FEATURE FRIDAY: Brenda Rea on Making Olive Oil in the Desert and Creating a Unique Skincare Brand

Brenda Rea and her husband, Perry, moved to Arizona 28 years ago with the idea of planting olive trees and making extra virgin olive oil in the desert.

“We did a lot of research including traveling to California and taking a course through UC Davis, traveling to Italy to each get our Olive Oil Sommelier certificates, and touring both regions to learn how others were doing this,” Brenda says. “As we learned more and more about olive oil, I discovered that olive oil had been used as a skin moisturizer for centuries—think Cleopatra!”

This was the catalyst for Olivespa, a clean skincare brand that offers handcrafted products made from all-natural ingredients.

Brenda began making body oils, soaps, and lip balms in her kitchen while her kids were at school and began selling them at Queen Creek Olive Mill. Demand grew quickly, so a production facility was created at Queen Creek Olive Mill. Eventually, the brand also outgrew that space, and so, the Olivespa production facility and retail boutique recently opened in Central Phoenix. There is still a boutique within the Queen Creek Olive Mill.

Tell us how Olivespa came to be …

Founded in 2013, Olivespa is the result of my passion for handcrafted products of excellent quality that are simple, natural, good for people, and good for the planet. Factors in wanting to create these all-natural skincare products included negative experiences with conventional soaps and creams when my children were young, leading me to search for solutions in my own backyard. I learned that using olive oil as a natural moisturizer is something that has a centuries old history, so it was an obvious place to start.

What sets these products apart from others?

The ingredients in these products are the most important factor in differentiating them from other skin care products. Starting with a high polyphenol extra virgin olive oil—that is olives that are harvested early and therefore have a higher content of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and adding all-natural ingredients such as shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, and others. Olivespa uses the highest quality of each of these ingredients and uses organic when possible. They also use only pure essential oils and never synthetic fragrance oils.

The Body Oil Collection at Olivespa. Courtesy Olivespa

What are some of the products in the line?

Olivespa products are made from high-quality natural ingredients and are non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and biodegradable. Produced in small batches so that quality and freshness are never compromised, Olivespa products include lip balm, soap, body oil, body butter, hand salve, lotion sticks, foot balm, baby products, face oils and cleansers, men’s products, soy wax aromatherapy candles, and more.

Your can’t-live-without-it product from the line?

So many personal favorites! I create things that I want to use myself, or that someone in my family is requesting. My Face Line has become a favorite among Olivespa customers, and I use the nourishing Face Oil every morning and Ageless Face Night Oil every night. Bakuchi oil is the star ingredient in the Ageless Face Night Oil. This acts as a natural alternative to retinol, reducing fine lines and wrinkles and enhancing overall firmness, without the irritation, dryness, and peeling that tends to come along with products containing retinoids. It really is exciting to find something that nature has provided all along!

I also can’t be without one of my lip balms in my pocket, my hand salve for on-the-go dry hand relief, and olive oil soap as part of my daily routine.

A typical day in the office for you looks like …

Every day is a little different—it may include administrative work, helping customers in the store which is attached to the office, visiting shops that sell our products for restocking, marketing to get the word out that we have opened a new store right in Phoenix, heading to the Queen Creek to see how our shop in the Queen Creek Olive Mill is doing, or packing internet orders from our website Olivespa.com. My favorite part of my day is working on creating new all-natural products to add to our line. When you run a small business, you do a little bit of everything!

If you weren’t involved with Queen Creek Olive Mill and Olivespa, you’d be …

Honestly, that’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. This has really been a lifetime journey, and I can’t imagine what else I would be doing!

The Face Love Gift Box at Olivespa. Courtesy Olivespa

One thing you can’t live without?

Chocolate!

The thing we’d be most surprised to learn about you …

My resolve to do things, even when they are way outside of my comfort zone. I have a never-give-up attitude that keeps me going even in the most unexpected circumstances.