Pacific Northwest-based Terra Firma Cosmetics is known for its awesome organic ingredients and chemical-free beauty products, but we think it’s about to be known for its irreverent marketing as well.

A new product, the High Performance Natural Mascara, boasts that “this ain’t your mama’s natural mascara.” Unfortunately, my mama doesn’t use natural mascara because it’s a.) hard to find, and b.) usually a gummy, smudgy mess, but Terra Firma gets it right with its paraben- and silicone-free formula.

This flake-free mascara volumnizes as well as any other chemical-laden product but you can pronounce everything on the ingredient list. Not to mention each batch is made by hand and it costs less than the natural mascaras available at Sephora (one of the only other places we’ve seen carry them).

Plus it comes in a sapphire blue as well as black and black-brown so you can try out the colored lashes trend painlessly.

High Performance Natural Mascara, $12.99 at TerraFirmaCosmetics.com.

Carrie Bradshaw may be the world’s most famous (fictional) shoe maven, so it should come as no surprise that she’s rocking some ethical sandals by Swedish Hasbeens in the Sex and the City sequel, due out in theatres this summer.

In this photo from the set, Carrie (played by the ever-stylish Sarah Jessica Parker) sits with Miranda’s son Brady on a brownstone’s steps rocking the Super High Peep Toe sandal.

Swedish Hasbeens is known for its handcrafted quality and chrome-free designs made with sustainable wood and natural leather. And in spite of its 3.5 inch heel, this sandal is über-comfortable.

Says the shoe’s designer (who is understandably thrilled by the plug):

“This is the sign that modern women in the US have started to appreciate high-quality eco-fashion”, says Cilla Wingård Neuman CEO of Swedish Hasbeens. “The time has come to throw away those plastic high-heels that don’t last for your grandkids and just hurt your feet.”

Want a pair of your own before the movie comes out? You can pre-order them at the link below!

Swedish Hasbeens Super High Peep Toe Sandal in Natural, $219 at ShopRobertson.com.

We’ve been loyal fans of Gypsy 05’s comfortable wear-anywhere maxi dresses for going on two years, but now we have even more reason to love the brand: Its Los Angeles headquarters has just gone completely solar this month.

In a press release, the company’s CEO explains how Gypsy 05 is taking its commitment to eco-fashion a major step further:

“It’s been our goal to make a mark in the fashion world, without leaving a carbon footprint on the rest of the world,” said Gypsy ‘05 CEO Dotan Shoham. “We feel like we’re living the dream right now.”

Using nature as the inspiration behind each collection, Gypsy ’05 is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly fashion lines on the market today. Garments are created using organic and natural fabrics, organic soy softeners, low impact dyes, and an organic seaweed extract for printing.

“People feel very connected to our clothing, not only because it’s so easy to wear, but because of our efforts to protect the planet,” said Shoham. “Gypsy ’05 is about a lifestyle, and our customers relate to the philosophy behind the brand in addition to loving the look of our clothes.”

Amen to that! If a small business can make this much of an impact, imagine what could happen if bigger brands followed suit.

Holiday parties are prime excuses to break out the shimmery makeup and glowy moisturizers that feel too showy the rest of the time. These are the darkest days of the year — you need to emanate a little light!

And with so many new products that are making an effort to use fewer questionable chemicals and more organic ingredients, you can go green while prepping for your next holiday open house or happy hour.

E.S. presents our top picks for head-to-toe pampering from some of our favorite eco-brands.

Bathe Like A Green Queen

To get into the holiday spirit, the decadent Cleopatra’s Milk Bath by The Organic Pharmacy ($50.80) is perfect for ladies with romance on the brain. Soaking in a hot milk bath surrounded by floating rose petals is exactly how the glamorous queen would have melted away seasonal stress (if Ancient Egypt had had Christmas, we suppose). With sensual fragrances like rose, jasmine, and ylang ylang essential oils, this organic powdered milk bath gently exfoliates your skin with lactic acid and puts you in the mood for mistletoe.

Reinvigorate Your Roots

While you’re relaxing in the tub, Weleda’s Rosemary Hair Oil ($14) will work its magic on your tresses and scalp. Massage a bit of this fragrant organic oil into your scalp and roots, then let it sit for an hour to penetrate your hair. Shampoo out and you’re left with soft and shiny hair. Split ends? What split ends?

Your New Goat-To Face Cream

Let artisanal beauty company Chivas bring out your skin’s natural radiance with its Sweet Nothings Goat Milk Creme ($24). The founders of this company sent us a sample and we were instant converts to its organic herbal preparation that soothes even the driest skin. (We’re truly addicted to the fantastic scent!) Slather this on and allow the skin softeners to sink in before applying makeup for a glow from within. And the accompanying Sweet Nothings Vegan Lip Balm ($6) will get your lips kissably smooth without beeswax.

Sparkle Like A Sugar Plum

Chase off the winter blahs with a few spritzes of Tarte’s Celebutante Dry Oil Shimmer Spray ($28). Formulated without petrochemicals, parabens, synthetic dyes or fragrances, or any other of the bad stuff that needs to stay out of beauty products, this coconut-scented body oil with give your skin a touch of champagne shimmer that will make you look like you’ve spent the week in St. Tropez instead of in line at Target.

Beautiful Blowouts

For bombshell hair, Aveda’s Phomollient Styling Foam ($14) cannot be beat. Two or three pumps of this mousse made with certified organic honey, burdock, and marshmallow root is enough to infuse even tired hair with incredible volume and bounce. Apply before blowdrying and you’ll see that this is truly a miracle worker for fine hair.

Men and women with shorter hair will swear by Aveda’s Light Elements Defining Whip ($22) with certified organic lavender water and flax seed. This air-whipped wax gives texture and hold to cropped styles without addingde-voluminizing weight. And all of Aveda’s packaging is made from recycled plastic that can be recycled again once you’ve used up the last smidge of product.

Flawless Finish

The range of natural makeup offered by Everyday Minerals is enough to make your head spin, but if we have to play favorites, hands down it would be the mineral foundation in the Original Glo formula ($9.50). A hint of sparkle gives your skin a natural dewy freshness while imparting flawless coverage over uneven skin tone, all while veiling your face with natural sun protection of approximately SPF 15.

Rosy Cheeks

There’s no better way to get a snow bunny glow than by using Josie Maran’s Cream Blush in Sunrise ($22). With a baby-soft pink tint and organic shea butter and argan, pomegranate, and coconut oils on the ingredient list, this cream melts into skin and blends seamlessly to light up your face.

Perfect Pouts

Leave your mark on your man with Honeybee Gardens’s Truly Natural Lipstick in Caliente ($9.99). Packed with botanicals and lip hydrators, this firey red shade will make you the focal point of his attentions as the clock reaches for midnight on New Year’s Eve. Pucker up!

I had the pleasure of meeting Lynn Chorn, the founder of natural skincare company Malcolm’s Miracle, this summer at a convention. She is one of those people with a radiantly kind soul and I found myself pouring my heart out to her within minutes of meeting her. Not my typical MO when talking to new people, believe me.

She handed me a tube of her cruelty-free, hemp-oil based Anti-Aging Hand and Body Treatment as a parting gift and it’s turned into one of my favorite products. Even months later, it remains in heavy rotation in my beauty arsenal — not just because my husband loves the lavender smell of it, but also because it works serious magic on my parched skin when the Santa Ana winds are blowing. Best of all, it’s so light and nongreasy that I can go right back to typing on my laptop immediately after rubbing it in.

Lynn just emailed me over the weekend with a fantastic deal that I have to share with E.S. readers: To sample her hand-brewed wonder potion at a discount, enter code MM25FR6 at checkout to save 10 percent on your order. The coupon can be used once per customer and is valid on everything on the site (serums, moisturizers, and cleansers included!).

Anti-Aging Hand and Body Treatment, $20 at MalcolmsMiracle.com.

If you’ve ever thru-hiked or gone through a hippie phase, you’ve likely come across Dr. Bronner’s all-in-one Magic Soaps. These fragrant liquid cleansers boast 18 uses, from shampoo to mouthwash to dishwashing detergent to shaving foam. And it’s aggressively earthy, made from organic and biodegradable ingredients in a recycled plastic bottle.

Now Dr. Bronner has gone fair trade as well, as we discovered via bookmark at a natural-goods store this past weekend. We scanned in the proof above, and because it wouldn’t be Dr. Bronner’s without a ton of fine print about the company’s earnest ideals, the back of the bookmark contained the following pledge:

In implementing the Fair Trade program, we will do the following: First, we will purchase our materials from farmer co-ops or associations which provide collective power and are good partners in implementing community development programs. Such direct and long-term relationships between growers and buyers are a key element of Fair Trade for lasting effect. Then, we will guarantee small farmers a floor price, which covers cost of production and a decent return, even when market prices crash, with an organic premium paid on top. Pricing is transparent to farmers, payments will be on time and credit offered on fair terms. We will make sure that fair wages are paid, the rules of the International Labor Organization on worker representation and work hours are followed, and physical working conditions are more comfortable. Finally, we will pay an extra Fair Trade premium, 10% of the price of materials and labor, into a fund for local development projects such as: education, day care and health care programs; sanitation improvement; organic fertilizer provisions to small growers; and funding for small businesses.

P.S.: If it’s been a while since you’ve bought Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, it comes in Lavender, Eucalyptus, Rose, Almond, Citrus, Tea Tree, and Baby Mild scents now, in addition to the classic Peppermint. Read up more about the formulations here!

Elique Organic Skin Food is a skin-care brand based in Los Angeles that relies on fresh organic ingredients from the farmers’ market in its formulations. So fresh, in fact, that the company recommends storing some of the goods in the fridge!

We just had to try them out, so we ordered a jar of Cake ($20), Elique’s cleanser for congested and dull skin (and it also doubles as a restorative mask). Made with certified organic almond meal to exfoliate, honey to moisturize, and apple cider vinegar to tone, this thick concoction goes on sticky but left us glowing in a spent-the-day-at-the-spa way. We’re also pretty sure you can eat it, but with the strong vinegar, you might not want to.

Our order also came with two generous samples of Whipped ($20), the company’s best-selling body moisturizer. Featuring a safflower and avocado oil base, locally harvested beeswax, and lavender essential water, by some magic it smells faintly of oatmeal cookies. (We’re not sure why either.) But we can’t dispute how well it works: Our skin drank it right up.

Other products in the enigmatically named lineup include Taut ($35, an antioxidant serum for eyes), Mane ($18, a scalp treatment and split-ends repair), and Spirit ($34, a brown sugar body scrub). Everything is mixed by hand and subject to ingredient availability, but if you’re interested in supporting a small business that puts everything it has into its products instead of its packaging, give Elique a whirl.

If you’re in the Los Angeles area this week, you probably have agua on the brain. (If you’re not, consider yourself lucky — it’s scorching out!)

There’s been speculation about the possibility of drought in Los Angeles for several years now, so three L.A. organizations have stepped up to raise public awareness of such critical water issues around the globe.

Green Eyed Monster, the makers of some seriously cute reusable totes, has created a limited edition Earth Day 2009 cotton bag that will benefit Tree People, an environmental nonprofit group. Through Sunday, the $25 bags are being sold at Melrose Avenue boutique Beckley, and 40 percent of the sales have been pledged to Tree People.

Not anywhere near L.A.? You can also purchase the bags online here. 

Beckley, 8620 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, Calif. (310) 652-3500.

File this under brilliant business ideas that should be spread across the world: No Wire Hangers has opened its doors to help you declutter your closet and make a difference in the world.

Professional organizers come into your home and help you sort your wardrobe into five piles: Donate, Sell, Keep, Fix, or Recycle. Pretty self-explanatory. They then use their connections to help you figure out how to make the most of what you’re keeping and find good homes for the rest.

They also provide advice about how to reduce junk mail, incorporate recycled products into your daily routine, and sign up for green power if that’s your thing.

Their services are currently available to Los Angeles customers only, but if anyone is looking for a good business opportunity, this has easy franchise potential! For more information, contact Julie Naylon at julie@nowirehangersbiz.com.

Last night we were lucky enough to walk the green carpet at Green Girls’ Night Out in Los Angeles, sponsored by EcoStiletto.com and retailer Intuition. It was a joyful, lively atmosphere packed with hundreds of very chic women browsing the racks, talking to green activists (including some very enterprising teens), and bopping to the music by DJ Ref and his solar-powered turntable.

Attendees brought gently worn shoes by the truckload for a massive donation to Dress for Success, the charity that helps low-income women put together fabulous outfits for the office.

Since most of you couldn’t attend, we thought we’d share links to some of the awesome projects and eco-businesses represented:

• Ally Maize, the teenage founder of the Green Youth Movement, spoke with us regarding her charity’s work to educate elementary schoolchildren about the environment and encourage them to make a doable pledge to save the earth.
• Teens for Safe Cosmetics were on hand with tubes of lipgloss and a canvas petition that you could sign with your lips to ban the use of lead in lipstick.
• GreenWorks, the new eco-division of Clorox, handed out free tubes of their bleach-free cleaning wipes.
• We were wooed by Meri Yardley, the co-owner of Terra Firma Cosmetics, who hooked us up with her company’s mineral lip stain, all-natural moisturizer, orange cleanser, and shimmering gel body bronzer. More about those products once we give them a whirl!