By Rachel Thomson
Meri Cain didn’t always foresee herself as the proprietress of a successful makeup company. The former South Bend School District employee and mother of three, like many women, was a regular consumer of beauty products. She enjoyed looking at new products on the shelf and experimenting with new colors, seeing what looked good.
One night she saw a commercial advertising a mineral makeup kit that claimed to improve skin while enhancing beauty. She was mesmerized by what the commercial promised. But when the product arrived, it was anything but beautiful.
“When I ordered the kit I was excited, but then I tried it on and it didn’t look like what was on TV,” Cain said. “It highlighted imperfections and made my jaw itch.”
She looked at the ingredients listed on the label and found out many of them were skin irritants. She used the internet to look up ingredients in other brands of makeup and was shocked by what she found. Many contained chemicals that could harm the skin. She said some even contained lead.
Rather than stop wearing makeup all together, she saw this as an opportunity. She decided to make a mineral foundation without any harmful ingredients. She studied ingredients found in various brands of makeup and began ordering all-natural raw materials that could be used in makeup. She ground up some of the materials in a coffee grinder and experimented with various amounts and combinations until she was satisfied she came up with a recipe for the mineral foundation that was safe for her skin.
Cain says the homemade foundation worked better than anything else she had tried from a commercial makeup counter.
“My skin started cleaning up,” she said. “The more I wore it, the better my skin got.”
She was so happy with her homemade product she decided to continue making her homemade cosmetics. She turned her Raymond home into a chemistry lab of sorts, churning out different products like eye shadow, lipsticks and skin products.
Soon friends and family members began to notice her products and would compliment her on how beautiful she looked. She says they would try her makeup and become so impressed with the results they would recommend it to their friends.
Cain realized there was a demand for her products so she began selling them door-to-door out of a tackle box from a hardware store.
She said approaching complete strangers and trying to give them a makeover was difficult at first.
“It’s hard to sell yourself sometimes,” Cain said. “But if I could get makeup on the client they would want it.”
Her efforts were successful enough she opened up a small boutique, Terra Firma Cosmetics, in Pacific County. As word spread from her customers about her makeup, stores in Grays Harbor County began selling it. Then, a chance encounter propelled the company to national fame.
“A woman traveling in Raymond stopped by the shop to pick up some product for a gift,” Cain said. “She was an editor for a magazine in New York.”
After some exposure in the magazine in New York, Cain began receiving orders from up and down the east coast, Los Angeles, across the United States and from all over the world. Cain said her products have been used by Hollywood makeup artists and has also been used by Ed Begely, Jr.’s wife.
After a successful run in Grays Harbor County, Cain moved the Terra Firma store last April to its current location in downtown Olympia. The company celebrated its tenth anniversary last month.
Cain has continued her practice of using natural materials in all of her products. She is often found in the back room of the store mixing up beauty products like a mad scientist.
“I am always on the lookout for the latest trends in makeup,” Cain said. “I’m always back there, mixing materials. But I don’t release anything unless I know it’s a good product.”
She says one of her scientific concoctions that has become a best seller is a line of powdered foundation in which she added liquid to the minerals. When the liquid was removed, the minerals remained. Other popular products in her store include cleansers, moisturizers, masks, lip conditioners and the “make your own eye shadow” station in the store in which customers can blend their own custom color eye makeup. And her products aren’t exclusively for women. Terra Firma also makes a line of men’s products including aftershave.
Cain says becoming an entrepreneur in the beauty industry has brought out the artist in her. She says one of her favorite things to do is sit a customer in front of the large vanity mirror in the store and give them a makeover.
“I’ve learned about color, and looking at someone and knowing what colors will look best on them,” Cain said. “I get to be as creative as I want and who doesn’t love being able to create? I love putting makeup on people.”
Terra Firma Cosmetics
202 5th Ave in Olympia
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Saturdays
Phone: (360) 489-1498
More information on Terra Firma cosmetics can also be found on their website or their Facebook page.
Terra Firma also has a newsletter customers can sign up to receive information about products, special offers and events.
