August 27, 2014
by thetrendytechie 16 Comments

How to Wear a Fitband With Any Outfit Part 1: Design.UX

NOTE: For part 2 in this series, see How to Wear a Fitband With Any Outfit Part 2: Bytten.

Fitbits, Jawbones, and Fuelbands have taken their places on our wrists and changed the way we track our fitness. Having a fitband makes it fun to take the stairs, walk to work, and take the long way to the coffee shop on break. It’s liberating to track and reach your 10,000 step goal because it makes you feel like you’ve used your body a healthy amount. But one of the challenges of wearing a fitband is they’re really not that stylish. When you’re working out or wearing a jacket, it doesn’t really matter what your fitband looks like. But whenever you’re wearing jewelry on your hands or wrists, or when you’re wearing a nice dress, the chunky fitband can really ruin a look.

Designer Tory Burch’s Fitbit line presents one very expensive solution for this problem, but if you’re not up for spending hundreds of dollars to outfit your band, there’s a better way to save your style from ugly fitbands. I use these simple slip on covers made by Design.UX, a Canadian company out to solve all your fitband fashion dilemmas.

Design.UX’s Fitbit Flex covers come in dozens of colours and designs to match any outfit you can dream up. My favourite ones are the gold and silver toned covers from the Sparkle and Classic collections - here are three ways I can wear my Fitbit with any outfit, thanks to Design.UX.

OUTFIT 1: A Night on the Town

This cover in charcoal disguises the Fitbit, making it look more like a chunky bangle than a gadget. I paired it with a single colourful statement ring and a simple necklace to complement this bright bodycon dress for a night out.

OUTFIT 2: Casual Neutrals

One of my favourite outfits recently, this total look from Club Monaco is a great look for daytime as the summer turns into fall. It’s on the warm side of neutral, and I like to bring out the copper tones in the silk trousers with triple-metallic jewelry and the basic golden cover on my Fitbit. Without the Design.UX cover, my black Fitbit would ruin the neutrality of this outfit!

OUTFIT 3: The Office Shirt

When wearing a crisp button down to the office, I find it’s best to stick with simple colour palettes to let the structure and elegance of the shirt take the stage. In this outfit, the classic silver Dress.UP cover brightens up the Fitbit and complements the pinstripes in my favourite polo. A green and silver ring ties it all in and brings out the tones in the minty shirt - and the green in my eyes, though you can’t see it in this picture.

Isn’t that great? At first glance, you can’t even see I’m wearing a Fitbit. As a gift, my friends at Design.UX are giving away some covers to one lucky Trendy Techie reader! The covers are available for the Fitbit Flex - so if you have one of those, enter the giveaway by clicking the link below!

ENTER GIVEAWAY

Good luck and may the force be with you!

OUTFIT 1

dress: BCBG Maxazria

ring: Juicy Couture

OUTFIT 2

top: Club Monaco (see how to wear it for summer here)

silk trousers: Club Monaco

jewelry: various

OUTFIT 3

buttondown: Ralph Lauren

Fitbit & Dress.UP covers c/o Design.UX - post is sponsored but all opinions are genuine

August 16, 2014
by thetrendytechie 1 Comment

Goo.ey, My Cracked-Back Saviour!

Cracked phone back, that is! I hate bulky phone cases. Devices are getting thinner and thinner, but that’s no reason to slap thick cases on them! For months my iPhone went naked, its delicate glass back exposed to a world of harsh threats. I dropped it a fair share of times, and I’m so lucky to still have a pristine, crack-free phone. But now I’ve found Goo.ey‘s magic sticky-back phone skins and I’m so happy!

Goo.ey makes a really cool line of phone cases and skins that make your phone cling to smooth surfaces like a gecko’s sticky toes. It’s fantastic for those moments when you just don’t have enough hands to hold your phone, like when you’re putting on makeup without a mirror, when you’re talking to someone on Skype, or when you’re watching videos while cooking. Now that I think of it, this would be great for putting on makeup while watching tutorials! And the best part is the back is only sticky on smooth surfaces - so it won’t stick to your purse, the inside of your pockets, or anything else you don’t want it to.

I somehow managed to stick the skin on perfectly for the first time in my life, not blocking out the camera or going over the edges! *applause*.

I love my Goo.ey skin so much that my friends over at Goo.ey have decided to sponsor a giveaway of an iPhone 5/5s case for one lucky Trendy Techie reader! The cases come in aqua, red, orange, yellow, black, white, clear and turquoise, and the winner will be able to choose whichever one they want. :) Fill out the Rafflecopter giveaway to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

gooey_iphone_skins_5_small gooey_iphone_skins_1_small

Yes, Goo.ey sponsored this giveaway, but all opinions are mine and I do really love these cases. :) Good luck!

June 1, 2014
by thetrendytechie 5 Comments

Printic App: Polaroid, revamped

Since the rise of mobile apps, mobile photography has grown into a huge industry in its own right. Thousands of photo apps exist, each bringing its own angle to the experience of taking, editing and sharing photos using our mobile devices. We’re so used to having our albums in the cloud or on our phone that we rarely take the time to print our pictures out anymore because it’s simply inconvenient to take a memory card to a print station nowadays. That’s why I love Printic, the app that lets you print photos directly from your phone, and have them mailed right to your doorstep.

I’ve always loved collaging, and the way Printic’s prints are shaped takes me right back to the Polaroid I had when I was little. Digital photos are great, but there’s just something beautiful about having the best memories printed out so you can hold them in your hand. Printic also lets you print photo albums and calendars, all fully customized and pre-built so you have them just the way you want them.

Not only do the finished products look great, the app does too and is so easy to use! You just follow the guided steps to choose and format your photos, add text and change the background colours, then enter your address and order!

Pretty cool eh? Well Printic has generously offered a credit for 10 prints for a giveaway on Trendy Techie, so you could have a chance to get 10 prints for free! The giveaway will be open for one week, winner announced on Monday June 9th!

ENTER HERE TO WIN

April 29, 2014
by thetrendytechie 12 Comments

Henry’s Offers Canadian Photographers their First Retail Rental Experience

If you love photography, this one’s for you. Henry’s, Canada’s top photography retailer, has recently launched the country’s first retail rental service for photography equipment, Henry’s Rentals. This rental service is an opportunity for photographers of all experience levels to explore and experiment with different cameras, lenses, flashes and other equipment at affordable rates. I am so excited about this service, especially since I’ve recently started expanding my lens set for my Sony NEX-5R and would love to test-drive some lenses before making a decision on them!

In celebration of this exciting new service, I am happy to present a giveaway for a $60 gift card to Henry’s! That’s enough to rent a $500 Canon lens for a full weekend (it’s only $25 a day), like I did last weekend. I chose to rent this Canon macro lens to do some macro photography with my Canon body, and I can had a great experience!

“For a minimal investment, renting three lenses can produce the same results that a professional wedding photographer’s $10,000 kit can,” says Ren Bostelaar, Henry’s School of Imaging Manager. That just blows my mind. Henry’s is really helping us learn and grow as photographers without spending thousands of dollars on equipment. It’s particularly useful when you need a great camera or different lens for a specific event - next time I do a sunrise photoshoot (like this one, one of my all-time favourites) I can just rent a low-light lens instead of buying one!

Want to give it a try? Enter to win the gift card so you can! This giveaway is open to residents of Ontario. Simply enter using the orange link below!

THE HENRY’S GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY

PS! You can keep up to date with all of Henry’s updates by connecting with them on their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts!

December 19, 2013
by thetrendytechie 19 Comments

Colourful Kawaii Christmas: A Yummy You Giveaway!

Brrrr, it’s cold outside! I’m writing this from my cozy living room, with candles by my side and a little Christmas tree in front of me. Outside my window the sky is darkening, but the snow on the ground reflects what little light dusk holds, shining dully like the moon through fog. These days colour is sparse, and sometimes we just don’t have time to match our scarves to our hats to our gloves to our coats and boots, so we end up going all black. Sometimes I look out my window and it looks like a black and white movie. But while it may seem a daunting task, I love to add colour to my winter clothes and cheer up my day - and I think this post could cheer yours up too!

Enter Twinkie Chan, owner and designer of Yummy You! Twinkie is the queen of colour, the crossroads of Betsey Johnson, DIY and Kawaii culture. When she so generously offered to sponsor a giveaway, I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to style a winter outfit with one of her gorgeously colourful scarves!

This is the easiest (and cutest!) way to add gorgeous colour to your stark winter months. And to make it even easier, here’s your chance to win your own Sanrio Cupcake Friends scarf! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter - the giveaway will end on Monday at 12 AM EST.

YUMMY YOU GIVEAWAY - ENTER HERE

May the odds be ever in your favour!

OUTFIT:

scarf: Yummy You Clothing by Twinkie Chan

headband: made by my lovely friend Short Presents!

jacket: Michael Kors

top: Aerie

December 10, 2013
by thetrendytechie 10 Comments

Holiday Glam Giveaway with Jeanne Lottie!

“Jeanne Lottie” in Chinese means “true happiness”. And that is just what Jane Ip, designer and entrepreneur behind the brand, promotes with her beautiful, well-made bags. I’ve been a fan of Jeanne Lottie ever since I received two of these bags for my fifteenth birthday (my mom has great taste!), and I am so excited to be able to bring you a giveaway featuring this gorgeous blue clutch!

Hand-chosen by Jane herself, this clutch is the perfect partner to a glam holiday evening look. I love how its luxurious blue shade adds an unexpected pop of colour to the typical holiday colour scheme. Whether paired with a long red gown or a tight black cocktail dress, this clutch will take you through all your holiday parties this season, from Christmas right to New Year’s Eve.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Jane and her team at the Pink House (including her gorgeous pom Baby - she’s amazingly cute), and I can say firsthand that they are all dedicated, lovely people who truly care about their customers. A Jeanne Lottie purse is more than a fashion statement, it’s an expression of love and happiness.

This giveaway will run until this Sunday December 15th at 12AM, so enter and tweet every day for extra chances!

ENTER HERE: Jeanne Lottie Blue Clutch giveaway

Like what you see? Here are some more posts I’ve done with Jeanne Lottie purses in the past. Click on the pictures to reach the full post!

Best of luck to you all!

November 20, 2013
by thetrendytechie Leave a comment

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