Makeup Guru Dineh Mohajer Spills Her Best Beauty (and Business) Secrets
In 1995, Dineh Mohajer, then a 22-year-old pre-med student, mixed up a batch of baby-blue nail polish in her bathroom on a whim. Two years later, her company, Hard Candy, sold $10 million worth of that same polish. Mohajer’s cool, slightly offbeat sensibilities inspired what later became a sort of revolution within the color cosmetics industry—beauty finally got a much-deserved chance to be a little weird.
Two decades later, Mohajer is back with Smith & Cult, a crazy-popular nail polish collection that’s also expanded into a range of equally covetable lip lacquers. The line is rife with Mohajer’s signature punk touch: Vibrant, off-the-wall colors meet tongue-in-cheek humor and sneaky pop culture references in a way you’ll totally recognize if you were a Hard Candy devotee back in the ’90s.
Mohajer is one of the most influential creative forces in beauty, so of course we wanted to grill her on her favorite products, the foods she’d kill for (well, kind of), and the thing she loves most about her job.
The first thing I do in the morning is:
“I dream of being the kind of on-top-of-it person who wakes up each morning at 5 a.m. and does yoga, eats an organic/high-protein/veggie-rich breakfast, and is showered and lathered up in antiaging-everything creams before 8 a.m. Truthfully, I often work through the night or at least until the wee hours of the morning. By now, my system has fully acclimated to the night owl/workaholic/vampire lifestyle. The start of my day usually includes some type of work-related deadline, hitting the snooze button an average of six times, and dragging myself out of bed before the first creative call of the day.”
My everyday skin care routine includes:
“I’ve tried a ton of products out there, but I find I get the best results when I consistently follow a specific skin care regimen. In the a.m., I use La Prairie Essential Exfoliator, Kate Somerville Purify Clarifying Cleanser, four or five drops of SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic, and SkinMedica’s TNS Essential Serum, Dermal Repair Cream and Illuminating Eye Cream. Then, I apply VI Derm Bleaching Cream Rx, which has 4 percent hydroquinone and La Roche-Posay Anthelios tinted crème with SPF. At night, I trade out the SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic for a blend of three retinoids and 15 percent vitamin C cream from Mickey Fine. This magical-potion arsenal helps me fight the war against aging—daily.”
My go-to five-minute beauty routine includes:
“Sticking to products that make me look polished without trying too hard. I start with Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer to hide any blemishes/dark circles/questionable habits. Next, I apply a bit of By Terry Tea to Tan to feign a sun-kissed glow. A quick swipe of NARS Eyeliner Pencil in Mambo does it for the eyes. Finally, I always apply Serge Lutens Beauté Lip Pencil, which is so universally flattering that it’s the only lip pencil shade he offers. It’s literally like you’re not wearing anything on your lips, but they just look better somehow. When I want to go glossy, there is nothing more feminine than a swipe of sheer lip lacquer. Smith & Cult The Shining Lip Lacquer in Flesh Riot is a muted rosette with golden velvety shimmer. It helps create the illusion of a fuller lip and completes my quick, glowy look.”
My favorite cocktail is:
“For some reason, alcohol induces panic attacks for me (kind of a real bummer), so I don’t really drink! So my favorite ‘cocktail’ would be either a smoothie from Earth Bar, my favorite organic place in L.A., or some kind of bar-concocted lemony-cucumber-y, muddled-minty, lightly sweetened seltzer. A little Xanax can go a long way too (joking … halfway).”
My death-row meal would be:
“Salt. Carbs. Cheese. Fried. Probably pasta. At that point, what would I have to lose? Definitely would go out with a bang/heart attack/clogged-artery feast. Preferably Dan Tana’s or E. Baldi (not likely to be found in any penitentiary—although I think they call that meal in).”
My favorite way to work out is:
“This amazing trainer, Natalie Yco, teaches a cardio kickboxing class followed by her signature ‘booty’ class at Equinox in Santa Monica. I’m extremely distracted by her old-school hip-hop DJ skills and her fast moves—it’s the best torture ever.”
I keep my hair healthy by:
“Oribe has the best-performing products I’ve ever tried, plus they smell better than most perfumes. The travel-size Dry Texturizing Spray has a permanent home in my handbag, and the Supershine Light Moisturizing Cream saves me from looking disheveled.”
My weirdest beauty secret is:
“People are always weirded out to discover that I rarely wear nail polish even though my entire career, and life really, revolves around it. On the rare occasions I do have my nails done, my go-to hue is Smith & Cult Nailed Lacquer in Stockholm Syndrome, an opaque elephant gray.”
My favorite lip color is:
“I love how lip color can be instantly transformative. Smith & Cult The Shining Lip Lacquer in The Queen Is Dead is a sheer aubergine with velvety shimmer. It creates a dramatic yet soft and sheer oxblood-stained lip. I also love sticking to the classics when it comes to lip hues—a pop of cardinal red à la The Shining Lip Lacquer in The Warning never fails to brighten the complexion while channeling slightly delusional ghosts of starlets past.”
My must-have beauty products are:
“A brand called Everyone makes a hand sanitizer spray that has become a neurotic essential satisfying my OCD-ish desires while smelling like a combination of vanilla cake and a tropical vacation. I get mine from Whole Foods.”
My favorite thing about my job is:
“Although my career is all-consuming, and I gave up the notion of a full night’s sleep ages ago, there is nothing else I would ever want to do. It’s what I am most passionate about, and I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to create formulas that make people feel more beautiful and cosmetic branding that is uniquely expressive.”
The best beauty tip I’ve ever received is:
“A friend who had a breast reduction by a famous physician told me that her surgeon once said that every woman should wear a bra to sleep. By chance, I happened to have always done so. However, the actual best beauty tip I ever received is quite simple: Be confident, authentic, and beautiful on the inside. I am still working on that one every day, but when I have used it in the past I felt better about everything in general—including my ass.”
My favorite Instagram accounts to follow are:
“I can’t get enough of @thefatjewish, @fuckjerry, and @ideasbookltd. Also, I’m a bit partial to @smithandcult.”
MORE: The Best Nail Polish Colors for Fall 2015—Straight from Top Manicurists
