Nacida En México: Santu Beauty Preserves Ancestral Traditions
“Mexico is what inspired us to do this project,” Angelique Van Wyck told COCINA on a rainy morning in Mexico City. Van Wyck is a veteran massage therapist, spa owner, and the co-founder of body care brand Santu Beauty. She brought her expertise to client Alicia Nogales, whose Mexican roots and nonprofit experience inspired the duo to create products using intentional ingredients and the traditional artisanship of Guerrero, where Van Wyck lives and runs her namesake spa. Since launching in 2025, Santu has rolled out award-winning salt scrubs, lotions, and candles in three scents: Lima Mexicana (lime), Coco Corazón (coconut), and Jazmín Tropical (Aztec jasmine). This month, they unveiled their first-ever global marketing campaign inspired by the Pacific coast where Santu was born.
We sat down with Nogales and Van Wyck at Sobremesa, an experimental kitchen and event space in the heart of CDMX’s Roma Norte neighborhood. They talked about the importance of community-building, accessible self-care, and the use of ancestral techniques to harvest top-quality ingredients for their products.
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Read on to learn why Santu Beauty is the Latina-owned small business you need on your radar.
Why did you create Santu Beauty?
Angelique: [Alicia and I] met in a small little town on the Pacific coast of Mexico. She was my client. I was already making products, and she fell in love with them. After seven years of going back and forth, with her using the product herself, she came up with a brilliant idea: We have to take this to the next step. We had this funny idea, us being very innocent — [Alicia] was like, “You can make products here, I’ll take them back to the US and sell them there.” Before we knew it, the idea came alive.
We knew Mexico needed to be the foundation of our product. This is where we met. The little town we’re living in, it’s so down to earth, but it’s where you can be you. It’s where you can find yourself. I think that’s the whole inspiration behind the brand. Little by little, we created partnerships with local artisans. We found the artisans who make the jarritos de barro for our candles. We want it to be something so unique, because it’s not just about the physical. It’s also about the emotional and the spiritual.
Alicia: At the time we created Santu, I’d worked in the nonprofit sector and raised a family. All of that was ending around COVID. I’d always had a spiritual life, but it became more pronounced when we all had to spend a lot more time individually, by ourselves. Santu is about conscious awareness, and I was really spending a lot of time thinking, what am I going to do next? In the meantime, [Angelique] and I were friendly. There really are no accidents, and I feel so blessed. We have an amazing line that can be a ritual for someone. Underneath all of that, for me, it’s about self-love not being a luxury, but a birthright. The more you can do for yourself, the more you can do for others and the world, and the more you’ll receive back. I want everyone to have not just routines, but rituals.
Tell me about the salt-harvesting process for your exfoliating scrub.
Alicia: Our friend Quintina and her son, Don Jorge, have invited us into their family. We’ve been using their hand-harvested salt for a year and a half.
Angelique: They are the fourth generation that’s keeping this tradition alive in Guerrero, Mexico. Salt has been part of Mexican traditions for centuries. Quinta is around 100 years old, and Jorge is 75. They don’t use any machinery to harvest the salt. They harvest it in the traditional way. It comes up from the Pacific Ocean into a lagoon, and they pour it from the lagoon into these limestone beds. It takes a few months for the water to evaporate and the salt to dry out. It’s a very delicate process because if they have any unexpected rains, the harvest is gone. They have to choose the harvesting time very wisely. Everything they use is handmade. It is faster to use plastic tarps to protect the salt from rain, but we don’t want those microplastics. We’re harvesting food-grade salt. This is the salt I use in my house. We work with these artisans because they’re working very hard to keep that tradition alive.
Alicia: In Mexico, the labor that goes into Quintana’s salt is no more expensive than the next guy who does it quicker. We value keeping traditions that, yes, might be older, but it’s not just about making processes faster. In the ancient civilizations of this area, the commodities were two things: Salt and obsidian.
What was the vision behind Santu’s first global marketing campaign?
Angelique: We want to visually express where we’re coming from. Santu was born in Mexico, which has so many different essences.
Alicia: And we’re Mexican! Our products are made and sourced here. I’m Mexican-American. This is a homecoming. We’ve never had a formal launch before. We just came out with our products, and we waited until we were ready for the global market. It’s difficult running in the US economy, but now with Mexico, we’re in two. I feel that the people here have really embraced Santu.
Angelique: The same way Mexico embraced us when we came here. We felt at home, we felt loved. There’s no better way to appreciate and show it than with this campaign.