ELLE Says Mexico City Is Beauty's Next Capital

ELLE profiles Aora, Nopalera, Sarelly, and Xinú as the four Mexico City brands it says are finally putting Mexican beauty on the global stage.

In a story running in its October 2026 issue, ELLE declares Mexico City is beauty's next capital, profiling four brands it says are leading the way: Aora, Nopalera, Sarelly, and Xinú. Aora — the brand worn by Bad Bunny's backup dancers at the Super Bowl — launched online at Sephora in the U.S. this past July with the catchphrase "Hot Like México." CEO Nour Tayara tells ELLE that imagery of El Ángel de la Independencia, Frida Kahlo's house, and Xochimilco's boats is becoming "comparable to the Place Vendôme in Paris or the Empire State Building in New York City."

What makes the ELLE piece a consensus-breaker is that Mexico City is presented as setting trends rather than following fashion capitals. Nopalera founder Sandra Lilia Velasquez says, "like Paris, Milan, and New York City, Mexico City is part of that list," and describes the local aesthetic to ELLE: "People here don't just wear blush, they wear blush ." Aora's Mírame eyeshadow palette reportedly features the blue of Frida Kahlo's house, Rosa Mexicano pink, and gold matched to the 10-cent peso coin — color coding straight from the streets of CDMX.

The claims are backed by measurable brand moves cited by ELLE: Ulta Beauty opened its first Mexico City store in August 2025, while Rhode, Charlotte Tilbury, and Patrick Ta entered the Mexican market within the past two years. Sarelly — whose Cow Lashes Waterproof Mascara was designed for Latinas with "super straight, thin, downward-pointing lashes" — launched at Target stores nationwide in September, per ELLE. Separately, AOL's Kathleen Hou reports Xinú's Polanco shop, a former car mechanic's workshop with a rooftop garden of botanicals, is a #FragranceTok "must-do," with Estée Lauder investing in the brand last year.

The stakes, as the outlets frame them, are about which ingredients and aesthetics define luxury next. ELLE notes Aora's Acaríciame Más lip serum uses Mexican chilies and an ancestral spice technique to plump lips, while Xinú cofounder Verónica Peña says her brand is proud of its "pink pepper, our marigold, our vanilla, and our tuberose" — just as the French are of lavender. AOL singles out Xinú's Aguamadera, an ode to agave with lime, ocean salt, and guaiac wood, as the best beauty souvenir to bring home. If these editors are right, CDMX iconography is about to be bottled worldwide.