Last September, when Vogue broadcast that Par Olive was behind the marine collagen supplement Victoria Beckham swears by, the brand was wiped clean of six months’ worth of product within a week.
The sellout was a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless, particularly for a Sydney-born brand that depends on consumers’ daily supplementation to show results that was just beginning to build a presence in the United States. This year, it entered American retailers and facial destinations Erewhon, Happier Grocery, Revolve, FWRD, Carrie Lindsey Beauty, Sommet Beauty and Melanie Grant.
To help remedy inventory constraints, Par Olive closed a $2 million seed funding round in April led by Wittington Ventures, with participation from investors including Fab Co-Creation Studio Ventures, Tina Bou-Saba and Michael Dubin, founder of Dollar Shave Club. Along with keeping stock issues at bay, the funding is going toward supporting distribution and assortment expansion and fine-tuning Par Olive’s design.
The brand arrived at Sephora in Australia and New Zealand in 2022 and is in 350 skin and hair clinics globally. Direct-to-consumer distribution drives 60% of its sales, with the remainder from retailers and clinics. Par Olive’s average order value on its website is $140, and it boasts a 70% repeat purchase rate, according to founder Olivia Boyd-Smith. She declines to disclose revenues. The brand was bootstrapped until its fundraise and profitable before it, but isn’t currently as it is in expansion mode.
Boyd-Smith, sporting an Oura ring during an interview with Beauty Independent, believes the moment is right for 4-year-old Par Olive to establish itself as a leading authority at ingestible beauty’s premium end, where customers demand transparency, credibility and efficacy. At a high single-digit or double-digit annual clip, the collagen market is accelerating faster than beauty, and the democratization of access to health data is sending people hunting for powders, pills, bars and more to tweak their nutrient levels.
“I see us as the ingestible equivalent of a Medik8 Skincare,” says Boyd-Smith. “We have the expert backing, we have the expert distribution, and then we can really have our panel of experts that we’ve been able to build relationships with that can talk to how you integrate this product so you have a bi-directional approach with your topical brands.”
Odile Roujol, founding partner at Fab Co-Creation Studio Ventures and former CEO of Lancôme International, says, “Longevity, being healthier and looking younger longer are the new luxury, not purchasing a pair of shoes or another bag, and discipline and routine are needed. Olivia pays attention to details in developing her high-quality products, curating her content on social media and choosing the right partners. She’s already acknowledged by experts in the space, embodies the lifestyle and has built a relationship of trust with her community and customers. That’s the recipe for sustainable success.”
Boyd-Smith grew up ensconced in the beauty industry. She was a ballerina conscious of what she put on and in her body, and her mother was a dermatology nurse who taught her daughter that good skincare went beyond what she slathered on topically. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in communication and interning at Vogue and Elle, Boyd-Smith earned a law degree, but couldn’t shake her passion for beauty and wellness. In a precursor to the brand Par Olive, in 2016, she started an online digital beauty and wellness magazine under the same name and signed off the pieces “by Olive” or “par olive.”
“I see us as the ingestible equivalent of a Medik8 Skincare.”
As she was covering beauty and wellness topics, she noticed the available ingestible beauty options largely didn’t adhere to the standards she had for her food. She sought to know precisely what she was eating and where it was from. It took about two years to develop Par Olive, and she can trace the source of its marine collagen to the specific time and boat on which it was caught in Norway. Par Olive’s expert panel that informs its formulas contains cosmetic physician Joseph Hkeik, dermatologist Shammi Theesan, and aestheticians Diandra Politano and Jacqueline Brennan.
Par Olive launched with Pearl Marine Collagen Superpowder in unflavored and organic coconut varieties. A year later, it introduced a matcha variety. The product is $89 for a 150-gram size, which Boyd-Smith estimates is about $10 pricier than its competitive set, and refill pouches of the same amount are $79. She explains the prices reflect Par Olive’s traceability and commitment to ingredient superiority. She vetted 52 different coconut suppliers to identify the one used for the coconut collagen powder.
Prior to Par Olive, Boyd-Smith laments many collagen powders “tasted like a pre-workout.” “They had synthetic flavoring and a lot of fillers,” she says, noting that Par Olive’s collagen powders have four to eight ingredients. “Our coconut is only flavored with 100% organic coconut flesh so it tastes basically like coconut milk when you add it to your teas or coffees.” The brand’s users are instructed to take one to three teaspoons per day.
Par Olive is refining its packaging to emphasize that it’s developed by dermatologists, made in Australia and clinically proven. In October, the brand plans to extend its assortment into capsules. It has no plans to extend outside of ingestibles or to play in the buzzy beauty and wellness trends that could be short-lived. It seems like everyone’s whipping up a smoothie or launching a product related to GLP-1s, for example.
“We won’t be jumping on any of those trend bandwagons,” says Boyd-Smith. “It’s really about becoming a long-term legacy brand.”
Placing Par Olive in respected skin clinics is a chief strategy for its legacy ambitions. Boyd-Smith is busy securing partnerships with skin clinics in Texas, Florida, California and New York, homes to Par Olive’s core demographic of 35- to 45-year-old new mothers worried about nutrient deficiencies and on-the-go professional women trying to stay healthy and glowing. In Australia, Boyd-Smith forecasts the brand could reach 600 skin clinics—it shares a skin clinic distributor with Medik8—but is adamant about keeping Par Olive’s distribution tight.
In September, the brand switched on Meta marketing and is now dedicating about 25% of its sales to marketing. Early next year, it expects to fundraise for a series A round. Over the next 18 months, however, what Par Olive is most focused on raising is brand awareness.
Boyd-Smith says the brand will target “a big retail launch once we’ve really developed our brand awareness within the U.S. That’s obviously key. I think signing a really big retailer is super exciting and shiny, but you need to make sure that you can actually move off the shelf and have that brand awareness.”
