We sat down down with Alexandra, Founder of Olixa and asked a few questions so we could get to know more about Olixa and her strong focus on sustainability:  

Tell us about yourself Alexandra?

I’m Alexandra and I’m the founder of Olixa. I was actually born in Perth (in Subiaco!) and grew up in Sydney, but lived in the UK for the last 10 years. I’ve worked in the beauty industry for over 13 years, mainly for L’Oreal and Tweezerman, and it was this experience that spurred me into wanting to start my own brand. During my time at these companies I worked on both makeup, skincare and beauty tool launches. I loved that makeup was always quite ‘playful’, while skincare traditionally seemed more ‘serious and scientific’, so when creating my brand, I wanted to create beauty products that both gave real results but also had an element of playfulness to them.

Why did you start a natural beauty brand?

One thing that really fascinates me is that every region of the world has their ‘tried and tested’ native and natural ingredients that they swear by. For example; eucalyptus oil in Australia; birch in Latvia; cacay in Colombia. The idea for my brand stemmed from this – to feature these sometimes little-known but naturally potent ingredients in each of my products. These star ingredients in our products can be traced back to the source and we choose to work with suppliers that are not only environmentally sustainable, but socially sustainable too.  

What’s unique about Olixa products?

Our products feature some of the most naturally potent ingredients that can be found around the world. Kakadu Plum, found in our Gummy Cleanser, is the richest known source of vitamin C in the world. Centella Asiatica, which we source from Madagascar, is known for its skin soothing and protecting properties. By using these powerful ingredients, our products deliver real results on your skin.

Sustainability is a focus of Olixa, why is this?

Sustainability is extremely important to me, especially when creating products that use natural ingredients … as we need to protect the source of these ingredients to make sure they’re not over exploited and remain available for future generations. There are so many angles to look at sustainability from. From my point of view, I assess ingredient sustainability from an environmental and social point of view; is the supplier harvesting the ingredient in a way that protects biodiversity? Is the community where the ingredient is being grown looked after? Our Kakadu Plum is wild harvested by the Bardi people in the Kimberley region of Australia. Wild harvesting means that the plant is picked at the optimum time in the plants lifecycle so that it can regenerate itself. The Bardi people, who are the true custodians of the land, are better placed than anyone to be able to make sure that the harvest is done correctly, so it’s important that we source Kakadu Plum this way. Our supplier in Colombia, where our Cacay oil is sourced, is actively reforesting areas of the Amazon and working with NGOs in the region. Being a locally owned company they also employ a large number of the community that live in the region. Our packaging is also viewed with a sustainability lens. Our new cartons are made from 50% recycled material and the other 50% is Forest Stewardship Council Certified. Our new tubes are aluminium and widely recyclable. For our upcoming products we will be using glass bottles with home-compostable labels!

What are your top tips for using Olixa products?

Have fun with them! I have designed them to be easy to use and fool proof, because who has time for complicated skincare regimes?! The Gummy Cleanser needs to be applied to dry skin, then when you emulsify it with water it turns into a milk and rinses off clean without needing a cloth. You can also multitask it as a mask and exfoliator by leaving it on the skin for 10mins. Our new Centella Mask can be used a few times a week. It can be a rinse-off mask or you can leave it on overnight. My best tip would be get to know your skin, what feels good and when, and follow your intuition with our products.

Have you got any new launches in the pipeline?

We do! The product development process can be quite a long one, and after two years of developing and reformulating two products we have them on testing currently. All being well, they will be ready to launch later this year.