Fattoria La Vialla OliPhenolia

OLIPHENOLIA

For years, Jo (Fairley) and husband Craig have been filling their pantry with delicious Italian organic foods – pasta, pasta sauces, olives, olive oil, wines – from La Vialla, a beautiful farm outside the Tuscan town of Arezzo. It’s on a huge scale, with lots of agriturismo cottages (definitely on Jo’s bucket list) – and the catalogue (almost more of a book) is wonderful: it all appears hand-written, with recipes and so much info about the products.

So: what’s all that got to do with beauty…? (Leaving aside the fact that we are what we eat, of course?)

Well, they’ve launched an all-natural, biodynamic skincare range, packed with polyphenol antioxidants from the olive harvest. They’ve backed OliPhenolia up with some pretty impressive independent scientific research – results showed that it was anti-inflammatory, hydrating, anti-bacterial and (yes) anti-ageing.

Equally importantly, it’s wonderfully inviting to use. Both the Oliphenolia Face Cream and Hand Cream are wonderfully luscious, yet sink in beautifully. Alongside the olive-derived ingredients you’ll find hyaluronic acid, glycerine, vitamins E and C). The Intensive Serum is light-as-air – with a very simple ingredients list that includes hyaluronic acid and a touch of brightening lactic acid (definitely not enough to irritate).

No fancy packaging (the hand creams comes in a simple tin) – but this is a wonderful, effective (and really quite affordable) skincare discovery for anyone looking for a cleaner, greener, regime.

We think it’s even better than their pasta sauces. And that’s saying something.

Oliphenolia Intensive Serum/£22.50 for 20 ml  – buy here

Oliphenolia Face Cream/£20.80 for 50 ml – buy here

Oliphenolia Hand Cream/£8.80 for 75 ml – buy here