Early last week I had the opportunity to sit in on one of Tata Harper’s ‘master classes’ at Neiman Marcus Austin.  While sipping iced coconut green tea from The Steeping Room (my favorite!), a small group of beauty influencers got to experience Tata Harper‘s amazing offering of next generation beauty products.  The morning’s events were quite hands-on:  Tata herself flew in from Vermont and guided us step-by-step as we removed our make-up, double-cleansed, multimasked, moisturized, and even inhaled our way through her full line.

Here are the top 3 takeaways from my morning with Tata Harper:

Check for antifreeze:  Non-toxic active ingredients matter more than we probably realize.  A popular ingredient found in many ‘anti-aging’ skin care products is propylene glycol — which basically antifreeze.  When are we going to stop putting this stuff on our FACE?!  Tata imagines one day we’ll look back on chemicals like this in our homes as we look back on lead paint now.  Tata says of her products:  “We provide clinical anti aging results without a single drop of synthetic chemicals.”

Formulations matter:  Say you do find a product without antifreeze or other nasty synthetics, now you have to look at the amount of good stuff they’re putting in to fill that bottle.  For example:  Hyaluronic acid is an active ingredient in Tata Harper’s Hydrating Floral Essence, an ingredient that costs a whopping $9,000 euros per pound!  Many products may tout Hyaluronic acid in their contents, but are only using a teensy-tiny little bit and watering it down with fillers.  100% free of fillers is crucial to getting real results from these high-quality active ingredients (and is important in getting the most bang for your buck!)

Daily regimen:  They have a prescribed set of steps for beautiful, youthful skin:

1. Cleanse:  she recommended double cleansing with an oil cleanser first and then a regular cleanser to follow.
2. Essence:  No more alcohol based astringent — spritzing an illuminating or moisture boosting ‘essence’ takes the place of old-school toners.
3. Anti-aging serum:  If you’re serious about getting results from your serums, you need to use them a.m. and p.m. = every 12 hours.
4. Moisturizer:  In the summer months, I usually forego moisturizer in lieu of my sunscreen or foundation, knowing my natural oils will soon take over in this heat.  However, Tata stressed that oily skin absolutely NEEDS moisturizer, too.
5. Eye Care:  Tata takes time during this step to lightly massage her eye sockets & under eye area during application to reduce bags & puffiness.

Safe to say, I walked out of Neiman’s that morning feeling like I got the world’s finest organic facial.  I also absolutely LOVE the scent of everything…I noticed one of the lines on their brochure says their fragrance comes from flowers, not chemicals and you can really tell the difference!

Mid-mask selfie!  In the middle of my Purifying Mask treatment.  This was actually step 4 in our process: first, Nourishing Oil Cleanser; second, Purifying Cleanser and third, the Resurfacing Mask.  Tata suggests keeping the Purifying Cleanser on under the Resurfacing Mask to heighten your glow.

So yeah…I want pretty much everything they make:  it’s all 100% free from synthetics, GMOs, fillers, gluten and synthetic fragrances.  Now, higher price points come along with that higher quality, so I limited myself to getting my one favorite thing from class which was the Hydrating Floral Essence to join my Elixir Vitae (natural botox, I swear!) at home.  So, have you tried Tata Harper skincare?  What’s your favorite product?