In over 80 countries, Tata Harper Skincare has shown what it means to be a leader in the green and luxury beauty arena. The brand’s founder, Tata Harper, an industrial engineer by trade born in Barranquilla, Colombia, once laughed at the idea that natural and high-performance luxury skincare couldn’t possibly exist on the same scale.
“There was a prevailing belief that ‘natural’ equated to less effective, which we sought to challenge with our high-performance formulations,” Harper tells LATINA. To bring Tata Harper Skincare to life, she called upon the planet’s vast nature — the plants, soil, vitamins, and minerals — to showcase the impact natural and clean beauty can have on the skin.
A decade and a half after launching the Tata Harper Daily Essentials seven-product line, Tata Harper Skincare remains committed to its ethos of environmental consciousness. This commitment stems from a deep understanding and responsibility the founder and brand have upheld for loyal consumers and the planet since day one. In many ways, Harper has led an organic wave of success since disrupting the luxury market in 2010 by stripping away synthetics and turning to agriculture and science.
Harper’s organic farm in Vermont, where the first product ideations began, plays a crucial role. There, in her herb garden, she selected six nutrient-dense flowers and herbs to formulate the brand’s initial farm-grown beauty complex. “We grow Calendula, Alfalfa, Borage, Arnica, Meadowsweet, and Elderberry to create our beauty complex, in addition to Chamomile and Lavender,” Harper says. “It took us five years to create our first products, and it only made sense to formulate with the ingredients that we can grow right on our soil. It’s true ‘farm-to-face’ skincare.”
Tata Harper’s farm in Vermont. Courtesy of Tata Harper Skincare.
The Calendula grown in Tata Harper’s organic farm in Vermont. Courtesy of Tata Harper Skincare.
From the initial seven products harvested on the farm to a now over 40-product line, all of Harper’s offerings feature highly concentrated active ingredients and rich herbs sourced globally with the help of environmentally attuned suppliers. Tata Harper Skincare offers collections for sensitive skin, anti-aging, redness, gentle exfoliation, and overall skin and body care hydration. Some collections even contain products that address these concerns synergistically.
Although Harper’s farm first helped put the brand’s philosophy into action, it was her upbringing — a beauty-centric household full of wisdom from strong Latina women — that shaped Harper’s understanding of what she and consumers want in self-care. “Having these influential women in my life allowed me to witness firsthand the diverse range of preferences and priorities that women have when it comes to skincare,” she says. “It inspired me to create products that cater to a wide spectrum of needs, whether it’s maintaining a minimalist routine or indulging in a more elaborate self-care ritual.”
Harper hosts beauty classes worldwide, replicating the intimacy of nostalgic spa parties with a collective of women who want to discover and take part in the sensorial experience that the brand is known for. “The brand is naturally very tied to my experience growing up in Colombia within a very beauty-centric household,” she says. So to lead these master classes, Harper and her team are there, in session, sharing her beauty rituals, and guiding attendees as they experience Tata Harper themselves, from cleanse to tone, eye cream, and serum.
There is an unwavering certainty in Harper who believes we can strive toward a more refillable future; where packaging can live well over the timespan of its accompanying formula, where product development and production can make an impact on minimizing the carbon footprint that we as a beauty industry contribute to.
“The ingredients that we don’t grow on our farm are sourced sustainably and ethically from the rest of the world,” Harper says. She works with trusted suppliers who uphold ECOCERT standards in over 68 countries to source over 300 raw ingredients for her formulas. The ECOCERT organization “evaluates the raw materials used in our formulas to ensure ingredients are derived from renewable resources, manufactured by environmentally friendly processes and are free from GMO and synthetics,” says Harper of the indelible certificate the beauty brand has held since the start.
Since launching its e-commerce destination in 2010, Tata Harper Skincare’s influence has reached a retail high, expanding its retailer partnerships with beauty titans, including Sephora, Net-a-Porter, Blue Mercury, and many more. Expanding into the Middle East and China felt like a milestone for the founder, affirming that “this brand I created could truly be a leader in the green beauty movement on a global scale.”
For what’s next, Harper shares that the brand is further developing its refillable product range to minimize consumer waste.
Chelsea Avila is a freelance contributor for LATINA based in Queens, New York. She covers fashion and beauty editorial.
