Charlotte Talks To: Town & Country Magazine Beauty Director, Jamie Rosen

#CharlotteTalksTo is a lifestyle interview series featuring amazing women out there shaking things up and remaining fabulous in the process. 

INTERVIEW: JAMIE ROSEN

BEAUTY DIRECTOR
TOWN & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Jamie Rosen currently serves as the Beauty Director for one of America’s most storied titles: Town & Country Magazine. She has held this position since 2010 and her sharp editorial eye and reporting is evident on the beauty pages of this classic Hearst publication. For the past five years, she has overseen all beauty, health and wellness content in the magazine, online, and across Town & Country’s multiple social channels. Under her editorial direction, the magazine has been nominated for several Fragrance Foundation Awards and won the 2015 Award for Editorial Excellence for Feature. Prior to joining Town & Country, Jamie was Beauty Editor and Fine Jewelry and Watches Editor at W Magazine.

Jamie and our correspondent go back close to a decade, when they were office mates at Fairchild Publications. And back then, “she was pretty much flawless, and super nice, too.” Charlotte’s Book was thrilled to meet her this summer at New York City’s famed Hearst Tower and get a glimpse into how a beauty editor pulls it all together. In our interview below, she dishes on her must-have skincare item (it’s French, of course), and how her routine has evolved over the years towards more skincare and wellness than makeup.

ON THE MORNING ROUTINE:

My husband and I have the no-fail alarm clock of two little boys to get us up every morning! Much time is spent making smoothies and pancakes, listening to our favorite Pandora station of the moment, and, on a clear day, going out for iced coffee together.

ON DAILY BEAUTY ROUTINE:

Biologique Recherche P50. I am pretty religious about this one, which is a beauty editor favorite, and probably the product I talk about the most because it’s the one thing I never change in my routine. It’s a lactic acid toner that keeps your skin clear and gently exfoliates. The facialists I love (Melanie Simon, Nicole Paxson, Terri Lawton, the list goes on…) are devoted to it. And one of them talked to me about how grateful she was to have it in her life. It feels like an extreme thing to say about a bottle of liquid, but a good beauty product should do that—make you feel good, give you a little extra boost.

ON A TYPICAL DAY:

I know that our readers take beauty and health seriously, and are up on everything, so I always want to present the most relevant and forward-looking content to them month after month, as well as on the web at townandcountrymag.com. I spend most of my days ping-ponging to and from the office, though I try to schedule it so that I’m out in the beginning or the end of the day. I’ll usually start the morning at a launch event, at breakfast with a representative from a beauty brand, a writer, or a dermatologist. Then it’s back to the Hearst Tower to check on current pages, edit stories, write, meet with our art and photo departments, and brainstorm with the wonderful Meg Storm, who works with me in the Beauty Department, as well as the amazing editors at Town & Country. The magazine is at a really exciting time in its history—we are celebrating our 170th birthday next year! I am grateful to be a part of this exceptionally talented team. And yes, somewhere in there, usually in the evenings, I am testing as many products as I possibly can.

ON PRIORITIZING SKINCARE OVER MAKE UP:

It has evolved. It’s definitely skincare now. I wore more makeup in high school than I do today! But I think that’s the case for many women, and it’s the direction things are going. Women understand that in order to pull off an amazing bright pink lip or bold brows, you need great skin first. I have also really come to enjoy taking care of my skin, and taking a couple minutes in the morning and at night to do it. That’s not to say my skin is perfect, or that I don’t pull out a face wipe sometimes, because I do. But I really try to put the time in. Like eating well, exercising, or anything else, you have to keep up with it consistently in order to see lasting results.

ON CURRENT SKINCARE AND HEALTH MUST-HAVES:

I have recently started using the Beauty Chef’s Glow Inner Beauty Powder. I don’t really take supplements, so this is my version of vitamins, plus it has a berry flavor, no added sweeteners, and makes for a good 4:00 p.m. snack. When I have time, I use the Ziip nano current device. It was developed by an amazing facialist who wanted to give clients something to use at home, and it syncs with an iPhone app, so you can send treatments to the device, and perform them while watching brief videos. My go-to makeup favorites for summer are multitaskers—Olio E Osso stains are good for lip and cheek.

ON BEAUTY AND SKINCARE ADVICE FOR THE PROFESSIONAL WOMAN:

The best investment you can make is to care for yourself internally before you even start with the external. Beauty is not much without health and wellness, too. Beyond that, trust your skin to a reputable aesthetician and let them guide you from year to year. These are the people who really understand what’s going on, and can pinpoint the products that will work best for you. If that’s not your thing, one piece of advice is to find the things you like. For example, if you purchase something and you don’t enjoy using it, it will just sit in your medicine cabinet. Compliance (making sure people use the products properly) is a big issue in beauty, especially in skincare. And, use SPF every single day, not just the days you are off to the beach.

ON WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

A very wise friend in the beauty industry, Bari Seiden (VP, Global Corporate Communications at Estée Lauder), told me that we don’t balance, we pulse. And this makes perfect sense to me. So does taking the time to organize my thoughts, accepting that change is constant, and learning when to say no. Being in the magazine world, I work two to three months in advance, always thinking about the future and what’s next. In the real world, I try to be present in the moment—and put down my phone every once in a while!

– Originally published August 4, 2015. As told to Dawn Kissi for Charlotte’s Book. Read more #CharlotteTalksTo interviews. Photographed by Roderick Angle at the Hearst Tower in New York on July 17, 2015. Roderick is a fashion, portrait and lifestyle photographer and videographer. You can follow Roderick’s instagram feed, About Themselves, where he profiles interesting and creative individuals.

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Read the next article in this series: Learn how Amy Rosoff Davis became the ultimate celebrity fitness guru.

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