A few weeks ago at EcoStiletto’s annual Green Girls Night Out, I encountered Meri Yardley, the charming co-owner of Terra Firma Cosmetics and a true believer in the power of green beauty. In a crowd of hundreds of frenzied shoppers, I was drawn to her warm personality and quiet fervor for developing products that weren’t just natural but also effective.

Terra Firma Cosmetics uses principally organic and natural ingredients in its skincare and color cosmetics. (M.J. Prest/EthicalStyle.com)

Meri founded Terra Firma with her sister Dori Patrick in 2004. They handle all manufacturing and marketing for the small business themselves out of their Raymond, Wash., boutique. With her blonde ringlets and calm eyes, Meri bears the appearance of an earth mother, but she has a chemist’s understanding of what goes into conventional beauty products.

She told me about having to keep an eye on suppliers, who often change their formulas without warning. She said she recently switched to producing her own aloe vera after realizing the brand she was using had introduced a slew of toxins — aloe, she told me, requires a lot of preservatives to keep it fresh and free of bacterial growth. Meri says Terra Firma makes sure its products have a lengthy shelf life but wants to do so without compromising its commitment to eschew toxic chemicals.

To that end, she strategically uses essential oils to keep her products stable. Terra Firma’s skincare products have a shelf life of one to two years, and the line’s makeup can last up to four years. 

After asking me a few questions about my skin, Meri matched me up with a few products. I live in a dry climate and spend a lot of time in the sun, so the first potion Meri recommended was the NutriSkin Daily Moisture Complex ($15.99), a concoction of serious plant-based moisturizers and vitamins.

Packed with organic aloe, coconut oil, and vegetable glycerin, the gingery-scented lotion is built to hydrate and nourish with antioxidant-rich blueberry and cranberry extracts. It comes in a vacuum pump, keeping germ-laden fingers from contaminating the product. The formula is based on mostly organic ingredients and avoids the use of parabens.

Best of all, it works. The ingredients draw moisture from the air, giving your skin an inner glow and touchable softness. Formulated for all skin types, it makes an excellent after-sun lotion or for any time your skin is parched and in need of a long drink of moisture.

To add some color to my washed-out lips, Meri handed me a tube of fan favorite Longevity Lip Stain in Vineyard ($14.99).

Vineyard is a daring color on someone pale, but a woman with darker skin could rock this plum-ruby lip color that lasts for hours without reapplication. The formulation wears like iron and comes in an array of rich colors, from the pale pink Bella to the toasty Hazelnut. The microshimmer gives a subtle glow and, like most of the company’s products, it is 88 percent organic and paraben free. 

Finally, to enhance my ill-gotten tan from a recent day at the beach, Meri also gave me a bottle of her Gel Mineral Bronzer ($29.99), the company’s “liquid sunshine.”

The product is a natural version of makeup artist Scott Barnes’s discontinued Body Bling, the cult bronzer popularized by Jennifer Lopez and her famous golden glow. A rich chocolate color shot through with gold shimmer, the gel bronzer is easy to spread over arms and legs for a sexy gleam. And unlike self-tanner, it washes off easily. It can be used on your face as well, but it truly shines as a body highlighter.

Beauty mavens interested in sampling the line can order a Starter Kit ($39.99), loaded with full-size samples of color and skincare products. The company is also currently offering color kits based on characters from the Twilight movie franchise.