A letter from the founder

Before this, I was a makeup artist in New York City. I was also a musician playing bass guitar, moving through sound, rhythm, late nights, and early mornings. New York sharpened me. It brought me closer to my heritage in ways I didn't expect. Living there taught me how deeply culture lives in the body // through music, through ritual, through scent.

When I began studying fragrance, something unexpected happened. Certain notes unlocked memories from my childhood, being beside my mother, surrounded by the quiet hum of botanicas, glass candles lit with intention, the scent of wax and yerbas (herbs) and something sacred I didn't yet have language for.

That moment changed everything.

San Maris was born from that remembering.

The first collection is devoted to the seven Orishas :: the sacred forces at the heart of Yoruba and Afro-Caribbean tradition. They were always present in the world I grew up in, even when I didn't have words for them. This collection is inspired by my mother, my grandmother, and the world they moved through. It is shaped by botanicas, by drums and dancing, by Dominican traditions that live in sound, movement, and spirit. These candles are not replicas of what already exists. They are my way of honoring that world while filling the space that felt missing :: something rooted, but more beautiful, more intentional, more quietly elevated.

This is where I began.

There is more to honor. More memory to follow. San Maris will go where the lineage leads // always with respect, curiosity, and care. The heart of the brand will remain the same: memory, culture, and the scent that carries us back to who we are.

This is an offering.

From my hands, and from my lineage, to you.

Mucho Besitos
Alicia Marie