Olive leaf extract: benefits for skin and a focus on sensitivity

A look at olive leaf extract’s benefits for skin and the rising popularity of this ingredient is better understood when the rise of sensitive skin is also examined. 

Recent years have brought along a significant surge in awareness of sensitive skin, with more people adopting skincare routines that prioritize soothing and non-irritating ingredients. In fact, specialized research by Mintel has looked into the issue and found 40% of consumers say they have sensitive skin. In parallel, discussions around sensitive skin have experienced a steady growth in popularity in social media, with the primary concerns being skin dryness, redness or acne. This, in part, is the reason behind the quest to look for glycolic acid alternatives that promote milder exfoliation processes.

In light of these developments, brands are adopting dedicated strategies and product development to cater to consumers with sensitive skin: from specific testing related to sensitive skin, to products that incorporate further aspects into the segmentation equation, including other factors around skin type beyond sensitivity.

The olive leaf extract’s benefits for skin stand out as a particularly advantageous ingredient for protecting sensitive skin. As part of the wider trend regarding the emergence of sustainable plant-based oils, olive oil represents a familiar ingredient that is associated with food-based benefits that have been backed by science. This merging of benefits puts olive leaf extract at the heart of successful sensitive skin formulations today.

Olive leaf extract benefits for skin: from antioxidant properties to skin barrier health

Olive leaf extract has become an emerging botanical extract thanks to increasing consumer awareness around this ingredient’s benefits for skin. This is especially true when olive leaf extract is used as part of multifunctional formulas that incorporate other trending ingredients, building synergies that are able to multiply the product’s efficacy.

In the context of looking for a cosmetic product for sensitive skin, Provital’s olive leaf extract benefits for skin are based on this ingredient’s unique chemical profile, which includes: 

• Leaves contain 6% of secoiridoids, which are responsible for the therapeutic properties of olive leaves and fruits. 
• It also contains various flavonoids and other active principles such as triterpenes (2-4%), mannitol, squalene and α-hydroxyacids (lactic, malic, glycolic and tartaric acids), among others.

When looking at the key cosmetic properties and, therefore, the main olive leaf extract’s benefits for skin, there are two that particularly stand out for the needs of sensitive skin:

• Antioxidant activity: the phenolic compounds present in olive leaves and fruits have strong free-radical scavenging capacity. More specifically, the most active flavonoids — rutin, catechin and luteolin — exert antioxidant effects almost to 2.5 times more than those of vitamins C and E and are comparable to lycopene, according to in vitro tests. The extraordinary antioxidant capacity is higher due to the synergy of flavonoids, phenols and oleuropein. A synergistic scavenging action has been observed for olive phenolics when combined, as occurs naturally in the olive leaf as well as in the leaf extract (Braun, L., 2005; Benavente-García, O. et al., 1999). Additionally, oleuropein and one of its catechol derivatives, hydroxytyrosol, prevent LDL oxidation and platelet aggregation and inhibit lipooxygenase enzymes (Braun, L., 2005).
• Anti-inflammatory activity: the combined action of several compounds present in olive leaves extract is capable of outstanding anti-inflammatory capacities. Firstly, oleuropein and one of its catechol derivatives, hydroxytyrosol, inhibit leukotriene B4 generation – involved in a wide range of pro-inflammatory pathways – as well as eicosanoid production (Braun, L., 2005). Secondly, luteolin is also a key component, which showed anti-inflammatory activity in animal models and anti-allergic effects in test-tube studies. Finally, apigenin, also part of olive leaves, inhibits the inflammatory mediators nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 (Braun, L., 2005). 

While these two olive leaf extract’s benefits for skin are particularly beneficial for sensitive skin, other significant advantages of this ingredient include antimicrobial activity and vasodilator activity (related to enhanced relaxation). All of them contribute to rounding up olive leaf extract’s benefits for skin which acts as a multi-purpose, comprehensive formulation for sensitive skin.