Farm to vanity table: Farm-grown olive oil body care range seeks Asian expansion

Located between a bay and an ocean, the 27-acre farm is only an hour away from Melbourne, in the picturesque region of the Mornington Peninsula. With a cool climate and rich volcanic soils, the fertile location makes it the ideal place for growing olives and wine.

Demand from Asia

This year, at Cosmoprof Asia, Green Olive’s star product, the Olive Balm was chosen by trend intelligence agency BEAUTYSTREAMS as one of the trending products of Cosmoprof Trends Report.

Currently, the range of products are available mainly on the farm and on its website, as well as a few locations in Australia and Singapore.

O’Donoghue told Cosmetics Design Asia that Green Olive’s products were well-received at Cosmoprof Asia, and plans to expand the brand across Asia. Currently, the brand is in talks to export its products to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and China.

“Because olive oil has so many natural benefits and healing properties and the growing trend towards health and wellness and natural beauty, I think our products is great for people at the moment,”​ said founder Sue O’Donoghue.

She added that she believes Asian consumers will be drawn to Green Olive’s products as its ingredients are grown in a biological, sustainable, family-owned farm.

While the brand has ideas to expand the product line, O’Donoghue said there are no immediate plans as they hope to prove the success of the existing products first.

From grove and garden

Together with her husband team Greg O’Donoghue, she founded Green Olive at Red Hill after purchasing the land in 2002. The first thing they did was plant an olive grove, which produces five varieties of olives today: frantoio, leccino, picual, manzanilla and kalamata.

The idea for a body care range was born from a need to create portable souvenirs for the many international guest that visit the farm, said O’Donoghue. “On the farm we have a restaurant and food products like chutneys and relishes. We have a lot of international guests and we found that people want to bring something home from the farm with them but our food products were too heavy.”​

“We had a range of body products created by someone else and we saw that it was popular. Something we could create ourselves. So we developed a range of body care products that people would enjoy here but would make good gifts for people to take home to their countries,” ​she elaborated.

The core ingredient in Green Olive’s products is its farm-grown, extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil. Other ingredients grown on the farm include olive leaf extract, lemon verbena, rose geranium and grapeseed oil.

Made with only eight ingredients, the Green Olive’s balm is made without essential oils, fragrances or fillers. According to O’Donoghue, the balm is suitable for everyone, including those we suffer from skin conditions such as eczema.