$125M a Year, New Dip Powder Mani System

“ I’ve been obsessive about nails since I used to be a child,” Sarah Gibson Tuttle, founder and CEO of Olive & June, tells Entrepreneur. “My dad didn’t let me paint my nails, so I had a field of nail polish underneath my mattress, and I might sneak manicures, particularly crimson. That was his least favourite coloration.” 

Gibson Tuttle left a decade-long profession on Wall Road to bridge what she noticed as a spot between very high-end nail salons and mom-and-pop retailers, much like the best way Drybar got here in with blowouts at a mid-level value level.

In 2013, the founder opened her first nail salon, Olive & June, in Beverly Hills. Nonetheless, because the salon continued to develop, increasing to further areas in Pasadena and Santa Monica, Gibson Tuttle realized the class didn’t simply have a difficulty with affordability — however one with time and entry. 

“ There’s a limitation on the variety of manicurists within the nation, and the demand far exceeds what that capability is for these manicurists,” Gibson Tuttle explains. “And so that you go to pockets of the nation, and there isn’t an providing like there may be in LA or New York.”

Launching Olive & June’s first product line in 2019

Almost each different class on the wonder market had a significant at-home providing, however nails didn’t, Gibson Tuttle says. So she got down to create one. 

It took virtually six years from Olive & June’s first salon opening to the launch of its personal product line. Gibson Tuttle by no means needed the model to be simply one other product on the shelf, so she led with innovation. 

Olive & June rolled out its patented polish brush deal with The Poppy, that includes counterweighted rubber silicone for simpler utility, together with six shades of vegan nail polish freed from seven widespread toxins, in 2019. 

The corporate collaborated with one other aggressive nail model for an finish cap at Goal, promoting out in simply 10 days, then launched 14 SKUs on the retailer, which remained its unique distributor for 4 years. 

Following pandemic shutdowns, the model’s brick-and-mortar salons remained closed because it shifted focus to its personal merchandise. Finally, the corporate scaled to greater than 15,000 retail doorways, together with Ulta and Walmart. 

Moreover, Olive & June’s direct-to-consumer channel allowed the corporate to pair its choices with training, a vital piece in driving product adoption. 

Helen of Troy acquired Olive & June for $240 million

Olive & June continued to see success, however as a lot as Gibson Tuttle and the management crew loved working the enterprise, it was additionally their first time scaling a model on the nationwide degree. Because the annual income milestones elevated — $50 million, $75 million, closing in on $100 million — so did the attraction of belonging to a bigger home of manufacturers with extra sources and assist. 

“ We didn’t need to promote,” Gibson Tuttle says. “We had been worthwhile. It was actually our option to promote at that second. And it was about if we may discover the appropriate companion that can proceed to allow us to run the enterprise, and run it the best way we wish.”

International shopper merchandise firm Helen of Troy, which owns family identify manufacturers like Hydroflask and PUR, acquired Olive & June for $240 million in 2024. Gibson Tuttle stayed on as the corporate’s CEO and grew income to roughly $125 million in 2025 — about 35% year-over-year development.

“We run standalone,” Gibson Tuttle says. “Nothing has modified about something. Aside from we now have a monetary mother or father firm, which helps me sleep higher at evening.  I’m working tougher than I’ve ever labored as a result of we now have extra retailers than we’ve ever had.” 

Balancing shopper suggestions with a founder’s instinct

Within the early days of Olive & June, Gibson Tuttle relied lots on intestine intuition when it got here to product growth. However as the corporate grew and buyer messages rolled in, Gibson Tuttle’s strategy began to shift. Now, the founder says Olive & June’s product line is shopper feedback-based — “with a splash of intestine.” 

“ I really consider that the patron leads with their {dollars},” Gibson Tuttle says. “They present you what they care about, in each class.”

Gibson Tuttle cites a key instance of how taking shopper suggestions into consideration unlocked main gross sales: Olive & June’s press-on nail assortment.

Initially, regardless of quite a few DMs and emails expressing a need for press-on nail merchandise, Gibson Tuttle was cautious. She thought-about Olive & June a polish-first model and had grown up with “your mom’s press-ons,” usually missing in high quality and longevity. However she determined to hear.

As soon as once more, Gibson Tuttle put innovation on the coronary heart of product growth. Olive & June rolled out its 94% PCR (post-consumer recycled) press-on nail assortment Tremendous Stick Mani in 2021, providing twice as many sizes as others out there available on the market, the founder notes. 

“ They’ve been explosive for the enterprise, ” Gibson Tuttle says. “Now I’m a press-on stan. I believe what’s essential is that with out giving up my voice, I actually leaned into the customers guiding us with their {dollars} and their voice.” 

Olive & June’s Dip Mani System launched October 22

Over time, Olive & June has efficiently launched salon-level formulations and classes, together with gel and builder gel, and taught customers the best way to use them. Now, the model is delving right into a extremely requested providing, and “one of many final frontiers of salon-focused merchandise”: dip powder. 

Olive & June’s Dip Mani System launched on October 22. “ Different manufacturers have achieved it in smaller scale and haven’t been as profitable,” Gibson Tuttle says. “That’s actually the place we thrive and shine.”

Historically, dip makes use of acrylic powder. Created from a man-made chemical known as PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), acrylic has been recognized in some circumstances to trigger contact dermatitis, weaken nails and enhance an infection threat. 

Gibson Tuttle was by no means thinking about utilizing acrylic for Olive & June’s dip powder product. The model would solely do dip (an concept she had toyed with for half a decade) if the product might be plant-based. 

“ That may be a very arduous factor to realize,” Gibson Tuttle says. “It’s a barely totally different texture, and it’s slightly fluffier, so you need to work with it slightly bit in another way. We actually needed to guarantee that we couldn’t solely have the identical efficacy, however hopefully higher efficacy, than what we’re seeing available in the market.” 

After 127 iterations, an economical dip powder product

After working with a chemist on 127 totally different iterations, Olive & June locked down its five-step Dip Mani System, with outcomes lasting as much as 21 days. An extra “mini step” within the course of accounts for the fluffier texture. 

And, as regular with new merchandise, getting the colour good —  a Pantone shade on a chunk of paper doesn’t learn the identical throughout totally different formulations — required endurance and persistence. 

Though the plant-based formulation will increase the price of producing the Dip Mani System, which is priced between $75 and $100 relying on the variety of polish colours, for the Olive & June shopper, that also works out to lower than $3 per manicure, Gibson Tuttle notes.

At U.S. salons, a dip powder manicure tends to vary from $30 to $60.

Submit-acquisition, folks usually ask Gibson Tuttle in regards to the phrases of her contract: “How lengthy do you need to be there?” However stepping again from the corporate she constructed is the very last thing on the founder’s thoughts. She nonetheless seems to be ahead to the product innovation and collaboration alternatives that include every new 12 months. 

“ I really like the fever and the joy, and the passion that our neighborhood has,” Gibson Tuttle says. 

“ I’ve been obsessive about nails since I used to be a child,” Sarah Gibson Tuttle, founder and CEO of Olive & June, tells Entrepreneur. “My dad didn’t let me paint my nails, so I had a field of nail polish underneath my mattress, and I might sneak manicures, particularly crimson. That was his least favourite coloration.” 

Gibson Tuttle left a decade-long profession on Wall Road to bridge what she noticed as a spot between very high-end nail salons and mom-and-pop retailers, much like the best way Drybar got here in with blowouts at a mid-level value level.

In 2013, the founder opened her first nail salon, Olive & June, in Beverly Hills. Nonetheless, because the salon continued to develop, increasing to further areas in Pasadena and Santa Monica, Gibson Tuttle realized the class didn’t simply have a difficulty with affordability — however one with time and entry.