by Stephanie Christopher
Herbalist Sarah Buscho is the Founder and President of Bay Area organic skincare cosmetics company, Earth Tu Face. She shares in the management of Earth Tu Face with Karen Bell and Madeline Garfolo. Sarah lives in Tiburon with her son Zane (3).
Earth Tu Face is a skincare line that uses pure, plant-based ingredients that are free from synthetic compounds commonly found in cosmetics. Organic, wild crafted and plant-based, this skincare line serves as an alternative for anyone dealing with sensitive skin, allergies, or an inability to tolerate artificial ingredients.
"When compared to chemically-based cosmetic products, our customers rave about how our naturally-based products help them with their sensitive skin," Ms. Buscho says. "The benefits of our natural ingredients help to reduce redness, lessen chronic irritations, and speed healing."
Sustainability is a big focus for the company. Ingredients are chosen for their healthy plant populations, keeping the environment top of mind.
"We hand harvest, dry, and powder our garden-grown flowers to impart their benefits in our naturally sourced ingredients," she says.
Earth Tu Face’s team has deep connections to Marin and the Bay Area. Sarah oversees the San Rafael organic gardens and Karen their apothecary in Concord, California. We started the business in 2010. I was using the garden space to grow a variety of medicinal plants prior to focusing on flowers for our facial masks. We make a delicious honey mask and a bentonite clay mask. Both include San Rafael grown flowers. We moved our apothecary from Oakland to Concord in 2018.
The team advocates for transparency in cosmetic and skin care products, an issue the beauty industry is seeing growing awareness from consumers.
The company focuses on product cultivation practices that tread lightly on the earth.
“Earth Tu Face was born out of a desire to create a direct connection to nature, by drawing inspiration from the healing power of nature’s own botanicals. As a team, we agree if people love nature then naturally, people also want to protect it. Nature is our muse and inspiration.”
This idea extends into their commitment to zero waste packaging, organic ingredients, regenerative farming practices, and sourcing only ethically produced plants.
“We avoid monocrops, endangered plants, plants that cause environmental harms and we are also proud to be 100% “palm-free.” Our highly nutritive organic formulas are created and tested only on people (ourselves!) and we never test on animals.”
Raw materials are sourced from responsible producers whenever possible. The team seeks out farmers who adhere to the same nature-loving cultivation practices.
“We give back to environmental causes that are essential to the community. As a company concerned with producing high quality, slow crafted products, utilizing sustainable ingredients and packaging—we also avoid following the trendiness of other cosmetic companies. Hence, we instead choose to lead: inspiring beauty, sustainability, and authenticity in our business practices.”
Earth Tu Face "rescue Recipe" for a Great at-home-spa-care experience:
Self-care can help build resilience in day-to-day life, and prepare us for the road ahead. As parents, we especially need the infusion of joy that renewing self-care provides.
For a perfect anytime at-home-spa experience, we highly recommend our Earth Tu Face Honey Mask imbued with calendula, roses and lavender from our garden, our Face Balm to help with skin hydration, and also our healing salve Skin Stick for an anywhere, anytime boost!
Earth Tu Face offers 25% off to all SMMC members, use discount code SMMC25 at check out.
For more info and to order go to
earthtuface.com. Questions? Email Sarah at
sarah@earthtuface.com.