Sudio Sweden

When Sudio Sweden reached out to me about their Bluetooth earphones, I was jumping with joy! I had seen their earphones on Instagram, and they're so elegant and stylish... and the fact that they offered me the Bluetooth version was even more appealing! I hate messing with wires. 

Vasa BLÅ - Rose Gold White

To turn the earphones on, you have to hold the play button for 3 seconds, and then to pair, you have to hold it for 7 seconds. After that, enjoy the studio quality music that blasts out of the earphones... I was seriously so impressed at the sound quality! 

It also comes with a beautiful leather case to hold your earphones... Not that the cord would even tangle!

So pretty!

Their goal is to provide premium quality earphones with great Scandinavian design... I think they nailed it. Now, I can't work out with them because, like with most earphones, they would slip out of my ears. But it's a great pair of earphones to take to the office, coffee shops, or to travel with in general. Love, love, love it!

Sudio Sweden was even sweet enough to provide me a discount code to offer to my readers. Use KAREN15 for 15% off their products!

S'well Bottle

If you've been following me on Instagram, you may have noticed for the past year I've been addicted to fitness and collecting a variety of gear (clothes, bags, shakers, bottles). That's when I came across S'well Bottle. They're a great company with a mission to rid the world of plastic bottles, and they gives back to the community through charity and donations. Plus, they make great looking bottles!

Blonde Wood pattern

I love that the bottles keep drinks cold for up to 24 hours and hot for 12. It's currently my favorite bottle for the gym because the opening is large enough to put in ice cubes to keep my water cold. It's so refreshing when I can take a swig of ice cold water during my workouts! 

The top also twists a few more times than most bottles, so you can tell it's super leak proof! Perfect for transporting it around in your purse or gym bag. And it doesn't condensate! 

Stone Collection - Onyx (coated with stone-like texture for grip)

I like that they have different sizes to suit your needs - I felt like the 17oz was perfect for me. Apparently, they have a 25oz that can fit an entire bottle of wine! I also love all of the patterns (and textures) that they have... it was so hard to choose which bottles I wanted! 

I absolutely love my S'well bottles and the company's charitable mission. If you're in the market for a new water bottle, look into S'well! 

Shop the post here:

GMYLE Wireless Charger

Some of you may have noticed this cute little thing on my nightstand. No, it's not a coaster - it's my new Qi wireless charging pad for my iPhone! (DISCOUNT CODE: REF-KarenLao for 20% off!)

GMYLE Wireless Charger Aluminium Mini Qi (Marble Pattern)

If you're not familiar with Qi, it's a wireless charging standard that has been adopted by many companies such as Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, Motorola, and Google - so a lot of new phones coming out have Qi wireless charging capabilities built in... But not Apple! I'll talk more about that below.

The charging pad comes with a USB cable but no wall charger. I used my iPhone cube, but it started getting super hot, so I switched to a bigger wall charger, and it's working fine now. 

As I mentioned before, a lot of newer Android phones have Qi wireless charging capabilities and can use this pad without any additional products... but for my iPhone, I had to also get the receiver to attach to my phone for this gadget to work. Make sure to get the bigger receiver for the 6 Plus!

Charging pad + receiver

The receiver plugs into your phone like this:

Then you can put your phone case over it. The website says that it works well with most cases "excluding case thicker than 7mm or with metal layer." I've been using it with my hard cover snap-on cases, and they work just fine! The only thing that bugs me is that it makes my case bend a little:

Bendgate, anyone?

It also took a few tries to get the hang of what exact part of your phone you have to place down in order for the pad to detect the receiver. For the 6 Plus, the sweet spot is slightly below the center of the phone. I blame the size of the phone (also, it looks a little funny how big the phone is on this mini charging pad!). If your phone is slightly misplaced, the pad either stays red... or goes red-green-red-green until you correct it.

My reflection says hi

One distracting thing is that the indicator light is VERY bright! Almost like a nightlight next to me when I sleep. I have to put something in front of it at night. 

Probably shouldn't let it hang off like that, but I like to live life on the edge

So all in all, there are pros and cons to this cute little charger. But I'm loving how convenient a charging pad is! I can just grab my phone and go instead of messing with a lightning cable! Now I can avoid scenarios like 1) forgetting my phone is plugged in and having the phone pulled out of my hand as I walk away, 2) pulling my phone way too hard when I'm trying to turn off my alarm in the morning, and 3) being too lazy to reach for the charger at night and waking up with my phone at 10%.

Head to GMYLE to see more products! You can use the discount code REF-KarenLao for 20% off!