By Daniel Okafor

It's a 10 Haircare's Miracle Leave-In ($22) sells once every three seconds, and its Latina founder says that pace started as a last gamble. "It was my Hail Mary," Carolyn Aronson said. "And ultimately became the foundation for everything we've built since."

Hispanic Heritage Month ended today, but for nine Latinx-founded beauty brands, heritage functions as product strategy, not seasonal marketing. The founders — spanning hair care, fragrance, makeup and wellness — named the single product each considers their defining launch. Their answers show how origin stories translate into formulas, price points and shelf positions.

What did Cardi B build?

Grow-Good Beauty, Cardi B's hair-care line, grew out of her own routine, not a licensing deal. "My hair care is all about having a routine and being consistent, so I wanted to create Grow-Good Beauty with that same idea," she said. The line centers on the Dominican masks and deep treatments she has used for years.

"Dominican traditions and rituals are a really big part of who I am," she said. Her pick, the Get Rich Hydrating Mask ($20), has "sold out three times, which is just so crazy to me."

Which founders broke retail ground?

Aronson spent more than 20 years as a hairstylist in Michigan before founding It's a 10 Haircare, now sold in more than 140 countries. "I founded It's A 10 Haircare out of frustration with brands that offered countless products with single benefits and confusing claims," she said. She grew up in foster care before adoption and created the first formula for her mixed-race daughter.

Sisters Nicol Varona Cancelmo and Cory Varona-Corniel built OCOA, the first Dominican-founded hair-care brand at Ulta Beauty. "Growing up, we constantly felt forced to straighten our hair to fit beauty standards that weren't made for us," Varona Cancelmo said. The brand takes its name from San José de Ocoa, their mother's hometown — "a place between mountains" in the Taíno language. Its 4-Step Travel Kit ($28) took nearly two years to launch and was "the number-one most-requested product by our community."

Shades By Shan, founded by Shan Berries and Erika Clark in 2018, claims another first: The Foundation ($42), a 40-shade formula developed in Korea with a 10-molecule hyaluronic acid complex and rosa canina oil. Per the brand, it is the first 40-shade foundation from a Latina-owned indie brand at a major retailer and its best-selling foundation at JCPenney. The pair also run The Mamaberries Foundation, which has supported more than 200 families.

Where does formulation meet heritage?

Julissa Prado founded Rizos Curls after years of straightening her hair and finding nothing that worked on natural curls. "I wanted effective, high-quality formulas that made my curls feel healthy and beautiful, but I also wanted to see people who looked like me represented by the brands I was buying from," she said. Her pick is the Gloss + Repair Mask ($30).

Celebrity hairstylist Michael Dueñas co-founded and self-funded AROVE, a waterless line, after noticing almost every product listed water first. His father left Cuba at 13, stowed away on a cargo plane with melted jewelry as his money, and died when Dueñas was two. "That's where my view of beauty comes from," he said. "It's care, and it's pride in how you show up." His pick is the AERIOUS Conditioner ($36), a powder formula made without silicones, fillers or clay.

Adriana Ayales spent 15 years studying with master herbalists across Central America before founding Anima Mundi. "The first question isn't 'What are your symptoms?' It's 'What has gone out of harmony?'" she said. Her pick is Euphoria ($50), a blend of rainforest herbs including damiana, catuaba and cacao.

Sandra Lilia Velasquez built Nopalera around the nopal cactus. "I created Nopalera to position Mexican culture as premium on the global beauty stage," she said. "Heritage isn't our aesthetic. It's our foundation." Her pick, the Dulce de Cuerpo Eau de Parfum ($78), captures the ceremonial scent of copal; customers at Ulta Mexico told her it smelled like Mexico. "That's everything," she said.

Yris Palmer launched Siiiba for kids like her daughter, Ayla, with the Natural Deodorant ($15) as the debut product. "I wanted her first introduction to personal care to feel clean, safe and empowering—not like something she needed to be embarrassed about," Palmer said.

What does this change for shoppers?

These brands keep retail placement, repeat sellouts and first-of-kind claims year-round — signals that Latinx-founded beauty is a permanent shelf category, not an October promotion.