Author: Anne-Maria Kho

Here’s something unusual: living in a hobbit resort. Baan Suan Noi Resort’s architecture is inspired by The Shire which is a Hobbit settlement in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings series. Located in Khao Yai, Thailand, Baan Suan Noi has modelled its location into real-life hobbit homes nestled in hills with cute, lil’ round doors similarly detailed to its depiction in the movies. Don’t worry about living like medieval times  – these rooms are fully air-conditioned and have free wifi! Guests can rent bicycles to get around the area, which includes a lake, BBQ area, and a farm. Guests…

The iconic sarong kebaya has been worn by Singapore Airlines (SIA) stewardesses for ages as a prominent staple since the 1970s. Now, you can wear the iconic print too! Makerly SG, a local fashion brand, has reimagined the distinctive air stewardess print and made it into beautiful modern batik wear. Makerly SG’s Singapore series has been a huge hit. From their Instagram comments, seems like even Brazilians are keen on buying these crop tops. Luckily, the company ships internationally. These batik tops retail from S$47 to S$95. Designs include ribbon tie-back tops, swing tops and wrap tops. Sizes range from…

In celebration of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, we’ve managed to get a glimpse of Singapore and Taiwan’s exclusive Starbucks collection for 2019. Starbucks Singapore This year, Starbucks SG has given us five mooncake flavours- lotus paste with egg yolk, Starbucks coffee with caramel and hazelnut, honey earl grey, yam paste, and mango. Click here to find out more! This moon rabbit cup retails at S$24.90. Only available at selected SG stores. The bottle on the left retails at S$26.90. The one on the right retails at S$34.90. Only available at selected SG stores. Bottle on left retails at S$24.90. Middle one retails at S$21.90.…

In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival 2019, Hong Kong Mei Xin (HKMX) has announced Avengers-themed mooncakes and collectable 3D tins for the year. And it’s going to be available in Singapore too. The collectable tins are available in two designs: a standalone Iron Man one and another featuring seven iconic Avengers: Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Thor, Black Widow, Ant-Man and the Hulk. Did we mention that these Avengers-stamped mooncakes are lava custard-filled too? For the Iron Man tin design, the titular hero’s suit eyes, palm and arc reactor light up too! Marvel Mini Heroes – Avengers Mooncake (S$38)  Marvel…

Transcend beyond just eating food! Popular foods meet design at the second I EAT DESIGN event in conjunction with Singapore’s National Day. This two-day event will be held at Naiise Iconic @ Jewel Changi on 3 & 4 August 2019. In addition to shopping and eating, visitors can take part in workshops to create cute food-themed accessories. Here are some highlights you can expect: Shop Taste samples and shop from more than 20 popular homegrown F&B brands such as The Golden Duck, Fossa Chocolate, Straits Preserves, PAPAPENG and more. New vendors such as Klay.sg will be retailing local-inspired food accessories…

innisfree has collaborated with Singaporean nostalgia design brand wheniwasfour 小时候 to create a special selection of innisfree collectable merchandise. This collaboration is part of innisfree’s efforts to showcase local brands and designers in new creative ways. wheniwsfour has designed a limited-edition pouch as well as a set of three enamel pins based off innisfree’s products. These pins are inspired by innisfree’s top-selling skincare lines – Volcanic Clay, Jeju Orchid, and Green Tea. With a minimum spend of S$68 in August 2019 at innisfree, customers can receive all three pins and an “inni memories” cosmetics pouch. The pouch’s design features a…

Oogachaga and Trouble Brewing have teamed up to create the first ale in Singapore to support our LGBTQ+ community. This Unicorn Ale is a fruit beer brewed with pink dragonfruit, hibiscus and rosehip, giving the drink its pink hue. What I personally love about the unicorn ale is that part of the proceeds will go to Oogachaga- a non-profit organisation that provides support for LGBTQ+ individuals, couples and families in Singapore. The bottle’s derpy unicorn design features artwork by local artist Teo You Sheng, founder of Heckin’ Unicorn. “This is such a refreshing initiative for us – bringing together art, ale…

Being a bubble tea lover is so much fun- there’s always something new to look forward to. There’s always a new drink, a new pearl flavour, and now there is bubble tea lip balm. This summer, Mentholatum Japan has released a limited edition pearl milk tea-flavoured Melty Cream Lip balm. This lip balm contains SPF 25, so not only does it smell great (I’m assuming), but it also gives you a lil’ needed protection. Mentholatum’s Melty Cream Lip is known to melt upon contact with your lip’s temperature and take in moisture from the air to fully moisturize your lips. In…

The Singapore River Festival  2019 will take place along Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and Robertson Quay- starting on 2 August and ending on 15 September. Returning for its fifth year, this year’s festival is dedicated to paying homage to Singapore’s cultural diversity and heritage and there will be a highlight event at each of the three quays. Circular RAW Powered by Tiger @ Boat Quay Kicking things off is the Circular RAW Powered by Tiger at Boat Quay on 2 & 3 August. This massive street party is organised in collaboration with the official festival beer partner, Tiger Beer. Expect performances from local musicians including…

Still looking for a vacay destination for the fam this December holidays? Why not check out Lata Seri Pulai in Pontian. Located in Pekan Natas, Johor, Lata Seri Pulai is a family-friendly villa for rent that’s great for a family trip. This villa consists of two bungalows, swimming pool for adult and kids, an open air Surau, sports field, fish lake, and luscious green kampong environment. The resort is reminiscent of old, traditional Malay kampong houses. What particularly stands out is definitely the resort’s massive waterslide. This colourful waterslide is bound to be loved by kids and adults alike. However if…

McDonald’s Singapore has unveiled its new app! Marking its 40th anniversary in Singapore this 2019, this app is a gift to all their loyal customers to go beyond just delivery orders. In this new McDonald’s app, customers can also receive personalised and exclusive deals based on their preferences. The McDonald’s App is free to download from the App Store and Google Play Store. Scan the QR code above to download the new McDonald’s app! You can also look for the McDonald’s App QR code on posters in-store and on self-ordering kiosks so that you can download this new app. …

Locals and tourists are heading to a Singapore cemetery for Instagram photos recently, and we’re not quite sure how to feel about that. The Japanese Cemetery Park near Hougang/ Kovan is the largest Japanese cemetery in Southeast Asia with 910 tombstones of the previous Japanese community in Singapore. The cemetery was declared a memorial park in 1987 by the Singapore government. https://www.instagram.com/p/BuOGfenhMul/ The Japanese Cemetery park is beautiful and its well-maintained floral archways are somewhat reminiscent of the beautiful cherry blossoms that bloom in springtime in Japan. In recent years, a significant number of people have travelled to the memorial…

People love to put their own creative spin on things, and this Los Angeles based designer is no exception. Meet Ian Delucca’s “Object No.1 AirPods”. These luxury Object No.1 AirPods are cast in white and gold, AND adorned with 10,000 individual VVS diamonds. With such luxury AirPods, of course the packaging’s gotta be epic too. Duh. Each set comes with its own marble charging stand. These custom-made, fully-functional AirPods are at the forefront of Delucca’s “NEW MATERIALISM” art series. https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FMD6vH4Ur/ There are only 25 sets of “Object No.1 AirPods” up for grabs so you better hurry. All you need is USD$20 000,…

Singaporean company LionsBot has launched its production of 300 autonomous robots that will help keep our country squeaky clean. Besides cleaning, the interactive robots can sing and rap as well (not too sure why this was a required function). They will even wink at people and make jokes if someone gets in the way of their cleaning duties – sounds similar to the tray clearing robots in food courts now. LionsBot is the first company in the world to offer cleaning robots on a subscription model. The company has developed 13 different models of cleaning robots that can sweep, scrub, vacuum,…

Bubble tea has been on trend for what seems like a decade now and people still love it. I myself am a major bubble tea fan (peep my bio) and I can’t understand why some people aren’t. Tokyo is about to open Tokyo Tapioca Land – a bubble tea amusement park. As the theme is “Tapioca Dream Land”, this amusement park is surely going to include anything and everything bubble tea-related. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2V70O0hPmU/ Tokyo Tapioca Land will be located in front of Harajuku station from 13 August to 16 September 2019. Guests can look forward to bubble tea rides (basically a giant bubble…