Olive + M was created from the belief that what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body.
Olive + M was created from the belief that what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body.
In 2013, Mariska Nicholson ("M") was looking for clean skincare products that didn't break the bank. When she couldn’t find anything that met her needs, she put her culinary background to work in her Austin, Texas kitchen. She started blending olive oil with other nutrient-dense, plant-based ingredients. Carefully selecting each ingredient based on a few simple criteria
**she felt 100% comfortable putting it on her skin (to the point that she’d eat it if she had to!)
**each ingredient had to be packed with nutrients that benefit the skin
**the final recipe had to be non-greasy, quick absorbing and smell amazing
She was delighted with her creation and started sharing it with friends. They couldn’t get enough, and Olive + M was born.
M then went to work to ensure that the olive oil was of the highest quality. She researched and tested endless oils and fell in love with the Tunisian olive oil that is still used in our products today.
Tunisia sits in a particular part of the Mediterranean where the conditions create olive oil that is packed with skin nutrition. Northern Africa subjects the olive to genuine stress — intense sun, dramatic temperature shifts, dry conditions. Plants under stress produce more of their own protective compounds. The harshness of the environment is, paradoxically, what makes the oil richer. High oleic acid content and a rich polyphenol profile matter for skin.
Tunisia also has some of the oldest continuously cultivated olive groves on earth. These aren't young trees producing high volume commercial oil. They're deep-rooted, slow-growing trees that have been pressing oil from the same soil for generations. The industry there hasn’t industrialized and much of the oil is still harvested by hand, from small family groves.
At Olive + M we are incredibly thankful, grateful, supportive, and respectful of the Tunisian oil farmers and their gift to us. We celebrate the specialness of the oil they harvest that can feed bodies and skin alike.
Cold-pressed in Tunisia, carried from grove to face. Because we know the best ingredients are harvested, not invented.
What this means for your skin
It stays soft because it isn't being stripped. It stays moisturized because it isn't being dehydrated by acids and actives. It glows because it isn't being asked to perform. The skin you have is the skin you want. We keep it fed.