- - Petal & Post | S'well Wood Collection Water Bottle Review - -

Hello! I hope you are all having a wonderful February!

Today I wanted to take a look at the S'well bottle that I was sent a few months back by Petal & Post's Jamie MacLean. Nowadays I am seeing more and more people carrying these bottles around, so this seems like the perfect time to review mine and let you guys know if its worth to invest in one.

Read on!

First thing's first - What is S'well and why is what it's doing so important?
S'well is a company that was started in 2010 by Sarah Kauss with one mission in mind - to rid the world of plastic bottles. A HUGE number of plastic water bottles goes to landfill sites across the world each year. Not only do plastic water bottles never fully bio-degrade and disappear (PET bottles release toxins even if they are incinerated), but they also take tons of oil to produce - oil that could be used elsewhere.

So what can we as individuals do about this problem? Easy - start utilizing reusable bottles!

This is where S'well comes in. S'well has beautifully crafted non-leaching and non-toxic 18/8 stainless steel bottles. These bottles are leak-proof and convenient to have with you on the go. Most importantly - each bottle comes with a promise to keep your cold drinks cold for 24 hours and hot drinks hot for 12 hours.

S'well bottles come in three sizes: 9 0z (265 mL), 17 oz (500 mL), and 25 oz (750 mL). They are also available in a variety of colours and designs. The wood collection bottles in particular are hand-crafted, so the design of each bottle is one-of-a-kind. Furthermore, S'well has partnered up with American Forests to plant a tree for each bottle sold from the wood collection! How awesome is that?

The bottle that Petal and Post graciously sent me is in the design called "Beach Cottage" and it holds 17 oz (500 mL):

So...do the S'well bottles live up to their claim?
The simple answer is - yes! This bottle is an amazing insulator for any beverages. Every time I pour either cold water or hot tea into my S'well bottle I can expect the bottle to keep it hot/cold for HOURS. There was one day in particular last week where I put very hot tea into my bottle at 9:00am, went about my day, and by 7:00pm it was STILL too hot to drink. I really like that the bottle is drip-free and I'm pretty impressed with how well it works in general.

Having said that, I do want to mention a few of things I have noticed:

1) Initial temperature is key. This is kind of obvious, but the colder/hotter the beverage that you're pouring into the bottle is, the longer it will retain its temperature. If you put a drink in that's not really hot, expect the liquid to turn lukewarm by the end of the day - especially if you're constantly opening your bottle.

2) Your drink is more likely to be hot for 12 hours than cold for 24 hours. Although the S'well bottles are really good at keeping your drinks hot and cold for long periods of time, I find that even if I pour really cold water in the morning and don't open the bottle at all throughout the day, after about 12 hours the liquid is pretty much at room temperature. Part of it could do with the fact that the bottle I received has a tilted/uneven cap (do you see what I mean in the photos?). Generally speaking though, I typically don't need more than 12 hours for a drink to stay warm or cold.

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Overall, I'm pretty happy with my S'well bottle! I even ended up purchasing the Teakwood bottle for Andrew for Valentine's day because he liked mine so much. :)

If you would like to get a S'well bottle you can get find one at Petal and Post for $32-$54.

Do you have a S'well bottle? :)

Thanks for reading!