In a world full of loud beauty claims and brands that so often put profit before your wellbeing, Olive & Joyce was created to be something different.
I’m Emily, founder of Olive & Joyce, and I believe skincare can be both gentle and powerful. That’s what I set out to create: natural skincare that feels like food for your skin, promoting radiance, health and confidence with every jar.
Every cream and oil is handmade by me in small batches using only 100% natural ingredients.
Named after my grandmothers, Olive and Joyce, each product carries a little bit of legacy and a lot of future thinking too.
More Than a Collection of Jars
When I sit down to write these words, I’m reminded that Olive & Joyce is not simply a line of skincare products. There’s a heartbeat running through everything I make, because behind each cream and every drop of oil is a person, a story and a memory.
As a child I grew up hearing less is more and waste not, want not. Those words are stitched into everything I do. They inspired me to design ranges with fewer products that last longer, saving you money and keeping jars out of landfill. They are also the reason I set up a rewards scheme for returning empties, so I can reuse them and reduce waste even further.
My handmade skincare is palm‑oil free, cruelty‑free and created only with sustainably sourced ingredients, because I truly believe all beauty, yours and the planet’s deserves to be celebrated and cared for.
Ingredients With a Story
I’ve learnt that the sourcing of ingredients matters just as much as the making the products. That’s why I work only with independent, trusted UK suppliers who can trace every ingredient back to ethical farms and co‑operatives. These aren’t anonymous oils; they’re rich with heritage and care.
Here are five of my favourite ingredients, each with its own story:
Shea Butter – brought in through UK suppliers who work directly with women’s cooperatives in Ghana, where the nuts are gathered and ground by hand, preserving traditional methods that keep communities thriving.
Rosehip Oil – pressed from hips gathered in Europe, bottled here in Britain by suppliers who value transparency, giving us that golden oil known to brighten and replenish tired skin.
Lavender – grown right here on British farms, swaying in midsummer meadows alive with bees (pesticide free), before being steam‑distilled locally to hold onto its pure, calming scent.
Sweet Almond Oil – sourced through family‑run UK businesses, working with orchards that value gentle, sustainable farming, resulting in an oil that feels like silk on the skin.
Blue German Chamomile – distilled in small lots and imported by trusted family UK specialists who cherish this flower for its deep colour and soothing properties, bringing peace to even the most sensitive skin.
A Journey Back to Myself
The reason I care so deeply about these details goes back to a time when I’d lost confidence completely. After post‑natal depression and difficult changes to my skin, hyper‑pigmentation, sensitivity and dryness. I spent a fortune on harsh treatments. I tried laser sessions, microneedling, microdermabrasion and I only ended up with red, sore skin and a feeling I barely recognised in the mirror.
One day, I found myself back in my mother’s kitchen. My mother is an aromatherapist, and my great‑grandmother was a herbalist, so I grew up watching women who believed in the power of plants, and that day, I stopped chasing quick fixes and started crafting a moisturiser for myself.
I researched, I called suppliers, I checked and double‑checked that no one had been exploited in the making of the shea butter or other oils.
When I finally blended that first cream, my skin healed, and so did something inside me. Family and friends began using it, then friends of friends, until suddenly Olive & Joyce was no longer just my secret.
Handmade in Brighton, Loved Everywhere
When I launched Olive & Joyce in 2020, I didn’t imagine my kitchen in Brighton would one day be sending jars of skincare all over the UK and world. I call my customers “my Lovelies,” because I’ve gotten to know so many of them. I don’t just make creams and oils, I follow up personally, checking how you’re getting on, sharing recipes for homemade masks, chatting about ingredients that calm and nourish, write personal newsletters and blogs.
Olive & Joyce is growing, but it still feels homegrown. One day I’d love a light‑filled workshop with a team of people as passionate as I am about natural skincare, but the values will never change: I will always create thoughtfully, operate ethically and care for this planet in every choice we make.
What Skincare Should Smell Like
Each product I make is more than skincare. It’s a memory of my grandmothers’ gardens, a nod to my mother’s love of aromatherapy, a promise that beauty can be kind to you and the earth at the same time.
When you lift the lid on one of our amber jars, you’re not just beginning a routine. You’re pausing for a moment of care in a world that rushes by too fast. You’re feeling the work of hands that have blended, poured and labelled with intention. You’re breathing in ingredients chosen not just for what they do, but for where they’ve come from and the lives they’ve touched along the way.
I think often of the women in Ghana who still hand‑grind shea nuts over open fires, sharing stories as they work, keeping alive traditions that have been passed through families for generations. I think of the men who climb coconut trees barefoot, moving with a rhythm taught by fathers and grandfathers, singing softly to keep time. These ingredients are not faceless commodities, they are the work of real people with rich histories, laughter in the fields, and pride in what they do.
As our earth is the greatest supplier, we only choose ingredients that are pesticide‑free, grown and gathered in ways that protect our insects, our marine life and our animals. No ingredient in an Olive & Joyce jar has cost a bee its food source or taken a bird’s or orangutans home. I work hard to make sure our skincare nurtures, never poisons.
I want every cream and oil to feel like a gift to yourself, a quiet, grounding ritual that reminds you to treat your skin gently, to celebrate your own beauty, and to honour the planet we all share. Olive & Joyce has never been just about softening your skin; it’s about softening life’s edges.
So when you use our Nourishing creams or any of my handmade natural skincare, know that you are part of something bigger. A little community built on kindness, legacy and the belief that skincare should always feel alive with truth.
Real. Rooted. Remembered.