Big city life is great, but not always easy. Fortunately the super creative people from all over the world living here do their best to make our life easier, healthier and much more fun! Meet the top 6 brands which for sure will enhance your Shanghai life!
1) For your most important, basic needs - BONAPP
People have to eat and they like to eat. In Shanghai, we like it even more thanks to the humongous variety of cuisines from all over the world. The choice is so big that you can get dizzy at some point. Fortunately, one smart person – Stone Shi –the CEO and founder of the app - realized that it’s about time to tame all this food craze and that’s how the idea for Bon App ( former Indulge Smart) was born.
In one sentence – Bon App is the first app of its kind which unites people over food. It is the platform for Shanghai’s foodies to explore and share their culinary adventures in the city. Thanks to the location based services, the users can discover thousands of restaurants all over our beautiful city. Food loving Shanghailanders are more than welcome to leave photos, reviews and ratings of any restaurant in our beautiful Hai. And the most active ones – called ‘Power users’ will be rewarded with restaurant vouchers. Soon, the company will launch a new feature allowing people to book special, ready sets at really good prices! Plus – every month generous Bon App will throw the true glutton-heaven party for about 100 the most dedicated ‘Bonappers’.All you need to do to be a part of this is to download BonApp and start using!
And don’t be jealous, if you don’t live in Shanghai! The Bon App team is working on spreading its ‘territories’ to other big cities, like Guangzhou, Chengdu as well as Singapore and Hong Kong!
2) For the sweet tooth - BABYCAKES
Even after the biggest feast, most people love to have some considerable amount of sugar intake. Now, thanks to Jodi Peterson – daring criminal prosecutor from Chicago, Illinois – the sweet tooth owners in Shanghai can fulfill their desires and bask their palates in the colors, shapes and flavors of Jodi’s little baked pieces of art. All made with the highest quality organic, imported ingredients, using family recipes.
Currently, there are 4 classic flavors : red velvet , chocolate with vanilla butter cream, carrot cake and vanilla. Each of them costs 22 RMB. There are also Jodi’s specialties – seasonal flavors – 25 RMB each – and these are : rose essence cake with sweet cream frosting and lavender flower cake with whipped New Zealand honey frosting.
You can find these fancy little treats at Summerian Café at 415 Shaanxi Bei Lu, Boom Boom bakery at 39 Anfu lu, as well as order them from mealbay.net, sherpa.com.cn and of course place an order directly via Jodi’s page – www.babycakeschina.com
Although Jodi just started in March 2015, by simply hitting the streets 'old school style’ – as she says – her Babycakes are already taking Shanghai by storm. Jodi’s dream is to let her ‘conceived in Chicago, born in Shanghai’ cupcakes conquer the taste buds all over China.
3) For the ego - GLAMOURLAB
Looking pretty is one of the most important things for a woman – it gives you confidence and you feel ready to take on the world! But when you are a busy woman, especially with a family, it might be difficult to remember about yourself, when everyone’s else needs play the first fiddle. Fortunately, busy Shanghai based ladies are lucky to have French mompreneur Yasmine – the founder and CEO of GLAMOURLAB.
GLAMOUR LAB is an event that includes at least 20 workshops. Once every month the organizers choose a stylish venue and bring the best team of beauty professionals, wellness specialists and fashion designers. The participants can shamelessly indulge themselves in all kinds of self pampering – from make up classes to image consulting. For the price of 500 RMB you get the 3 hour access buffet, drinks and all the workshops! This pop up beauty heaven will last for 2 days over the weekend, covering 5 sessions in total, so you can choose the day and time. The next one is already booked for 26 and 27 September. For more information, contact details and booking go to www.glamourlab.cn
4) For body and mind - LALU NATURAL COSMETICS
Living in a polluted city like Shanghai may not be the healthiest thing for our skin. But we are lucky enough to have another brilliant lady – Senegal born, France raised Adja Lalu - who at the end of last year launched her line of organic skincare – LaluNaturalCosmetics and made our Shanghai Society fall in love at once!
All the products are handmade and based on natural butters, oils and vitamins. Adja uses only highest quality ingredients and is constantly expanding her assortment. Currently we can feed our skin with deliciously smelling body butters, scrubs, face creams , under eye serums and lipsticks plus shaving cream for men! You can even get ‘tailor – made’ products matching your needs specifically! The prices range is from 70 – 200 RMB and you can get them either by contacting her directly – 13621929535 or lalufood4skin@gmail.com , following wechat account LaluNaturalCosmetics or coming to one of the pop-up markets in Shangahi or Lalu workshops, where you can enjoy a great girls’ time while learning new recipes for DIY cosmetics!
5) For a city getaway - TRAVELER’S SOCIETY
Although we all love Shanghai, every now and then it is good to leave it for a while and set into the wild. We might go by ourselves but it is always safer and more convenient to rely on those who are more experienced and will take us to places we would not reach otherwise. And the person to turn to for this here is Juan Pablo – the founder of Traveler’s society – ever growing community of travelers who choose all the off roads while traveling.
Juan Pablo used to live the hectic life of corporate employee. However he decided to change his life, took a few months off and went to the Buddhist Monastery in Himalayas, where the idea for the Travelers Society was born. Ever since then he has been putting his best foot forward to provide busy Shanghaiers with the most unique trips like traveling to North Korea, paragliding over rice terraces,
camping on the Great Wall, waterfall rappel, trekking underground river or the upcoming, super exciting camping on Mt. Everest plus Buddhist Monastery – to name just a few! The prices for the weekend trips are usually around 1200 – 1500 RMB. For more detailed information about their extraordinary offers check their website – www.travelers-society.com - or add wechat account :
travelers – society1
6) For professional pet care - CATATOM
Ok, so you go traveling to get away from your city life, but…who will take care of your dog or cat when you are away? We also have it covered in Shanghai. A couple of years ago Stephane Le Caignec, former French teacher, and his wife Yang Li decided to go back to her hometown in Hunan for 1 week. At that moment they had 2 cats and left them for a week in a place where someone would take care for cats.However, when they came back , their cat didn’t recognize them, lost 2,5 kg and was hiding behind a piece of furniture! From that moment Stephane started thinking about another solution and just accidentally, while preparing a subject for his lesson of the week , came across a video about cat sitting in Paris. And that was it! Now they already have 300 regular customers – cat owners – who order their services. The price for catsitting is 100 RMB per hour on ordinary days and 120 during National Holidays. You can also order extra services and you will find the full list, prices and contact information on www.catatom. org