DuJour Navigation

Natural Beauty 101 with Tata Harper

The Vermont-based entrepreneur on her favorite products and how to be a green beauty goddess

After only a few years in the business, Tata Harper’s skincare line boasts the prestige of a legacy brand with the cultish enthusiasm of an indie. Based in Vermont, Harper’s dedication to natural beauty goes far deeper than your average lifestyle expert’s. “A couple years back my stepfather was diagnosed with cancer, and through helping him change his lifestyle I came to realize a lot about what I was putting in and on my body,” she explains. “It was through this evaluation that I realized there were no natural skincare products on the market that gave me the results and luxury experience I was looking for, so I created my own.”

While her green frosted-glass packaging may conjure a refreshing cucumber facial, it’s the ingredients, sourced from Harper’s farm in Vermont, that make Harper’s products truly top-shelf. “Naturals have such a long history of use,” she says. “For many chemicals, safe use limits are set based on daily exposure, but what if 8 of the products I use contain a chemical and my daily exposure is greater than what a ‘safe’ daily dose is?” In other words, Harper cultivates products that are as safe as they are effective.

But just how effective are they? Critics of the natural beauty movement say that clinical results can only be achieved with clinical ingredients. To them, Harper wagers that the synthetic ingredients found in mass-produced clinical formulas only mimic components found in nature. “Many clinical approaches are essentially “bio-mimicry.” Botox, for example, is based on a neurotoxin from bacteria that causes neuromuscular paralysis,” Harper explains. “If I want to provide a Botox-like benefit, I use neuropeptides from flowers with scientific evidence of inhibiting facial muscle contractions.”

Harper’s own attitude towards beauty includes an unsurprisingly home-grown regimen (she loves the Elixir Vitae Serum, Regenerating Cleanser, and Boosted Contour Eye Mask)—and a core belief that letting nature take its course doesn’t mean sacrificing beauty. “I believe that all we need,” she says, “is look to nature for the best solutions for enhancing and maintaining beauty.”

Main Image Credit: TataHarperSkincare.com

STORIES DUJOUR