Healthy skin is about more than what we put on it. On a recent episode of Well with Arielle Lorre, Par Olive Founder & CEO Olivia Boyd-Smith joined Arielle for a conversation about skin longevity, nutrition, stress, collagen, and why the most effective approach to healthy skin starts from within.
Listen to the full conversation:
5 Takeaways From Olivia’s Conversation With Arielle
01 — “Australian Made” Means More Rigorous Standards And Robust Clinicals
Arielle: I want to go back to sourcing, because it’s a blind spot in the supplement industry. I know Australia has much stricter regulations than the US.
Olivia: Yes — Australia is incredible. I’m so proud we’re made in Australia. There, supplements are a listed medicine — really rigorous manufacturing standards, robust clinicals, and you have to use clinical dosages before you can even print a label or make a claim.
It’s so strict. I started in the hardest market, but I’m grateful for that — it’s how we’ve built so much trust, being stocked in over 700 dermatology clinics — because of robust clinicals, developed under rigorous manufacturing standards that unfortunately aren’t commonplace in the United States.
In Australia we batch-test every single ingredient we import and every single formula — rigorous protocols for heavy metals, pesticides, clinical dosages.
02 — Where Ingredients Are Sourced From Matters
“Farmed collagen has closed waters, so they’re often contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, hormones from the fish feed, and I don’t want to ingest that every day… our collagen is all sourced from Norway from cod skin, which is the highest grade of collagen in the world.”
03 — All Collagens Are Not Created Equal
“The hydrolyzation is the enzymatic process which breaks the molecule down into the smallest particle size. Par Olive is hydrolyzed down to 2,000 daltons, the actual particle size of the collagen peptide, giving over 90% absorption — so you actually absorb it and see results.
If you compare the particle size in our unflavored product to another marine collagen or bovine collagen, theirs look almost like sugar in comparison — ours is a super fine powder, because the low molecular weight means you actually absorb the peptide.”
04 — Your Skincare Protocol Has To Evolve As You Age
Arielle: I’m 40, turning 41, and my skin’s ability to retain moisture has plummeted the last couple of years, so ingestibles make so much sense. As you age you realize you need a more holistic approach — supporting your skin rather than aggressively treating it, which I think is a shift happening in the industry, supporting from the inside out rather than relying on Botox and fillers and skincare alone.
Olivia: Right — people are now aware you can’t just do Botox and filler without also caring for your skin biologically, protecting with SPF, hats, sunglasses — you need a holistic approach to optimal skin health.
Our dermatology board talks about how once you hit 25 your collagen stores decline 1% a year, but a staggering number is losing 30% of your body’s natural collagen production in your first year of menopause.
Not to scare anyone, but that information matters, because what you do at 20 is different from what you do at 30 and 40 — your protocol for ingestibles, topicals and treatments needs to change, though it doesn’t mean going overboard. It’s about intelligent choices and leaning on experts, wanting to look as good as you feel as you move through decades.
05 — Apply The “Expert Lens” As A Consumer
Arielle: What do you think the experts’ shared philosophy is that hasn’t reached the average consumer yet, given the skincare market is already so saturated and topicals feel intuitive, but ingestibles are just starting to catch on?
Olivia: Evidence and clinically led. Even one of our dermatologists, Dr. Susan, said before she found our product and read our white papers and clinicals, she assumed people taking these supplements just had healthy bowels — then she read the clinicals, looked into our medical team, and stood behind what we’re building. That’s the lens the right experts look through for topicals, ingestibles and treatments, because they’re trained to look at peer-reviewed papers and clinicals, whereas the average consumer doesn’t have time to dig into that.