One whole oil kept as pressed, with Allison Taylor

Le Prunier started in 2018, when Allison Taylor decided to build a line rather than sell an ingredient. The oil, the wash, the mask and the SPF all come from plums grown by her family since 1916.

Hold the bottle first and the story makes sense. The oil is golden in frosted glass, weighty in the palm, with a soft marzipan scent that tells you it was never deodorized. On fingertips it has slip, then it sinks on damp skin to a dewy finish without tack. Le Prunier is built around that sensory contract. Nothing perfumed away, nothing thinned for trend, just the seed kept whole.

Allison Taylor and Jacqueline Taylor grew up on Taylor Brother Farms outside Sacramento, in the Central Valley of Northern California. As teenagers they joined their father in buyer rooms in Japan and Korea, where dried plums were described as daily beauty food. Years later Jacqueline funded lab work on the discarded seed herself, across two and a half years, and Allison said she would join if they kept the story and made objects they wanted to keep. They showed prototypes at Indie Beauty Expo NYC in 2018.

What interests Second Skin is what they refused to change after. The core is still one cold pressed oil with no additions, joined by a short set of companions made from the same estate varietals and pressed on site. This interview stays with feel, form and ritual, with one clear sentence where needed on what each formula does.

Thank you so much for having me. I am really happy to be talking with you. I think we need to start at the beginning, back when we were traveling as teenagers with our father. What did those early visits show you about plums as beyond a harvest

Thank you so much for having me. I am really happy to be talking with you. To know our work you need our childhood on a fourth generation farm, and those first trips beside our father. He farms in the Central Valley and sends about 80 percent of the crop abroad, so as teenagers we sat in meeting rooms in Japan and Korea and heard buyers present dried plums as food for skin and balance.

That contrast stayed lodged in my memory. At home the plum meant fields, harvest, drying sheds, cartons, freight. Overseas the same fruit was part of a daily practice for skin and steadiness. I kept circling that divide. We lived among fruit prized for antioxidants yet we valued only the flesh. If the flesh holds that much antioxidant strength, the pit must hold it too. The idea took root there, long before a company existed.

Plum Cleanse changes that same oil feel into a lathering wash for makeup and SPF What does that opening minute of the evening ritual feel like in use

Begin with dry skin. Rub Plum Cleanse across makeup and Plumscreen using warm hands, and allow a full minute while oil loosens the day. Then wet the face and let the texture shift to foam. Rinse and keep skin damp. That damp layer belongs to the method. Press Plum Beauty Oil onto damp skin to seal in moisture, then pause.

We wanted the wash to feel biome balancing and supple rather than tight. It clears without that stripped finish, which counts when you wash twice or wear SPF every day. The feel deliberately recalls the beloved oil, so cleansing flows into sealing. One fruit, one scent thread, from tree rows to sink. People with reactive skin often say repetition helps more than newness. We feel the same. Hold the steps small and repeat them.

You saw pits from dried plum harvests leave by truck to be discarded What made you study that waste flow and sample the oil within

My sister Jacqueline could not drop the question. We watched pits carted off by the truckload once drying finished, and she returned to one plain thought. What do you think. Perhaps we might present this plum oil to L’Oreal or Estee Lauder purely as a raw material. If the flesh holds that much antioxidant strength, the pit must hold it too. So she began testing.

She paid for that work herself across two and a half years. She partnered with two cosmetic labs to study Plum Beauty Oil and how it might serve skin seeking calm and moisture. I watched her proceed steadily, with no debut date set. That slowness matters. The oil is taken from the fruit pit, pressed cold, and it brings vitamins and antioxidants that brighten the look of skin, even the appearance of oiliness and seal in moisture. It matched our roots. Honor the full harvest.

Jacqueline brought plans on selling plum oil as an ingredient in 2014 to 2015, and you said you would join solely for a brand Why insist on sharing the story in your own voice

She arrived with her findings and I told her, I will absolutely join you. I am fully committed, but I want us to found a line. I had no wish to pass plum oil along as a nameless raw material while another company narrated it. This was our family holding, started in 1916 by our great grandfather, expanded from 19 acres to over 1,500 acres. If we trusted the Power of Plum, we needed to represent it ourselves.

So we split the labor. She focused on patents and details of our proprietary extracts, and we simply joined forces and chose to introduce it. I shaped packaging and a site while she safeguarded the process and the blends. We believed Le Prunier expressed our aim. The phrase is French for the plum tree. We felt the name held the refinement we sought for the care. Heritage paired with invention, held in a bottle worth displaying.

Your first oil is cold pressed with nothing added, and you kept the soft almond like aroma after tests showed refining would reduce its worth What did that choice cost you in craft and feel

Nothing else is blended in. That restraint is the entire idea. The oil is pressed cold from pits gathered on our organic holding, and we use a crafted mix of our own varietals. It keeps a natural fragrance, faintly almond, because it derives from the pit. Retail buyers at times request unscented. We reply, nope, no chance we will alter this. We keep it precisely as nature formed it.

We examined the other path. Once you deodorize or refine, you remove more than aroma. The nutrient level fell, and for us the choice was settled. We prefer to present the oil exactly as pressed rather than render it neutral. As practice, that wholeness counts too. You warm several drops between hands and push into moist skin for face, hands, hair and body. The fragrance signals intactness. It is the Fruit of Life, carried whole from grove to recipe.

Plum Beauty Oil went viral in 2020 with a 30,000 person waitlist and sold out fast. How did a farm family meet scale while keeping a slow method intact

That was the viral Chrissy Teigen moment, how might we grow things with real care and speak plainly with shoppers, and everyone pitched in. We had debuted in 2018 at Indie Beauty Expo with mockup packs, then entered Neiman Marcus, Credo Beauty and The Detox Market, then widened to the UK, Europe and South Korea. Then in a rush a single oil had to serve 30,000 people waiting.

We remained tied to the estate press. Our oil and concentrates, including Midnight Muir and Plum Superfruit Complex, are prepared with our own presses and filters, and the triple pressed Reserve is drawn from one estate picking. That caps our pace, in a welcome way. We prefer to respect harvest cadence and ask people to wait honestly rather than dilute or swap. Everyone pitching in meant relatives pitching in. My sister Elaine works in the company as well. Weekends and family hours still count, so we learned to map harvest to bottling with greater care.

We prefer to guard the harvest rhythm and tell people to wait rather than stretch or substitute

Allison Taylor

Plumtox uses Midnight Muir, a rare extract from a plum varietal on your own land, and it holds recognition from the National Eczema Association How do you enjoy a clarifying mask while sparing sensitive skin

Plumtox began on a stroll, not from a brief. The Muir Beauty type grows on our acreage and showed such richness that we created Midnight Muir as a house only concentrate. It is a mild exfoliant, meant to clarify the look of crowded skin while holding moisture stable. Apply it as a brief evening mask, a sheer coat smoothed on and washed off, once or twice weekly, then push oil onto moist skin to close.

We choose wording carefully. This is not aggressive resurfacing. It helps skin appear smoother and clearer while honoring the barrier. For those who redden or feel taut after masks, that measure is the purpose. Acknowledgment from the National Eczema Association mattered deeply because our shopper often comes in reactive. A field crop, infused patiently and filtered gently, can still act with precision.

Plumscreen pairs broad spectrum SPF 31 PA+++ with your Plum Superfruit Complex and has earned seven awards Why add sun care to a compact plum ritual

Sunlight is a field fact. We were raised watching picking teams labor beneath fierce Central Valley glare, and we understood a soothing routine needed everyday defense or the rest would matter little. We sought a sunscreen with the manner of care, not a detached task. So we centered Plumscreen on our Plum Superfruit Complex, our patented plum blend, and combined it with UVA and UVB plus HEV coverage.

Feel was the exam. It needed to spread over Plum Beauty Oil cleanly and rest smoothly beneath makeup. Spread it every morning as the final stage, a liberal film eased across face and neck. For our wearer, often sensitive or blemish prone and seeking even care, it leaves skin looking uniform and moisture held while filtering light. It earned honors from Oprah, Elle and Shape, and that helped shoppers trust an SPF from a modest farm label. Seven honors suggest the equilibrium lands.

Sisters, a family farm and one fruit can look simple from the outside What has stayed hard about remaining small and single origin after growth to global shelves

The difficulty is refusal. Refusal to deodorize the oil when a stockist requests it. Refusal to use animal derived components or animal testing when an easier route shows. Refusal to add fragrance or slick silicones to follow a fad. Our recipes remain vegan and cruelty free, supported by clinical testing, and that tightens each decision.

Sourcing brings the second discipline. Single origin places weather inside the bottle. One picking arrives slightly richer, another slightly lighter, and we marry varietals to hold the oil consistent without erasing personality. The phrase is French for the plum tree, and a tree never rushes. We guard weekends and family hours because seasons schooled us. Power of Plum is not tagline language for us. It is stock, earth, presses, kin. We prefer to expand gently and remain readable than to surge and turn indistinct.

Closing note from the desk

What lingers is touch held in check. The Taylors might have wholesaled plum oil in drums, or perfumed out its pit note, or spun one viral sellout into a flood of drops. They left the oil intact, the assortment brief and the farm present, then shaped only what a daily rhythm required.

Le Prunier set out to show that a cast off pit could ground calm, repeatable care. Felt slowly, that is what the vessels reveal. One household, one grove outside Sacramento, one cold press, smoothed on morning and evening to brighten the look of skin, steady its appearance and keep moisture close.

Product spotlight

Plum Beauty Oil, 78 dollars for 30 ml, also offered in 60 ml for 126 dollars and 3.7 ml for 24 dollars. A cold pressed versatile oil for face, hands, hair and body that brightens and balances the look of skin while sealing in moisture. Warm two to three drops in the palms and push onto damp skin morning and evening.

Plumscreen is 80 dollars for 60 ml. A seven time honoree that unites broad spectrum SPF 31 PA+++ with the Plum Superfruit Complex and the ease of the signature oil. Spread liberally across face and neck every morning as the final stage, above or in place of moisturizer, and reapply during sun exposure.