Olive Leaves: A Multi-Tasker With Antioxidants

Remarkable multi-taskers, olive leaves boast the highest free radical scavenging power among all the different parts of the olive tree and provide a synergistic antioxidant effect thanks to the combined forces of flavonoids, phenols, and oleuropein.

In keeping with our land’s no-waste farming practices, we make use of the whole entire olive tree. From fruit to frond, we utilize each and every nutritional part. Olive leaves are incredibly beneficial to skin because they contain many protective antioxidant phenols, skin-worthy nutrients, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Why Is Olive Leaf Beneficial for Skin?

Used in traditional Mediterranean herbal medicine for centuries and serving as a star of the Mediterranean diet, olive leaf contains one of the most powerful antioxidant skin protectants in the world, rich in HXT (Hydroxytyrosol), a phyto-compound with 10 X more antioxidant activity than green tea.

Oleuropein is a powerful phyto-nutrient known to purify, protect and calm skin. It is responsible for the anti-inflammatory ability of olive leaf to soothe and nourish stressed skin. Because of this antimicrobial super-nutrient, olive leaf has been used for centuries to treat inflamed skin.

In antioxidant potency tests on skin cells, performed at a top-rated lab facility in Princeton, New Jersey, our exclusive olive leaf water inhibits free radical formation and blocks free radical damage by 100%. 

What Are Antioxidants?

You love your afternoon herbal tea and know it contains antioxidants, but if you’re feeling a little lost about what antioxidants and free radicals are and how they affect your skin, that’s okay. We’ll break it down so you can understand both and learn why antioxidants matter.

Why Are Antioxidants Important?

Your cells need antioxidants to protect them. Every cell can undergo oxidative damage (which we’ll cover in a moment). Because your skin is outside your body, it takes the hardest hit. Skin that looks tired, dull, and uneven usually looks so because of free radical damage and an overall lack of antioxidant protection. 

Antioxidants are your gateway to youthful looking skin. Protecting your skin against the damage of free radicals means you’ll see less skin damage like sun spots, fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin. Antioxidants help your skin radiate with health. 

Of all the benefits of olive leaf water, the antioxidant load it carries is possibly the most impressive. But to understand just how antioxidants protect your skin, you need to understand how free radicals damage your skin. 

How Do Free Radicals Damage Skin?

Get ready, because we're going to get a bit scientific. If you remember studying molecules in middle school, you will recall that molecules contain electrons. Each molecule needs to have an even number of electrons, paired off with one another. 

Sometimes, molecules lose electrons. This creates a free radical. A free radical is an unbalanced molecule with an uneven number of electrons. The problem with free radicals is that they constantly search for extra electrons to become balanced. 

Free radicals find extra electrons by robbing healthy molecules of theirs. These healthy molecules, when attached to your skin cells, become damaged, and the skin cell then becomes damaged, too. This is referred to as oxidative stress.

Antioxidants work like a shield of protection for your skin cells. Antioxidants are molecules that willingly offer up their electrons to free radicals so your skin cells stay safe. By doing this, antioxidants help prevent your skin from premature aging, sagging, dark spots, and other kinds of damage. 

Olive leaf water contains polyphenols that are powerful antioxidants, giving your skin the protection it needs in a formula that is gentle enough for even the most sensitive skin types. Performed by a third party testing laboratory, our olive leaf water proved to have 3x (300%) more polyphenols than commercially sourced olive leaf water. Further proof that not all heroes wear capes. 

How Are Olive Leaves Incorporated into Skincare?

To make our exclusive olive leaf imbued skincare ingredients, we gently collect the olive leaves by hand from our own olive trees, and through our cold Soundbath® Extraction Method, we extract the nutrients from the leaves into water to preserve the potency of the bioactive compounds. Our exclusive olive leaf water made from this infusion process is packed with potent nutrients to protect, purify, nourish and soothe skin.

Who Should Use Olive Leaf Skincare?

Olive leaves and their derivatives, like olive leaf powder and olive leaf water, can benefit all skin types. The concentration of olive leaf water in Furtuna Skin products ensures you get all the benefits and effects of olive leaf extractin a formula that is designed for a broad cross-section of skin types. 

Whether you have blemish-prone or dry skin, olive leaf water can help regenerate, restore, and re-enliven your skin.

Does Olive Leaf Skincare Have Any Side Effects?

Olive fruit has remarkable benefits for your skin and body, and the side effects are wholly related to improved health and skin appearance. Even sensitive skin types respond positively to products infused with the phenolic compounds extracted from olive tree leaves. But even with the most gentle skincare, you should always spot check and try the product on your neck or forearm before use. 

How Are Olive Leaves Used in Cooking?

In Italian culture, olive leaves are used in cooking for their health benefits due to their high antioxidant properties. From benefits for blood sugar, blood glucose, and cholesterol to support for the immune system, olive leaves can help you maintain and support your health. Try this delicious Italian meal at home using olive leaves.

Olive Leaves with Burrata Pugliese & Cherry Tomatoes

200g of olive leaves

50g of Apulian burrata

200g of cherry tomatoes

1 garlic clove

Hot chilli pepper

1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pinch of sale for taste

PREPARATION

Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch fresh tomatoes for a few minutes. Let them cool, peel them and cut them into chunks. Brown the peeled and crushed clove of garlic and the finely chopped hot chili pepper in a tablespoon of oil, once golden remove it and add the tomatoes. Cook on high heat for about ten minutes.

In the meantime, cook the olive leaves in plenty of salted water and cut the burrata pugliese into chunks. Drain the olive leaves "al dente" and sauté them for a few moments with the tomatoes, then turn off the heat and add the burrata. Mix well and enjoy. Buon appetito!

What Products Contain Olive Leaf Water?

At Furtuna Skin, we infuse a variety of our products with olive leaf water. The addition of olive leaf water (and support from our olive olive) helps our products work synergistically to improve your skin’s health and appearance. 

You can find olive leaf water in the following products. 

Micellar Cleansing Essence

A cleanser and toner in one, our Micellar Cleansing Essence both purifies and clarifies leaving skin cleansed, nourished, and radiant. This Essence helps rid your skin of deep down impurities, safely bringing them to the surface and removing them for good. 

Wildcrafted botanicals that have been proven to block free radical damage by 100%, help give our Essence an even richer nutrient profile to keep your skin healthy, protected, and radiant. 

Face and Eye Serum

Consider yourself an eye care junkie? Rid your counter space of unnecessary, lab-created products and opt for a face and eye serum formulated with natural, organic plants. Our Face and Eye Serum is created to illuminate, lift, and awaken your face and eye area with powerful botanicals that are still gentle enough for sensitive skin. 

Olive oil and olive leaf water work together to create an antioxidant-driven serum that hydrates, restores, and protects skin while absorbing quickly and leaving skin feeling velvety smooth. 

Biphase Moisturizing Oil

Not a serum, not a moisturizer, but definitely the lovechild of both. Our Biphase Moisturizing Oil boasts the hydrating, humectant, and emollient properties of a high-quality moisturizer and the concentrated, restorative benefits of a serum. 

Olive oil, olive leaf water, and Vitamin C combine to deliver a powerful blend of skin-loving ingredients that penetrate deeply, absorb quickly, and help support the skin’s natural moisture balance. Skin feels smoother, has a more even texture, and looks radiant. 

Made to be applied after cleansing and moisturizing, this oil helps lock in moisture so your skin stays hydrated for hours. It also delivers powerful antioxidant complexes that block bluelight and free radicals from the sun, artificial light, and pollution. 

Your skin stays protected, hydrated, and illuminated with one easy product application. 

The Bottom Line

It’s easy to get lost when researching skincare ingredients. At Furtuna Skin, we aim to create the most effective, naturally, and sustainably sourced skincare products and educate our users about the ingredients we use. Product transparency is in our blood, and in every skincare product we craft. 

The skin-rejuvenating benefits of olive leaf water prove that including it in our skincare was essential for creating products that give your skin the ability to thrive. 

Our olive leaf water is extracted with a method exclusive to our farm, and from trees grown for centuries on our Farm. The result? The purest, and most concentrated olive leaf water to pour into our skincare products that delivers noticeable results to your skin. 

You have radiant skin, you just haven’t unveiled it yet. Let Furtuna Skin help illuminate your skin with powerful botanicals safe for every skin type. 

Shop Our Products Featuring the Exclusive Olive Leaf Water

Acqua Serene Micellar Cleansing Essence

Porte Per La Vitalità Face and Eye Serum

Due Alberi Biphase Moisturizing Oil

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