An ex- Mecca/Violet Grey editor on Rosacea, rose water and the chic-ness of a signature scent

World, meet Tara Lamont-Djite (the woman shaping/selling the CULT/COVETED beauty brands we all love)

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Today I have another Riche Creme routine and wow, it’s great. Tara is a friend and career north star of mine. We met when she was at Mecca and we worked on some copywriting projects together. She was the one who put me forward for the flagship clinical skincare copy – so grateful for her encouragement on that project.

Beyond Mecca as the head of content, Tara has worked at Violet Grey, Harper’s BAZAAR – the beauty HOLY TRINITY. You can’t make this up. No one knows this industry like Tara. She now works at a creative agency as the head of content strategy, AND is a mum, so she knows what it means to be BUSY. Thus, she has a beauty routine to match.

Tara has worked with every icon in beauty – she’s met most of the founders you and I would consider our heroes. She’s launched brands into the market, hosted podcasts and designed the worlds that inspire us. You won’t find more IYKYK product advice than you will in this profile.

The interview – plus the usual beauty news and a very good product of the week – below.

THE RICH CREME ROUTINE: TARA LAMONT-DJITE

What’s your name?

Tara Lamont-Djite and I’m 38.

Your skin type?

Sensitive and oily, but I’ve been dealing with rosacea for the past four years so honestly, it feels like it changes every month.

And your hair type?

Super fine but lots of it! With a tendency to get oily really, really quickly.

What does beauty mean to you - how do you define it?

Can beauty be defined? It’s so personal, so unique to everyone. What’s beautiful to me will most definitely be different to everyone else. But what does it mean? Beauty means finding wonder, joy, passion, a smile. I think wrinkles are so beautiful - like Georgia O’Keeffe. I think a fresh, unused lipstick by Hermes is beautiful. I think a big, gorgeous smile is beautiful. And finding what makes you personally feel beautiful is so different for everyone. But do we all feel more beautiful with some blush? Yes. Some mascara? Probably. A really lovely moisturiser that smells divine? I bet you do too. And that’s why I love product, because it has this crazy transformative power to make you feel.

When did you get into beauty - was there someone or something that influenced you?

No one really, but I always always loved things.I loved beauty products, I loved fashion, I loved magazines. My mum and grandma always had a lot of products and I do remember playing around with them, I always especially loved the ritual of fragrance.

Give me a brief rundown of your career and how you got to wear you are now?

Omg we don’t have enough space. I’ll keep it brief; montage style. I started out at InStyle magazine as the Editor-in-Chief’s assistant (thanks to an internship!), then moved to New York, where I worked for over 10 years. I was a Beauty Editor at Beautylish, Fashion News Editor at Harper’s Bazaar, and Fashion & Beauty Director at Hearst’s Digital Content Studio. And in between some of those things I was a freelance beauty writer for publications like WSJ Magazine, Violet Grey, and T Magazine.

What about your vibe and personal style – how did you find that?

Discovering my personal style absolutely happened in Paris. I’d wanted to go my whole life then finally made it when I was 22. I always kind of knew how I wanted to dress, but I never quite landed it. Then in Paris I discovered simplicity could be the best kind of chic. It was so inspiring!

I have to know about Violet Grey — what was that experience like?