so lovely here

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

Don’t you love those days where you’re aimlessly walking around in the evening which wanders you into a store where you then spend 2 hours in chatting with the most delightful and informative pair of people?

Hide & Seek is a darling gem of a store located in the CBD (soon to change - keep yourself updated on its facebook page!). Well hidden behind the facade of an old shopfront and narrow door, you’d be forgiven for walking past and completely missing it.

It comprises of 4 floors. One floor features menswear, womenswear and accessories by local designers; another with sale items; another with household items and random exciting trinkets to litter around your room or gift to besties; and then the last floor which is really the exciting part - a floor dedicated to perfume!

The one hour I spent was basically an all out sensory experience - I LOVED IT!

Dark wooden flooring and furniture against white walls, soothing music in the background, learning about a mysterious world of perfume and exposing my nose to an entire spectrum of new scents. This is what heaven must smell like!

Did you know perfumes are constructed like a pyramid with top notes which sometimes take up to an hour to evaporate (which is why its always recommended that you wait for a while before deciding whether you like a scent), heart notes which comprise the main heart of the perfume and base notes?

Also, did you know theres this super cool interesting perfume to be found at Hide & Seek which is actually constructed like a star (ie a multi faceted pyramid)?

Yes - thats how complex and exciting the perfumes there are!

They also had an entire range of perfumes of which I’d never smelt anything like it - they don’t stock no MJ Daisy or DKNY Apple scents here! Some of the scents they had literally smelt like wood and forests whilst others had cryptic names like “A mother’s fury” - seriously guys, how can you not be curious about a perfume called a mother’s fury?!

And of course - I didn’t leave empty handed!

The best thing is that for some of their perfumes, you can pick and choose and buy a sampler set! I got a trio of perfumes for about $100 and whats better is that they all fit into my handbag so I can spray them whenever wherever - PERFECT (:

If you’re looking for a unique and special gift for a friend, bestie, mom, dad - this is the place to bring them. Its not the cheapest perfume but by far and away, your nose will be in for a massive treat and at very least you’ll go out smelling great!

NB: You know sometimes you go to buy perfume and after trying on a lot you feel pressured by sales staff to buy something otherwise they’ll look down on you? This is not like that! They were super friendly and totally encouraging me to take my time especially because the scent the longer you wear it etc. LOVELY!

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Hide & Seek
176 Telok Ayer Street, in between Raffles Place & Tanjong Pagar (NB: they are going to move early 2012)
http://hideandseek.com.sg/main.html
http://keithpng.blogspot.com/

You must be MAAD not to go

I’ve gone to Maad a couple times now and seriously, its amazing! People who say Singapore is boring NEED to come here - reason #183920 why I love Singapore! (:

Highlights!



#1 Super cool retail therapy options:

“Localised” hand drawn birthday cards, yummy cupcakes and home made icecream, bracelets made of traditional Buddhist prayer beads except MULTICOLOURED and carved into miniature SKULLS (
-whew- thats a mouthful!

Instead of frequenting overpriced stores selling quirky adorable Edward Monkton in Raffles City (disclaimer: I love him!), give Maad a chance for more offbeat, cheaper localised designs! WAHOO (:



#2 Free music!:



I was fortunate enough to catch part of Kevin Matthew’s performance and it was super sweet and chilled out and added to the amazing ambience of the place (: He also sang some slightly more interesting political songs - I do believe there were some digs at our ministers $1million salaries -___-

Even better, you can enjoy the free music lying on astroturf with a pile of cushions or cozying up with your lurverrr in a little quiet tent - GLORIOUS! Sneakaboo!

They also rebroadcast the music in the different rooms so you can listen to it even when you’re busy on your shopping escapades in other areas! (: Trust me, you’ll wanna!



#3 Check out red-dot design museum - FOR FREE!

One of the art installations that I really loved which if I don’t remember wrongly won the 2009 design award competition for having such great colourful and simply designed kitchen ware - Which they then turned into this beautiful art installation!

..

AND MORE! (Which I failed to take photos of cause - well, how I see it is that a mark of a good night is lack of photos taken because you’re busy enjoying it!) (:



#4 Be a model for a night! - an art model that is

One of the things that struck me was a group of people clustered at the back busy painting portraits of 2 lucky visitors to maad - SUPER COOL CAN!

No you don’t get to keep your portrait (although maybe if you asked the artist pretty please) but still - its great training and perhaps you can get in some meditation whilst you’re at it! (:

Word of caution, one of the people modelling chose a pose where she was looking surprised, body leaning backwards somewhat, at her husband. I have a niggling suspicion she might have regretted that pose after holding it for such a long time although she had this amused smile on her face - I would be too if there were 10 random strangers trying to draw me!

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The upcoming Maad dates are 10th feb, 9th Mar and 13th April 2012 - all Friday evenings and all in the city centre so there is really NO EXCUSE not to go! Mark your calendars now! Trust me - you won’t regret it! (:

See their site for further details!: here

PS: Completely random and irrelevant but did you know red dot is only red from the front? HOW LAZY!!