Spain with Santaverde

Last week I touched on my trip to Spain in a blog post (here) but since my vlog is up too I thought it was a great time to talk a little more in depth. I went with SantaVerde an Aloe Vera based, natural skincare brand which recently celebrated 25 years and is based in the south of Spain (although the business/brain side is based in Germany).

The truth is that I don’t know a lot about organic or natural skincare and, if anything, it has always scared me a little so it was a great opportunity to learn. We arrived on the plane in Malaga and headed to Estepona where the Santaverde finca is based and run by Kurt and his wife Sabine.

They welcomed us into their beautiful house and shared both food and their stories with us. They originally bought the Estepona fina as a holiday home but later learnt about the power of aloe from a Texan neighbour who gave Sabine some to try on her own skin. After falling in love with the effect the aloe had and with their entrepreneur background the couple thought it would be a great business opportunity.

They spent a long time researching, experimenting, planting and harvesting the raw aloe vera and although their initial plan was to sell it on to cosmetic giants they realised that the big worldwide brands were misleading and using barely any aloe in their aloe products, often opting for aloe powder, knowing that it wasn’t as affective.

Instead of helping the leading companies mislead their customers they decided they we going to both grow the aloe and manufacture the products on their finca as a 100% natural, organic and honest brand.

The finca is now filled with aloe vera plants and a glass building used to harvest and process the aloe. Whilst we were there we got to witness the harvest and I even got to pick my own leaf. We then got to help the lovely girls with the washing and peeling, which looked far easier than it actual was. It gets prepared to be sent to Germany where the products are made and the companys business side is run from.

Unlike most aloe products the final results are pure, it doesn’t have bulking agents or powdered aloe and is designed to really work rather than to mislead people. All the products are unisex and don’t catered to a certain skin type. Santaverde is certified organic, cruelty free and vegan!

The finca is compleltey opened to the public and to it’s competitors (so if you’re ever in Estepona- it’s a great place to go) really showing that they don’t have anything to hide or a fancy recipe,  I learnt so much on the short trip and has really made me think about were my cosmetics and skincare items come from, what in them and how good they are for the enviroment,

Santaverde is available online and in Harvey Nichols  

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