$125M a Year, New Dip Powder Mani System

“ I’ve been obsessed with nails since I was a kid,” Sarah Gibson Tuttle, founder and CEO of Olive & June, tells Entrepreneur. “My dad didn’t let me paint my nails, so I had a box of nail polish under my bed, and I would sneak manicures, especially red. That was his least favorite color.” 

Gibson Tuttle left a decade-long career on Wall Street to bridge what she saw as a gap between very high-end nail salons and mom-and-pop shops, similar to the way Drybar came in with blowouts at a mid-level price point.

In 2013, the founder opened her first nail salon, Olive & June, in Beverly Hills. However, as the salon continued to grow, expanding to additional locations in Pasadena and Santa Monica, Gibson Tuttle realized the category didn’t just have an issue with affordability — but one with time and access. 

“ There’s a limitation on the number of manicurists in the country, and the demand far exceeds what that capacity is for those manicurists,” Gibson Tuttle explains. “And so you go to pockets of the country, and there isn’t an offering like there is in LA or New York.”

Launching Olive & June’s first product line in 2019

Nearly every other category on the beauty market had a meaningful at-home offering, but nails didn’t, Gibson Tuttle says. So she set out to create one. 

It took almost six years from Olive & June’s first salon opening to the launch of its own product line. Gibson Tuttle never wanted the brand to be just another product on the shelf, so she led with innovation. 

Olive & June rolled out its patented polish brush handle The Poppy, featuring counterweighted rubber silicone for easier application, along with six shades of vegan nail polish free of seven common toxins, in 2019. 

The company collaborated with another competitive nail brand for an end cap at Target, selling out in just 10 days, then launched 14 SKUs at the retailer, which remained its exclusive distributor for four years. 

Following pandemic shutdowns, the brand’s brick-and-mortar salons remained closed as it shifted focus to its own products. Ultimately, the company scaled to more than 15,000 retail doors, including Ulta and Walmart. 

Additionally, Olive & June’s direct-to-consumer channel allowed the company to pair its offerings with education, a critical piece in driving product adoption. 

Helen of Troy acquired Olive & June for $240 million

Olive & June continued to see success, but as much as Gibson Tuttle and the leadership team enjoyed running the business, it was also their first time scaling a brand at the national level. As the annual revenue milestones increased — $50 million, $75 million, closing in on $100 million — so did the appeal of belonging to a larger house of brands with more resources and support. 

“ We didn’t have to sell,” Gibson Tuttle says. “We were profitable. It was really our choice to sell at that moment. And it was about if we could find the right partner that will continue to let us run the business, and run it the way we want.”

Global consumer products company Helen of Troy, which owns household name brands like Hydroflask and PUR, acquired Olive & June for $240 million in 2024. Gibson Tuttle stayed on as the company’s CEO and grew revenue to approximately $125 million in 2025 — about 35% year-over-year growth.

“We run standalone,” Gibson Tuttle says. “Nothing has changed about anything. Other than we have a financial parent company, which helps me sleep better at night.  I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked because we have more retailers than we’ve ever had.” 

Balancing consumer feedback with a founder’s intuition

In the early days of Olive & June, Gibson Tuttle relied a lot on gut instinct when it came to product development. But as the company grew and customer messages rolled in, Gibson Tuttle’s approach started to shift. Now, the founder says Olive & June’s product line is consumer feedback-based — “with a dash of gut.” 

“ I truly believe that the consumer leads with their dollars,” Gibson Tuttle says. “They show you what they care about, in every category.”

Gibson Tuttle cites a key example of how taking consumer feedback into account unlocked major sales: Olive & June’s press-on nail collection.

Initially, despite numerous DMs and emails expressing a desire for press-on nail products, Gibson Tuttle was wary. She considered Olive & June a polish-first brand and had grown up with “your mother’s press-ons,” typically lacking in quality and longevity. But she decided to listen.

Once again, Gibson Tuttle put innovation at the heart of product development. Olive & June rolled out its 94% PCR (post-consumer recycled) press-on nail collection Super Stick Mani in 2021, offering twice as many sizes as others available on the market, the founder notes. 

“ They have been explosive for the business, ” Gibson Tuttle says. “Now I’m a press-on stan. I think what’s important is that without giving up my voice, I really leaned into the consumers guiding us with their dollars and their voice.” 

Olive & June’s Dip Mani System launched October 22

Over the years, Olive & June has successfully launched salon-level formulations and categories, including gel and builder gel, and taught consumers how to use them. Now, the brand is delving into a highly requested offering, and “one of the last frontiers of salon-focused products”: dip powder. 

Olive & June’s Dip Mani System launched on October 22. “ Other brands have done it in smaller scale and haven’t been as successful,” Gibson Tuttle says. “That’s really where we thrive and shine.”

Traditionally, dip uses acrylic powder. Created from a man-made chemical called PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), acrylic has been known in some cases to cause contact dermatitis, weaken nails and increase infection risk. 

Gibson Tuttle was never interested in using acrylic for Olive & June’s dip powder product. The brand would only do dip (an idea she had toyed with for half a decade) if the product could be plant-based. 

“ That is a very hard thing to achieve,” Gibson Tuttle says. “It is a slightly different texture, and it’s a little fluffier, so you have to work with it a little bit differently. We really had to make sure that we could not only have the same efficacy, but hopefully better efficacy, than what we’re seeing in the market.” 

After 127 iterations, a cost-effective dip powder product

After working with a chemist on 127 different iterations, Olive & June locked down its five-step Dip Mani System, with results lasting up to 21 days. An additional “mini step” in the process accounts for the fluffier texture. 

And, as usual with new products, getting the color just right —  a Pantone shade on a piece of paper doesn’t read the same across different formulations — required patience and persistence. 

Although the plant-based formulation increases the cost of producing the Dip Mani System, which is priced between $75 and $100 depending on the number of polish colors, for the Olive & June consumer, that still works out to less than $3 per manicure, Gibson Tuttle notes.

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

Post-acquisition, people often ask Gibson Tuttle about the terms of her contract: “How long do you have to be there?” But stepping back from the company she built is the last thing on the founder’s mind. She still looks forward to the product innovation and collaboration opportunities that come with each new year. 

“ I love the fever and the excitement, and the enthusiasm that our community has,” Gibson Tuttle says. 

“ I’ve been obsessed with nails since I was a kid,” Sarah Gibson Tuttle, founder and CEO of Olive & June, tells Entrepreneur. “My dad didn’t let me paint my nails, so I had a box of nail polish under my bed, and I would sneak manicures, especially red. That was his least favorite color.” 

Gibson Tuttle left a decade-long career on Wall Street to bridge what she saw as a gap between very high-end nail salons and mom-and-pop shops, similar to the way Drybar came in with blowouts at a mid-level price point.

In 2013, the founder opened her first nail salon, Olive & June, in Beverly Hills. However, as the salon continued to grow, expanding to additional locations in Pasadena and Santa Monica, Gibson Tuttle realized the category didn’t just have an issue with affordability — but one with time and access.