SHOP $249, amazon.com
Welcome to The Esquire Endorsement. Heavily researched. Thoroughly vetted. These picks are the best way to spend your hard-earned cash.
I have a lot of gadgets and appliances, but I haven’t used or loved any of them the way that I’ve used and loved my Loftie Lamp every single day since owning it. Can the same be said for anything else in my home? I don’t use my coffee maker every day, nor my toaster, nor even my air purifier. But my Loftie is, really and truly, a device that has made my life so much better through its convenience, aesthetic, and multi-functionality that I don’t know how I ever got by without it.
Before I had my Loftie, I found myself in a conundrum. I needed a reading lamp for nighttime, but one that would also be bright (or dim) enough to replace my ugly, too-bright overhead lights from time to time, but one that would also be able to provide adequate vibe-y mood lighting that my sunset lamp and LED lights failed to do efficiently. I wanted something I could turn on and off without even getting out of bed, something that would be cool to put in my bedroom, not hideous. I didn’t want to spend a fortune, or buy something that would work for a few months and then cease in effectiveness, or use something that would leave me hanging when the battery died or it needed to be recharged. What I was looking for all along was, quite simply, the Loftie Lamp.
SHOP $249, byloftie.com
It can create—or adjust to—any vibe
I’ve always loved customizable lighting for my living space, but I’ve always hated how non-intuitive everything seems to be. Those LED light strips from Amazon are decent for making TikToks and nothing else, color-changing bulbs are a hassle that don’t even work in many lightbulb sockets, and most small sunset lamps are hardly bright enough to light a room, especially as you can’t change the brightness on them. But the Loftie Lamp? Well, all my problems are miraculously solved.
When you set up your Loftie Lamp—a ridiculously easy assembly process which takes less than five minutes, by the way—and pair it to your phone, you can see all the various color settings on the Loftie app, as well as remotely turn your Loftie Lamp on and off. There are three classic modes on every Loftie—Day (a bright white), Reading (which emits a brighter light from the top of your lamp and a glow from the base of it), and Night (a warm orange), plus 33 custom modes. These range from a simple, vibrant Red to a yellow, orange, and purple gradient called Tuscany to a rainbow Pride to a Taylor Swift-inspired purple called Speak Now to a very patriotic red, white, and blue gradient, aptly named 1776.
From the base to the top, the entire Loftie Lamp radiates light at every setting, and the sliding brightness adjuster on the app lets you perfectly set how dim you want the light to be. If I’m home, I have my Loftie on in my bedroom no matter what; it’s set to Reading when I want to read, to Night as I wind-down for bed, to Red when I’m watching a show or movie, to Golden Hour or Mist or Candle or Blush when I want something calm.
SHOP $249, amazon.com
It’s your own personal sunrise and sunset
Do you ever wish you could wake up to the sunrise? Well, with the Loftie, you can. Sort of.
Were I an alarm clock person, Loftie Alarm Clock, which we’ve also tested and loved, would be my preferred method of waking up. The Alarm Clock can even be paired with the Lamp, but as it is, only my iPhone alarm can rouse me from the deepest depths of slumber, and that’s typically a harsh, rude awakening. The Loftie Lamp, though, has a setting where you can set a time for the light to gradually turn on over the course of 9 minutes, slowly and gently waking you up with an ambient light that imitates the sunrise. This leaves you feeling fresher, brighter, more energized as you wake up in a natural way; I don’t even have to snooze my iPhone five times anymore.
Similarly, when it’s time to start winding down for bed, the Loftie Lamp will turn on a light that reminds you to start getting ready for sleep. You can pick any light setting for sunrise and sunset, but I stick with the default options—a sunshine-y yellow for waking up, and a warm, glowy orange sunset for going to bed. It’s a seamless reminder that takes no effort on your part, a light nudge that helps your sleep routine feel better and your living space look better. A win-win, if I’ve ever seen one.
SHOP $249, amazon.com
And it looks dope
Part of the reason why I never got myself a bedside lamp before getting my Loftie is because, quite frankly, most of them are ugly. I want something versatile, chic, minimalist, and cool, something slim enough to be on my nightstand, but bright enough to light up a room, but simple enough to go with any decor I may have. The Loftie ticks all of these boxes.
I have the all-white version, but you can buy a Peach lampshade on the Loftie website, or a Pistachio lampshade on Amazon. No matter which color you pick, though, the style of the Loftie is something straight out of a Pinterest interior design inspiration photo. It’s a sleek, modern style that doesn’t draw too much attention to itself, but when people do notice it, they’re certain to say, “Ooh, what’s that?”
The contemporary look is a perfect fit for any space, whether it’s a modern bedroom, a rustic kitchen, or an eclectic living room. It just needs to be close enough to an outlet to be plugged in (thank goodness it won’t ever die for lack of being charged”, and you’re all set. The times when you aren’t using your Loftie will be far and few between, once you realize how practical it really is, but whether the lamp is on or off, I’ll guarantee this: it’ll serve its purpose of being easy, smart, and effortlessly chic.
SHOP $249, byloftie.com
Photography by Joe Lingeman. Prop styling by Heather Greene.
