Born with a personal passion for natural skincare botanicals and aromatherapy, Co-Founders Rafa and Mayte created Oleu Life. The creative journey resulted in a range of daily rituals with a sensory experience where aromas could lead the way to help make positive shifts in people’s’ mood and emotional state! A creation of boutique hand blended botanicals for each time of the day, to care for your wellbeing, delight your senses and enhance your mood whilst nurturing your skin! Read on to discover what creativity means to them and the launch of their latest considered range for Mum’s and bubs!
Who is behind OLEU LIFE and how did you begin your business?
We are Rafa and Mayte, Co-Founders of OLEU LIFE, aromatic formulators since 2018. Our business has grown over time and we are really lucky to be a team of 5 people that keep growing together and make everything happen from our headquarters in Newtown and delivering aroma experiences around the world!
We started OLEU LIFE as a personal passion for natural skincare botanicals and aromatherapy, finding more natural approaches in life through the use of essential oils and natural ingredients. We wanted to transport people through a sensory experience where aromas could lead the way to help make positive shifts in peoples’ mood and emotional state. Creating little daily rituals that can be pleasing, incorporating and convenient to use at any point of the day.
Creating little daily rituals that can be pleasing, incorporating and convenient to use at any point of the day.
Our OLEU LIFE products are the result of this journey. A compound of boutique hand blended botanicals for each time of the day, to care for your wellbeing, delight your senses and enhance your mood whilst nurturing your skin.
What does creativity mean to you?
Creativity for us is the passion and liberty to make things flow. Allowing us to pursue dreams and create experiences that can bring positive outcomes. In our own personal journey, we both find our creative stimulus in different places.
We both enjoy the process of creation, which not only comes through the aromas we formulate, but also how we project these aromas through our packaging design, our communications, our socials, and translate this feeling to our team at OLEU LIFE. We like to do things differently, and encourage the team to also explore their creativity and bring their own essence into what we do with so much passion. We feel we are a little, yet mighty team.
Rafa, for example, lets his creativity flow whilst creating and producing music. Using beats and sound synthesis to transport him into a state of fluidity and rhythms. I, Mayte, find my own flow in the warmth of aromas and the emotions they make me feel, having the ability to visualise aromas and get creative with the work I will make.
A good mantra we constantly go by is To Be Perseverant – To Be Resilient -To Be Resourceful and this has been a reminder to always keep believing in the opportunity and our abilities to be creative.
Since starting OLEU LIFE, we have been able to let our imagination go wild and free, achieving our dreams and understanding that we have the ability to make things happen. A good mantra we constantly go by is To Be Perseverant – To Be Resilient -To Be Resourceful and this has been a reminder to always keep believing in the opportunity and our abilities to be creative.
As part of our creation process, we explore all the different senses, what an aroma feels, looks, smells and almost tastes in our imagination. We find it so important to find connections with emotions and states of minds. Everything has its own journey.
What influences your work and what sparks your creativity?
We love being in contact with nature. One of our favourite things to do is to go camping and travelling, explore the wild, different plants and flowers and learn about their benefits.
Our own personal experiences. Everything we do and the products we’ve created have been the result of our own needs. We love to create products we love and share that love with others, experiences that others can relate to, as in the end we all go through similar things in life.
Travelling around Australia for OLEU LIFE gives us the liberty of being explorers of the world and also being able to bring our products to different places of Australia. We are currently in the process of self-converting our second van, which has become our isolation project this year, and are planning to enjoy the summer season seeking the sun and nature. Inspiration has also come from the different Australian Native plants and botanicals we have discovered throughout the years. We enjoy using our findings in our formulations and sharing the beautiful properties of what nature gives us at our reach.
What are you loving at the moment and what are you currently working on? Do you have something new to share?
Well, we have some really big news that we are releasing here for the very first time. The OLEU LIFE family is growing! we’re having a baby, yay! We are over the moon with the news of our little one and also everything that comes with an exciting new life path.
In honour of this new journey we have been working on our new product range “Mums and Bubs” that has been really useful during my own pregnancy with our new Belly Oil and Belly Butter to keep my skin hydrated, regenerating its elasticity and helping to reduce the appearance of stretch marks. Benefiting the skin with essential fatty acids, omegas, vitamins and minerals from speciality oils like Marula oil and Jojoba oil to sink in the moisture and help boost collagen production in the skin – in those areas where you need it the most to stretch during pregnancy.
It also has been formulated with aromatherapy benefits due to its specially curated essential oil blend to help release tensions and calm down mums’ senses and emotions during this special moment of life. A delicate combination of Jasmine and Lavender essential oils. These products are also great to be used during postpartum.
Can you share your Summer skin-care & wellbeing routine with us?
We try to include as many moments of wellbeing and mindfulness into our daily routines. Even if it might not always be possible, we value the importance of creating little rituals that our body and mind can associate with positivity for our overall selves. From waking up early in the morning and practising a small meditation, yoga or exercise, eating healthy (with some guilty pleasures, because why not!) and having the opportunity to listen to our own bodies and recognise when we need some self-care time.
Being pregnant, I’ve been preparing my skin for summer and for some serious stretchiness that’s about to happen with oils and butters. But I’ve also been super careful of not forgetting to nurture the rest of my body by making a ritual of using our Wake Me Up! Body Oil just after my shower. It works great for me with damp skin so the moisture sinks in and the vibrant aromas give me that much needed morning boost to kick start the day.
Throughout the day I keep myself up and running with some mini mindful breaks, breathing exercises and a bit of Energising Body Mist, as the tiredness and sleepiness feelings of pregnancy are real! Before heading off to sleep, I’m currently obsessed with the Jasmine and Lavender aromas of our new Belly Oil. Applying it around my pregnant belly and different areas where stretch marks could arise. Getting that skin glow-ready for some much needed vitamin sea this summer!
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