold ($36)
Beth says: “Obviously, you can’t hurt somebody with this. But what you can do is tease somebody. It starts waking up the nerves. When one part of our body feels pleasure, the rest of our body does, too. We want more.”
10Rabbit fur flogger ($45) and blindfold ($36)
Beth says: “Obviously, you can’t hurt somebody with this. But what you can do is tease somebody. It starts waking up the nerves. When one part of our body feels pleasure, the rest of our body does, too. We want more.”
BETH LIEBLINGisn’t your typical sex shop owner. The Cornell-educated, 50-something mother of five was a family law attorney with her own solo practice before opening Darling Way in 2016.
Housed in a cozy Heights cottage, the business is more upscale boutique than Adam & Eve, with an approachable atmosphere. “Darling Way is the shop I wanted to shop in,” says Liebling, “but it didn’t exist. I realized, I want this, and if I want this, other people want it.”
It was Liebling’s divorce—following 25 years of marriage—that sparked her midlife about-face. She decided to learn to talk about her desires. “When I was married, I might get something from an adult store,” she says, “but I would be so embarrassed when I brought it home, it would just sit in a drawer. And it didn’t help.”
She also had to learn to date—and feel attractive—again. “I didn’t feel good about myself at all,” she remembers. “I’d had no romance or emotional connection for years and needed to try and find some place where I could even start with new lingerie. I looked around, and there wasn’t any place to go that really celebrated sexy in a respectful way.”
Enter Darling Way. Sure, the shop has a “frisky room” full of novelties of the raunchier sort, but there’s also a rack of vintage, feathered chemises and dapper smoking jackets, plus a literature section. Liebling, who now hosts a YouTube series and a radio show on love, sex, and dating (on ESPN 97.5 FM), is adamant about educating her clients—the shop even hosts regular “sexy ed” classes.
“I’ve been a romantic my whole life,” Liebling says. “Part of what I tell people is, it’s not about what you need. Nobody needs whipped cream, but damn, it makes things fun. It turns ice cream into a sundae.”
“I tell people to go to sexy places, and Hotel ZaZa is a really sexy hotel. Get a room there and live it up. But you don’t want to go and do the same thing—you want a little bit of something different, even if it’s just that somebody’s blindfolded.”
“It’s romantic downstairs, and upstairs it’s sexier. Maybe you kiss, or maybe you just see other people kissing, and it’s a turn-on. It gets your heart going a little bit.”
Picnic at Hermann Park
“Get a blanket, go out to Hermann Park, and just lay on the grass together. Because after a certain point in the relationship, we stop doing that.”
Abby Ledoux traded Canada’s border for Mexico’s when she moved to Texas from northwestern Vermont in November 2017 to join the staff at Houstonia.
An alumna of Emerson College’s journalism program in Boston, Abby was previously associate editor of three weekly newspapers in her home state of Vermont. There, she covered everything from Bernie Sanders to the heroin epidemic and won numerous state and regional awards for her work, including the Vermont Press Association’s 2014 Rookie of the Year. She was also an investigative reporting fellow at the New England First Amendment Coalition.
Today, Abby is excited to explore Houston’s vibrant, diverse culture (and shopping scene). Aside from fashion and design, she’s passionate about politics, hip hop and Mexican food. She believes leopard is a neutral and red lipstick can fix almost anything.
