9 Latinx-Created Summer Essentials To Keep Your Skin Poppin’
Growing up, many of us didn’t exactly have a Sephora aisle at home. The women in our life swore by Vicks VapoRub, Vaseline, and aloe vera for just about every skin concern. While those products served their purpose, now, years later, the summer sun is hitting our adult skin differently and we know how important it is to protect our melanated skin. Our self-care routines deserve a glow-up that blends stronger ingredients with ancestral wisdom.
Today, we’ve got an entire wave of Latinx-founded brands taking that same spirit and giving it a modern twist.This list is your passport to summer skincare that protects, nourishes, and celebrates brown skin. Whether you’re chilling en la esquina con las primas, dancing at a summer festival, or jetting off to the playas of Oaxaca, aquí tienes nueve essentials that’ll keep your skin poppin’ all season long.
We’re starting with the summer trio, the foundation of any good routine: cleanse, hydrate, protect. From there, the lineup expands into scrubs, oils, balms, and glow-inducing extras, all created by founders who are repping community and culture in every jar, tube, and bottle.
Joaquina Botánica – Papaya + Enzymes Whipped Cleanser
Founded by Giovanna Campagna, a New Yorker with Colombian roots, Joaquina Botánica is a tribute to Latin America’s rich beauty rituals and her family’s apothecary legacy. The Papaya + Enzymes Whipped Cleanser is that everyday go-to we all need. It’s gentle yet effective, purifying without stripping. Powered by papaya enzymes and superfruits, with omega-rich cacay, aloe, and coconut, it melts away makeup and dirt while leaving skin soft, balanced, and velvety smooth. It’s limpieza that feels like heritage.
Dezi Skin – Agua Fresca Gel Moisturizer
Mexican-American beauty influencer turned founder Dezi Perkins created Dezi Skin as a love letter to her culture. Her Agua Fresca Gel Moisturizer is like an agua fresca for your face: light, juicy, and hydrating thanks to hyaluronic acid, fruits, and ceramides. It’s summer in a jar, keeping skin quenched through heat waves, long nights, and mornings-after.
Solara Suncare – Guardian Angel Super Peptide Sunscreen Milk SPF 50
Founded by Stephanie DiPisa, Solara Suncare is a family-owned, woman-led brand born out of necessity. Stephanie created the brand in her own kitchen table after her kids reacted to chemical sunscreens and her own battle with Lyme disease. Guardian Angel is their award-winning SPF 50 mineral milk: pillowy, oil-free, and packed with 12 actives that do more than protect. Think collagen-supporting super proteins, line-plumping peptides, and skin-loving botanicals, all in a lightweight formula that feels more like skincare than sunscreen. Proof that protection can be powerful and gentle.
Nopalera – Cactus Flower Exfoliant
Born near the U.S.-Mexico border to Mexican immigrant parents, Sandra Velasquez launched Nopalera to celebrate her heritage and elevate the humble nopal cactus into luxury skincare. The Cactus Flower Exfoliant brightens, hydrates, and renews skin using ancestral wisdom. It’s nopales on the mesa and in the mercado, now bottled in a way that feels both familiar and high-end, a celebration of resilience and cultura.
Homebody – Wish You Roses Body Oil
Colombian superstar Kali Uchis is more than a voice. Through Homebody, she’s bottled up an entire vibe — that’s good for your skin. Wish You Roses is a juicy, lightweight oil packed with hyaluronic acid and nourishing botanicals like passionfruit seed and grapefruit seed. It’s lush, tropical, and unapologetically feminine, like stepping into one of her music videos, but for your skin.
Brujita Skincare – Eternal Balm
Founded by Leah Guerrero, an LA-based healer and herbalist, Brujita Skincare celebrates Indigenous ingredients and community care. Eternal Balm is her answer to dry heels, elbows, and hands, rich with avocado oil and beeswax. For those of us who live in chanclas all summer long, this little pot of magic feels like a blessing straight from la botánica.
Ceremonia – Mini Guava Rescue Spray
Chilean Babba Rivera launched Ceremonia to transform Latinx hair care into a celebration, not an afterthought. Her Mini Guava Rescue Spray is the ultimate summer multitasker. It detangles, protects from UV and heat, reduces frizz, and adds shine. After a day at the beach, it’s the difference between crunchy curls and a juicy mane that still slays.
Elaluz – Overnight Facial Glow
Founded by Brazilian beauty icon Camila Coelho, Elaluz is all about celebrating your inner light — la luz that makes you, you. The Overnight Facial Glow is her dreamy, skin-nourishing tanning cream that works while you sleep, delivering a natural, sun-kissed radiance with no UV damage. Packed with Brazilian powerhouses like cacao and babassu seed oils plus cupuaçu butter, it hydrates as it bronzes so you wake up glowy, confident, and cultura-approved.
Axiology – Active Hydration Vitamin C+ Antioxidant Serum
When founder Ericka realized her makeup bag was full of products tested on animals, the Capricorn in her said nah, I’ll make my own. What started in her tiny kitchen with DIY books and YouTube tutorials is now Axiology — a woman-owned, plastic-free, vegan beauty brand redefining clean skincare. Her Active Hydration Vitamin C+ Antioxidant Serum is a radiance-booster that does it all: brightens, hydrates, plumps, and firms with a blend of peptides, hyaluronic acid, vitamins C & B5, and glow-inducing antioxidants. It’s the kind of serum that works as hard as she does — leaving skin luminous, smooth, and unapologetically vibrant.
What ties all of these products together isn’t just their formulas, it’s the stories behind them. Women building brands that honor where they come from. They created summer skincare that is anything but generic. These essentials don’t just keep your skin poppin’; they honor your cultura and give your melanin the love it deserves.
