Made in Spain

28. Beauty In Spain, Demystified

• Made in Spain • Season 5 • Episode 4

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Beauty shouldn’t feel like a secret handshake. In this episode, we open the door on Spain’s beauty and wellness scene — where confidence is built through transparency, cultural openness, and access that feels refreshingly normal.

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From PRP for hair and skin to the polynucleotide treatments everyone’s whispering about, we break down real costs, honest results, and how to book smartly in Spain without the gatekeeping.

We share first-hand experience about how Spain’s private dermatology system makes high-quality care genuinely accessible.

We also explore the full spectrum of clinics, from neighbourhood medispas to elite longevity centres offering full diagnostics and personalised health roadmaps.

Not into needles? We spotlight an unexpected Spanish beauty favourite hiding in plain sight: Mercadona’s Deliplus line — from makeup dupes and sturdy brushes to pigment-fighting serums and the cult dragon’s blood cream travellers request by name.

Beyond treatments and products, we unpack a cultural shift that feels uniquely Spanish: people openly talk about what they’ve had done. That honesty helps you make better decisions, set realistic expectations, and stop chasing perfection in silence.

We round things out with simple seasonal habits — citrus-forward nutrition, plus early notes on Madrid’s upcoming F1 for anyone pairing self-care with a major city event.

Subscribe for more grounded guides to living well in Spain. Share this episode with a friend planning a beauty trip, and leave a review with your favourite Spanish product or clinic tip — your recommendations shape future episodes.

Welcome, Anniversary, And Topic Setup

SPEAKER_00

This episode of the Maiden Spain podcast is powered by GoCo Energy. Clean natural energy for life at the speed of Go. Welcome everyone. Season 5, episode 4. My name is Laura Sr., and I am here with my wonderful co-host, Nalini Sharma. We are so happy and excited to be here with you today talking about one of our favorite topics of all times, probably the most common ongoing conversation between us, which is beauty and wellness in Spain.

SPEAKER_01

It's a fantastic topic. I mean, we'll scratch the surface today because there's really so much that we could cover. And um, but before we get into it, this is officially our one-year anniversary.

SPEAKER_00

Yay!

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, cheers to us. Cheers, cheers. We've been doing this for 12 months. I think we've had a really great run and we have a lot to look forward to in 2026. Um yeah, so I'm just really excited about all of those things.

Social Media Clarifications And Cádiz Debate

SPEAKER_00

So today is the first episode of 2026. So we're starting the year strong. I think it was almost a year ago when we did our last beauty episode where we started touching on some of these subjects, and today we're gonna dive a little bit deeper. So before we go into our listener email, I think we have to talk about it. This whole commotion with the Cadith posts on TikTok and Instagram, uh, it's been quite a learning experience, I would say, for both of us.

SPEAKER_01

So thank you to everyone who sent us a comment, uh, you know, a criticism, a correction, all the C's. I I have no problem with any of it. And just because it's a new year and uh, you know, we're starting off fresh again in a way, I think it's important, just in the friendliest of friendly ways, to remind everyone that first of all, Laura is Spanish.

SPEAKER_00

She half Spanish, half British, but born and raised here. Born and raised. I am Canadian and we are not American.

SPEAKER_01

We're not and listen, all the love to our American listeners, viewers, anybody who follows us and you know partakes in our podcast from the actually think most of our audience is from the U.S.

SPEAKER_00

So, you know, we are super happy and love our US audience, but we just wanted to clarify that because on socials we've been getting a lot of like, oh, you know, these Americans and so on. I'm like, okay, fine, but we're not American. No. So just to clarify, like Melaney said, uh, she is Canadian. I am half Spanish, half English. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, together maybe we make one American. No, I'm joking.

SPEAKER_00

So the other thing, though, that I will say about the whole Caddy's tobacco is, you know, we've posted about Madrid, we've posted about Gibraltar, we've posted about so many different things, uh, places that we've talked about in the podcast. It is still to be seen if there are any other people from other cities in Spain that are as proud and as strongly identified with their city as the people from Cádiz. Because I have never seen a response like that. I mean, there's hundreds of comments, reshares. It's like, wow, people are like really like I think it's part of their identity.

SPEAKER_01

And if you look at the map of Spain, you can understand why. I mean, it is so far uh south and it's its own area, the city itself. So it has its own identity, its own culture, its own dialect. I mean, everything. And I just want to remind, you know, people out there, we are not historians. We collect some information, we do as much research as we possibly can. Often when we go on these trips, we are doing it from a perspective as if you were to, you know, somebody out there were to do it. We don't necessarily always have the time to spend a week. It might be two days. Yeah, it's a snapshot, it's a trailer of the movie. Exactly. And everything that we do, we always do it from a place, I think, anyways, of respect, interest, curiosity, and we just want people to come along for the journey.

Listener Question: Best Treatment In Spain

SPEAKER_00

So absolutely. I do have to do a shout-out for one particular commenter on TikTok who has maybe answered about 30 different people about the pushback that he's had. One person actually said to him, What do you know? Because there's this whole argument about is Huelva as a city or as a settlement older than Cadith and all this. And at one point he actually said, Well, I do have a doctorate in art history. Wow. So I was like, okay, you know, there are some people on this, you know, chain that are actually taking this extremely seriously. So if you don't know what we're talking about, go check it out. Alini, I'm gonna read you our listener email. Okay, and then I'd love to get your thoughts on it. So, hi Laura and Nalini. I'm planning a trip to Spain, and I keep hearing about how accessible beauty treatments are there. If you had to recommend one treatment to get in Spain, what would that be? And that's from Jessica, who wrote to us from San Diego.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I would say if you are going to get a treatment, I think um PRP, which is the your plasma, a plasma treatment, which I I think they call it the vampire facial. Is that right? Or is that a little bit different?

SPEAKER_00

No, that's I the first time I ever heard about it, and it was because Kim Kardashian had had it and blah blah blah. I had heard uh it described as the vampire facial. Okay. So I I think you're right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I would recommend that one. Not I have not done the PRP for um uh the face, I've done it for hair growth, and it is the one thing that really works to either thicken your hair, maintain it, um just overall, you know, the the thickness of your hair. It's not hair replacement, but it does really help. And uh Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, they he has a franchise, a clinic. Did you know that? I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's I knew it was something to do with hair, but I don't know if it's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, it's a he has it's a franchise, it's all over Spain. It's called uh Insparia, okay, I believe. And they do PRP treatments. So he fully believes in it for as a you know, long yeah, user, longevity. Um, and even in his fiance's documentary, she was seen going into one of their recently opened clinics doing the PRP. So it's not if you have hair loss, but it's you can use it for that. But it's also just the overall thickness of your hair and the look of it.

SPEAKER_00

If it looks like luscious. So I've had PRP on my face. Okay. And we should say what PRP is though. It it can you describe it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so they they take your blood, so it's your own blood, and then they spin it at a high rate, you know, in this machine, and you get the plasma. And it's the plasma that they re-inject into it's like your own plasma. It's your own plasma, it's your face or your scalp. I highly recommend it for hair overall hair health if you do it every once in a while. But I've paid here about just over 200 euro for it, which is quite affordable because I have looked at it in Was that a part of a package? No.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And you can get it for less if you bought a package. Right. You know, I mean, I know if you're coming for a vacation, you can't necessarily buy a package. However, a one-off treatment, there's so many clinics here, and it's it is affordable when you look at prices in North America, for example.

PRP For Hair And Face Explained

SPEAKER_00

So you're saying PRP for the hair. Yep. I would say from a facial treatment standpoint, I would go with the uh famous salmon sperm uh facial. You did that recently, no? I did that recently. I cannot for the life of me remember what the technical term is. Right. But the same thing as a vampire facial. This is kind of very well known as salmon sperm facial because that's what you know I guess the main component is from what they inject. And it is also more affordable here, and it is a little bit painful because they do injections that are almost surface level, and they leave a little bit of the product so that there's a little bit of like a little, let's say like a beasting that stays on there because that's then going to kind of help with the collagen stimulation and so on and so forth. So that's the one I would recommend uh from everything that's come out lately. But I think that's a really good combination of like, you know, hair and that's if you're going for more like serious, obviously. Non-invasive, I think that massages and facials and all of that are tend to be more on the affordable side here than particularly in North America. So much more affordable. Obviously, if you're coming from Asia, no. Like if you're coming from Thailand or Korea, which is you know the the place to go for these things, right? Then that's a different story. But if you're coming from North America, even from other places in Europe, I think this area is more affordable for that kind of treatment.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you can have a facial, a really nice facial for 40 euro.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, 40, 50. And then obviously, depending on the uh product designer, then it's gonna go up from that.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and yeah, so I think that's a good, those are good recommendations. And I will just qualify our answers by saying we're not medical professionals, we are just speaking from our killers.

SPEAKER_00

If you don't like this, just keep scrolling. It's like the comedian Matt Reif is like, you don't have to come watch my comedy if you don't like it. You wouldn't go watch Metallic if you didn't like to listen to their music.

SPEAKER_01

So it's our personal experience. So we've both had those treatments done and found it to work for us. So do your research, but I would say it's definitely affordable. Hope you're enjoying the episode. Before we continue, we're going to do something a little different today and bring in a special sentence of the day.

SPEAKER_00

Exciting. We usually save this for the end, but for this one, it fits perfectly into the conversation about beauty and confidence. Are you ready, Nalini? I'll try. So, our early sentence of the day today is La belleza empieza quando decides ser tú misma. Do you want to give that a shot?

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I'm gonna try La Belleza Empieza cuando Okay, this is a word I have trouble with. Decides?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes, close.

SPEAKER_01

Ser tu misma, misma.

SPEAKER_00

And beauty begins when you decide to be yourself. Exactly. And that's actually a great example of something that many learners experience. You might recognize every single word in this sentence, but when you try to say it out loud, something doesn't feel quite right.

SPEAKER_01

True. Maybe the pronunciation doesn't sound natural or the tone isn't quite right, even though your vocabulary is fine.

SPEAKER_00

And that's usually not because you haven't memorized enough. It tends to be because you haven't had enough real conversations with native speakers.

SPEAKER_01

And that's exactly where iTalkie makes a difference.

SPEAKER_00

iTalkie is an online language learning platform where you can book one-on-one lessons with native speakers, teachers who teach at your level, and create a supportive, comfortable, and safe space to learn.

SPEAKER_01

It helps turn your school Spanish into real-life conversation so you can finally chat with your abuela, relatives, friends, or anyone in Spanish or another language with confidence.

SPEAKER_00

You're practicing through real conversations, getting real-time feedback, and learning how the language is actually used in everyday life.

Affordability And Access Of Treatments In Spain

SPEAKER_01

And it's flexible, affordable, no subscriptions, you only pay per lesson. You can book lessons whenever and wherever it works for you.

SPEAKER_00

As a Spanish native speaker, and I can say this confidently, fluency comes from practice, not perfection. If you want to actually speak a language, you have to speak it. And doing that regularly with a native teacher really changes everything.

SPEAKER_01

If you'd like to start building that confidence in 2026, make this the year it finally happens. Click the link in the episode description to begin your language learning journey with iTalkie.

SPEAKER_00

I T A L K I. And if you buy$10 in lessons, you'll get$5 for free on your first lesson using our exclusive promo code MAIDIN SPAI. Available for the first 50 users only. Alright, now back to the episode.

SPEAKER_01

Um, do you want to talk about this or answer the question what your what would you say beauty means to you?

SPEAKER_00

So for me, uh I've thought about this quite a bit. I think for me, beauty is all about feeling confident in my own skin. It is not about other people. It's not about looking like other people, it's not about what other people think. It's the same thing as when you buy a nice new outfit and you put it on and you think, wow, this makes me feel good. Like I'm feeling myself. Like, you know, that kind of thing. That's what beauty is for me. It's like getting my hair done or having nice treatments. And, you know, every time I felt I'm the most stressed in my life, when I go and get a massage or I go and get a treatment, my mood changes. It's like I'm doing something for myself, and all of a sudden I feel more confident in my own skin. So for me, that's beauty. It's not about like internet standards, it's just about feeling good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I would say this same for me. And I think for a lot of people now that there is, I mean, the fact that we're all online scrolling, looking at things all day. It is this idea, you know, of maybe some type of perfection that you want to achieve or that you need to achieve. You feel that you have to, but I mean, for me, it's just what makes me feel nice on that particular day. Um, but I will say here, this is and I think this is why we're doing the episode that beauty treatments here are very accessible and they're very accepted as well.

SPEAKER_00

I think it's a generational thing too. So fully agree. Accessible, it's not something that is reserved for like the rich and the famous. I mean, don't get me wrong, not everybody can afford to go get Botox or fillers. Some people have to save, some people, you know.

SPEAKER_01

But I will say, I think a lot of people here do.

SPEAKER_00

100%.

SPEAKER_01

So however they are paying for it, I think it's just part of their the maintenance. The same as you buy a gym membership, the same as you get your nails done.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

It's just it's part of life now.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it is. Same thing with again, we're not gonna get too much into surgery in this episode, but at one point I remember going to the gym and I'm not exaggerating, six out of ten women my age had breast implants. And you know, I was like, holy smokes, this is not like cheap. Like, how are people affording this sort of thing? And you know, there's a lot of kind of controversy about that. A lot of people have had to have their implants removed because it affects them and so on and so forth. But the point is that as you said, you know, even if it's not like ac super accessible, people will find a way because it's important to them and it's it's not taboo.

Sponsored Segment: iTalkie Language Confidence

SPEAKER_01

No, it's not uh at it's not off limits. And if you even casually get to know a woman, I find here women openly talk about it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, and again, that's where I was talking about the generational thing.

SPEAKER_01

Openly they will talk about their experience, the surgery, the doctor. Who do you recommend? Yeah, we're or my friend went here. Like they will share the whole experience with you in a really I mean, and sometimes you're not even prying. You're not no you're just yeah, you just say, I haven't seen you in a few weeks, and be like, Oh, yeah, sorry, I've had surgery. I want to get LiPO or whatever. They're just really open about it. So it's a very different attitude.

What Beauty Means: Confidence And Openness

SPEAKER_00

It is, but like I said, it is generational. So the reason why I can keep bringing that up is you know, I remember, you know, my mom and her sister, they had treatments very early on on their face, and they would always make up these wild stories about how they were going here, they were going there, or they were gonna go see this doctor because you know they didn't want to kind of like uh tell my dad or whatever. Right. And I was always like in my head, I thought this is kind of a lot of hard work for nothing, you know, to make up this whole thing. And then they would always say to me, Oh, you know, if you're gonna get something done, you shouldn't tell your husband. I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm gonna tell him. I'm I don't have to hide it. Right. There, I have no desire to hide the fact that I'm getting a treatment. Uh it for me, it's like, okay, I understand if you don't want to post it all over social media, right? Understood. But if someone asks me, like, for example, I've been asked quite a few times, like, wow, you know, you're 40, but oh, your skin looks so good. I'm like, yeah, I invest in it. I mean, and if I actually have the choice of investing in a kind of uh, you know, La Mer or whatever, it's like$400 for a little bit of moisturizer, or investing it in more of an invasive treatment, I will get the invasive treatment. Right. I'm not, you know, going to hide that because to me, it's like, why would I?

SPEAKER_01

No, why it's also your business if you choose to do that. It's up to you. You I mean, you can share or you can not share, but I just think here it is just so easily accessible, so readily available. There isn't um, you know, a little shopping. Everywhere. Any shopping area that you go to, you will find a sort of a medical spa. Not just even, you know, uh nails and kind of manny petty spa, but really like a medical spa. Yes. Where and you can do your groceries and you go get your your face done or whatever you need right next door, no problem. And it's just out there. So we think it's really good.

SPEAKER_00

I think so too. So we wanted to cover in this episode beauty treatments, products to just give a little bit of insight into this industry that is the beauty industry here in Spain, okay, which is continuing to grow and grow. Uh, we did also want to give some insight that lately there has been uh more focus on these clinics that are on the verge of being between beauty, anti-aging, and hardcore kind of metabolism and you know, different kinds of treatment.

SPEAKER_01

Well, we can mention that we have two very high-end exclusive clinics. Super exclusive. That are, and when we say exclusive, it doesn't mean that you anybody can go to it, but it's just um there's an exclusivity to it in that they don't allow the sort of the just the day spa.

SPEAKER_00

It's I mean, I believe let's talk about Shaw for a moment. Yeah. So Shaw Wellness Clinic, which is an Beer. They're very, very famous. I think they've won a number of different awards. And they have, you know, they have had guests of, you know, Madonna and you know George Clooney and all kinds of people.

SPEAKER_01

There's a lot of celebrities that go there. And the funny celebrities. The funny thing is where it's located, sort of up on, you know, the hill. On the hill. You can see it when you're driving down towards the beach. You see this huge white and you're like, oh, that's the Shah. And I really believe that if any of those celebrities were to walk around anywhere, nobody would even pay them any attention. I don't think so. Like I really don't. They would not, nobody would pay them attention.

SPEAKER_00

I don't think so. It's not that kind of place. No. And I always know, you know, a lot of times when I get to the train station in Ali County or the airport, the SHA people are there to pick someone up. Oh, really? Oh, okay. Yeah. So they'll actually have like a little sign and they pick you up in a limo. It's very high-end. Well, they're they have uh longevity programs.

SPEAKER_01

They do longevity um the diagnostic. So you can go to SHA. They're very um uh from the research that I've done and a few phone calls that I've made to them in the past, it's tailored to you. Yeah. So it's what you want. I mean, they obviously have you know stuff you can read online and figure out what they do, but it's tailored to you. So they'll run all the biometrics on you, your testing, your blood, every single thing. And then they give you a roadmap to yourself.

High-End Clinics And Longevity Programs

SPEAKER_00

I stayed there a few years ago. Okay. Uh, so I can speak about that experience. I don't know what it's like now. I'm sure it has progressed tremendously. Uh, but I stayed there a few years ago, and it was interesting because going in, I don't think we paid too much attention to, you know, it's like, oh, let's do like a weekend at Shaw. Right. It's like a three-day program. It's their absolute shortest program. Yeah. There's nothing shorter. Yeah, there's nothing shorter than three days because you, if not, you're looking at 14 days, you're looking at a whole month. Yeah. It's uh very, very kind of intensive. And a lot of it revolves around nutrition and treatments. Right. So, you know, they also have the um the kind of this one treatment that we had there that I haven't seen anywhere else up to now is like they actually take your blood, they put a bunch of oxygen in the blood, and then they put it back in. Oh. And supposedly it kind of gives you like more energy and so on and so forth. Again, it's not for everyone, it's a little bit kind of freaky, if you ask me. Like some of the treatments are quite intense. Right. Uh, and I also know that a lot of the DJs that are kind of doing the season in Ibiza. Yeah, I think they go there to chill out after a very busy summer season. Recuperate. Yeah. Let's put it that way. So, but I I do think it is something that I wouldn't go there just like thinking you're going on a vacation. No. It's like a detox.

SPEAKER_01

It's different. It's I mean, it's part of the beauty wellness industry, and it it's, you know, you can go there if you can afford it, or you can, you know, choose something else. But the thing here is that it's readily available, all the different price ranges and types of things that you want.

SPEAKER_00

You could come to this area and do your own sort of detox program, get all the professional services because now the big hospital I'm ed has quite affordable, again, when you're comparing to other places, programs for sleep, for stress management, for longevity, for skin, anti-aging. And some of the programs range like 600 to 1,000, whereas you know, clinics that are similar and programs that are similar, you're looking at 10,000 plus in other places in Europe and in the US. So I do think it's definitely worthwhile exploring as a destination for medical and clinical beauty treatments and well-being. But now we're gonna go to the other side, right?

SPEAKER_01

Do you want to just go over some of the pricing here from just a general idea?

SPEAKER_00

Sure, it can. So the other thing, this year, for example, I did Invisalign on my teeth, and it's something that you know has worked tremendously well, and I'm extremely happy with it. And I know for a fact that that here it the range is from 2,500 to 4,000 and something euros. Depending, yeah. Depending on what you have going on, but that is you know uh a lot more expensive, tends to be in North America, so usually 5,000 upwards, uh, depending on where you are. Uh Botox a session here can be anything from 200 to 350 or more, depending on where you're doing it, because the place is also important. And in North America it can range, but in a place that is, you know, reputable and reputable, it's maybe 500 to 800 plus. Uh PRP, as Nalini said, you know, 200 upwards. And from our research, in a lot of places in North America could be 1,000 upwards for a PRP session, which I thought was interesting.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And I and here also, I find with the clinics, you don't have to go in and do an assessment.

SPEAKER_00

No, not for the PRP.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, for certain things, obviously for your teeth, yes. Uh that or something more invasive, but it's not as if you have to go in and fill out a whole, you know, medical and you know, you'll just say, listen, I want to do some PRP on my hair, it'll be like, okay, great. And you just book your time, you go in and they do it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it's not very intensive in that way. No. And then I think the other thing is just seeing a dermatologist. So here, seeing a dermatologist privately could cost you maybe 80 to 150 euros, and that is obviously something that is uh a lot less accessible in other places. This is when we're comparing to North America. When we start comparing, like I said, to or bigger cities in Europe as well. Exactly London, Paris, yes. But if we're comparing to Korea, Thailand, Japan's still pretty expensive. But again, Korea and Thailand, which are really the mecca of all this stuff of beauty, it's you know, it's kind of right there. I don't think you're you're looking at but here you get to visit the coast and go to the beach at the same time. So there you go.

SPEAKER_01

And the hair situation here, the hair transplant?

Pricing Reality Check: Invisalign, Botox, PRP

SPEAKER_00

Transplant, hair maintenance, hair recovery. I'm honestly surprised so many people go to Turkey because I have seen the prices for here. It's almost the same. It's almost the same. So, and it's very famous, like all this here Turkey, the Turkey planes, right? They go you go from Barajas in Madrid and they do this plane full of people who are gonna get hair implants, a lot of them men. Right. And you know, they come back and obviously they look a certain way because they've just had their implants. But I know for a fact that here there's a lot of places that do it quite affordably.

SPEAKER_01

So no, and uh, even for the men, I think they're very open about it. I did a little um sort of a cost comparison. So here you can do your uh hair if you're if you wanted to do a complete transplant, if that's what you're going for. And keep in mind, I I'm don't know all the different levels of it. But let's say here it might cost you 2,500, you know, and but and you go to Turkey, it will be less. It's going to be less. However, you're also traveling and you have to return. And if you have any problems or whatever, a complication after you're kind of stuck where, you know, when you're back in your home, as opposed to just doing it here. And it there are just so many clinics now that offer it at a very competitive rate. So let's say I think in maybe Canada, you'd be looking at eight to ten thousand. Yes. Which even with the conversion, it's still far less.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know? So something to think about. Yeah, no, it's just like, I mean, do I I would recommend to everybody do your research, but yeah, it is far more accessible. And I see so many men who have had it done, and they're just, you know, just walking around with it. It's not a big deal. They're not they're not hiding, uh hiding out in their house.

SPEAKER_00

No, you know, I do think that from my perspective at least, as a society, we need to move in the direction of not making these things taboo if obviously, you know, so many people are getting them. And we should also kind of think about that. Let people do what they want to do. And if you can afford it. Yeah, it's and it's your thing. And yes, I understand some people take it to the extreme and you start wondering like what's going on there. But for most people, you know, you're doing something that makes you feel better, and we should celebrate that instead of criticize that.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. So do you want to talk a little bit about uh the viral Mercadonna products?

SPEAKER_00

Please. I want you to do a deep dive on Mercadonna, Nelany.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so Mercadonna is the national, a national grocery chain here that is really available throughout the mainland, the islands, and the beauty with Mercadonna is that if you visit one, you have visited all of them.

SPEAKER_00

They may have a slightly different layout, but the products are exactly the same.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And they have the products are exactly the same. You're right. It's just the geography. However, once you get into it, it's I don't even know. I mean, it's amazing that the way, even how they organize their store, it's the same.

SPEAKER_00

So the one of the reasons for that is that that allows them to lower the cost in many different ways. Everything in Marcona, the way it's organized, the way it's stacked, the way that what you're seeing, where you're seeing it, is carefully analyzed. Yes. So it's to me, it's quite interesting that this brand, which is originally from the Valentian community.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, is it? I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, they are the yes, it's from the Valentine community. Uh, I think it's the Mercadonna's for the Roach family. Uh I need to double check that. I think it's R O I G. Okay. And uh they were the original uh founders, but everything is kind of looking at the supply chain and how they can maximize the value chain.

SPEAKER_01

It's a it's a science. Yeah. But in the in any Mercadonna that you visit, you will find a beauty area. Yay! And we have some products. Yeah, the beauty area, it's actually pretty interesting because every store will carry the exact same things. You're not gonna find something missing or different in uh at least for me. So any Mercadonna I've got it looks exactly the same.

Hair Transplants: Spain Versus Turkey

SPEAKER_00

I think there may be some that are like bigger. Uh, like for example, the one near us in Alber, is one of the bigger ones around here. I think they carry like a little bit more, but maybe it's just an optical illusion just because the place is bigger.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Well, this is okay, they have their own brand. So that's when Daily Plus. Yes. That is one of the best, I think, sort of supermarket, if you want to call it that, or drugstore, or you know, lower end in terms of affordability. However, the products themselves are so high quality to me, anyways. Again, I am not uh a pharmacist or I'm not a scientist, I don't know the composition.

SPEAKER_00

But you're a consumer.

SPEAKER_01

As a consumer, I don't see the difference between some of their products that may cost five euros and 30 or 50 in some cases. The only thing that entices me to purchase something that's more expensive, and I'll be honest, it's the packaging.

SPEAKER_00

Of course. It's the packaging and the branding. So it's the branding.

SPEAKER_01

So it's like, oh, how cute is the Chanel lip? Right. So I like to take so if I'm out somewhere, I really enjoy taking out a little Gucci compact or but is it any different than the powder I buy or the cover-up that it it is so well made and really works well for I honestly I think I paid five euro for it.

SPEAKER_00

So what do you have in your hand?

SPEAKER_01

This one here is um Deli Plus, and it is um the blush, you know, the the they say it's a Charlotte Tilbury dupe. I it is I've seen the Charlotte Tilbury dupe. Yeah, I haven't, I mean, I have a couple of her products, but I haven't tried her blush.

SPEAKER_00

Um the packaging is like almost exact. You can see it at the airports.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it's just you know, the little like the the liquid one that you kind of put on. Like a highlighter. Yeah, I really like it, and I think it's 350.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe a little more. It's not more than five euro.

SPEAKER_00

I have the lip coil here that you recommended, and I have actually, interestingly enough, their dry shampoo. I actually don't know if this is a Mercadona brand, though. This may not be a Mercadona brand, but definitely like it's a super affordable uh shampoo, dry shampoo that they sell there. Right. It's like two euros, and it's really, really good.

SPEAKER_01

I've been using this a little bit. It's um a serum for the because I had in the summer stains, the uh melasma. Yeah, right. So when you get like the really dark pigmentation, which people of color tend to get, um, and I thought, oh, I'll just give this a try. It did help me. I did have to do something a little bit more severe because it was quite bad at the end of the summer, even though I wear a sunscreen religiously. Um, still it was like four euro. Yeah. Their top selling product is the, or one of them at least is the uh dragon's blood. Have you tried that one?

Mercadona Deep Dive: Viral Beauty Favourites

SPEAKER_00

I have tried it, but I stopped using it because if you put it anywhere near your eyes and you sweat, like you are in trouble. But I have I actually visited uh I was doing some work in uh the US one time, and a lady told me, Oh, you're from Spain. I have my friend who always brings me this dragon blood cream from Mercadona. Wow. Uh, because I really like it. And it is like five euros.

SPEAKER_01

It's yeah, it's not more than that. And they have um the Sispella Reaffirm Face Cream, apparently, is one of their top sellers. I've been using this here. It's all right, it's just for a moisturizer.

SPEAKER_00

Check it out.

SPEAKER_01

Buy some products, their makeup brushes are fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

They are, and they last forever. And then I also have here like this massage oil that is uh Romero, which was uh Rosemary. Rosemary, rosemary oil, and it's a hundred percent natural rosemary oil, and you can use it for massage, but also just like you know, if you've got a little bit of uh inflammation, I find that because of it's quite strong in the smell, it really, you know, feels very nice. And again, that was only like a couple euros.

SPEAKER_01

No, and they've done uh a lot of research into developing their formulas. It's not just, I mean, you know, it's not expensive, but there's a lot of science that goes into the things that they put on the shelf. So again, do your research, look at the product, see what works for you. But if you happen to come to Spain, go to Mercadonna and get their beauty products because they're really good.

SPEAKER_00

My understanding is that they were producing in similar factories than some of the L'Oreal brands.

SPEAKER_01

I believe it. I think all makeup comes out of the same factory.

SPEAKER_00

Everything comes from the same place.

SPEAKER_01

That's my that's my thought. Well, slice of life.

SPEAKER_00

So before we dive into our slice of life, quick shout out to our amazing partner, Goco Energy. You have to try this.

SPEAKER_01

That's right, Laura. Goco is energy done right, made with coconut water, natural caffeine, and real fruit flavors. No crash, no jitters, just clean, feel-good energy that actually tastes amazing.

SPEAKER_00

It's perfect, right? Whether you're working, traveling, or just keeping your creative spark alive. Basically, it keeps you in that go mode.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. I'm not necessarily a fan of all energy drinks, but this is one that I truly enjoy. My favorite flavor so far is pineapple, and you can order it straight from gocoenergy.com. That's g-o-energy.com, shipped right to your door.

SPEAKER_00

So hydrating, refreshing, and honestly, it just makes everything flow better.

SPEAKER_01

Slice of life. Slice of life. Okay, where should we start? We have some citrus on the table because we were just wanted to mention. Normally, we have a little snack, something that we're gonna drink. We're drinking our landman Goco cocktail. Do you want to explain that? Well, this was whose idea was this is Jeff's idea, no?

SPEAKER_00

The cocktail is Jeff's idea.

SPEAKER_01

Jeff has and Laura's husband.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. We love the show called Landman. Yes. If you haven't seen it, it's fun. Billy, Bob Thornton, and Demi Moore in it. And for some reason I thought they were going to end up being in a relationship from being in the show together, but I think that's just in my head. So that didn't happen. But there is an episode where a guy is having a cocktail on a plane that has the watermelon juice with vodka, simple syrup, and some ice. Yes. So we made that with goco, uh, watermelon, and it's got a little bit of caffeine in it, so kind of perfect combination. Yeah. So that was our little landman citrus cocktail.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

For landman, goco citrus cocktail.

SPEAKER_01

And we have citrus on the table because this time of the year I was thinking, you know, for just beauty and overall, you know, eating in a healthier way. Vitamin C after all the Christmas foods. Citrus is in season now. So you have a lot of um mandarins, oranges, lemons. One of these lemons happens to be from my lemon tree, and some of the mandarins are from my mandarin tree.

SPEAKER_00

Just put like your nail a little bit of a lemon. I just I love it. It's so good. Like to me, it immediately makes me want to smile.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it smells like sunshine.

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SPEAKER_00

Really? It's so good. Citrus is these. And so we call these mandarinas or clementinas, uh, depending on what kind they are. And they are all over the place here. And they grow absolutely delicious. For me, I'm all about citrus though when it's acid. I know some people are like they like it kind of more on the sweet side. Oh, you like it on? I like it when it's very acidic. Like it actually is making my mouth water, just thinking about it. I love it.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So that's what's in season. Yes. Um, I could have made an orange cake, but we're on a carnival arc right now.

SPEAKER_00

Heck yeah. We'll talk way more about that in the next episode, but we're definitely training hard. We're training hard.

SPEAKER_01

Um, this brand here, Laura, you're wearing a really cute necklace that has this horse, and it is from, and I again apologize if I say this incorrectly, but it's Svite Terran. We'll put it up on the It's pretty. It's really pretty super pretty. It's a Ukrainian brand and um like a little horsey. It's a yeah, it's very pretty. They're jewelry, it's all handmade. It's like ceramic. It's it's ceramic. They have um Precious metals and they also have, I believe, gemstones. Nice. So it's handmade in Kyiv, uh sold in different parts of Europe. This woman happened to just reach out to us and sent it, you know, for us to try and wear. And I think it's really pretty on your outfit. So thank you. We'll put this up on our socials.

SPEAKER_00

I just to be honest, I really love the fact that it feels like almost like a Viking. I don't know how to describe it. It's really pretty simple, but it's kind of powerful. Yeah. I like it.

SPEAKER_01

And all handmade from a female founded brand. So very cool. Yeah, there's that. We want to just mention right now that we're planning as of you know now it's January 2026. Madrid is hosting the F1.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

Seasonal Citrus, Small Brands, And Style

SPEAKER_01

So it was in Barcelona, but now they have a 10-year contract and it will run from September 13th, 11th to the 13th. We have our hotel booked, so we are going to be going to it. It is going to be a semi sort of permanent uh it's half um racetrack, half street race. So it's a combination of both.

SPEAKER_00

Officially reaching out to the Formula One organization. We'll try. So that they will allow us to interview some of the riders. Drivers. Drivers, riders. So here's funny. I'm gonna be totally open about this. I have never been a Formula One fan. I've been to a lot of Moto GP races, etc., for the motorbikes, but I've never been to a Formula One race, and I wasn't a huge Formula One fan. But then I watched that movie with Brad Pitt in it, and now I'm like all about this race. I am so excited. It's a really good movie, that F1 movie.

SPEAKER_01

So it's very good.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm super excited about this race. But Nalini's been to a ton of F1 events. Um a few. I've been to a few.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the kids love it. Our family, we enjoy watching it. Um, and yeah, we have our drivers that we root for. You'll have to pick a team or a driver, Laura. So which one do you think I should pick? I I'm not gonna tell you. You have to choose.

SPEAKER_00

Um we're gonna do some homework on this. Do some homework, pick your team. Based on the fact that we're gonna go together and based on the fact that your children are also coming to this, I want to say it's not gonna be Lewis Hamilton. No, no. They like Lewis Hamilton? I thought they said they didn't like him. No, no, they're all who was going on about oh, I was Joe. Oh someone was going on about like, oh yeah, he produced the movie, that's why he's like the one that they're beating at the end or something. Okay, someone was talking about it the other day.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, there's Hamilton fans in our household.

SPEAKER_00

So But you choose your own. Okay, you pick your team and I'm going to do some research because I know Brad Pitt won't be racing. So we'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_01

But you know what? He probably will be there. There uh F1 attracts a ton of celebrities. And the one thing that I'm really looking forward to in Madrid is that uh that city knows how to put on an event. Yeah. And they've built the track specifically to make it accessible. In fact, they're saying that the Madrid F1 will be the most accessible track on the calendar, just for people to actually access it to get to it. Because for a lot of of these races, you have to drive to like the one that you went to in Hungary, right? Hungary was actually pretty well organized, but we went in Vienna. Oh, in Vienna. It's not in Vienna, it's outside of Vienna by two hours, two hours, and it's straight like highway driving, and you have to park very far and walk all the way in. So yeah, it's I'm really excited. And and if anybody is interested in going to the F1 in Madrid, buy your tickets because they are selling out super fast.

Madrid F1 Plans And Travel Tips

SPEAKER_00

And the hotels are already almost almost full. So that's why we wanted to make a big point of bringing it up in this first episode of the year. If we have the F1 fans, you know, they will be I mean, they're not all fully booked, but they will be booked.

SPEAKER_01

So it's going to be uh It's a busy year 2026, Laura. So many things to look forward to.

SPEAKER_00

And in the next episode in our slice of life, join us to talk about something very different, which will be our visit to the Trinidad Carnival. Yes, sentence of the day. Sentence of the day, I'm listening. Taking care of yourself. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Taking care of yourself is not uh taking care of yourself is not um lujo. You have to do it. You must take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_00

So it's not a luxury. Okay, there we go. So you know you should it shouldn't be treated as a luxury. No, it's uh it's a necessity. Exactly. There we go. Beauty related. Until the next episode, people. Please, please, please. If you haven't yet, hit like, subscribe, follow, reach out to us. We are loving these emails from our audience, and we love to hear from you on socials. And come along and have some fun with us. Yeah.

unknown

That's it.

SPEAKER_00

Bye. Bye, bye for now.

SPEAKER_01

The Made in Spain podcast is fueled by Goco Energy, refreshingly real energy that keeps the good vibes going.