Watching a pot of La Mer skin moisturizer end up in the unsympathetic, post-liquid-ban hands of TSA agents just before a trip through the desert climate of North Africa could easily constitute a cosmetics calamity of the highest degree. But for San Francisco native Katharine L’Heureux, it may have been the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

“We were in the desert and my skin was so dry, and I asked [someone], ‘What do the locals do,’” recalls L’Heureux of her first La Mer-less days in Morocco.

She was promptly introduced to anti-oxidant rich argan oil, the oil of argan trees known to thrive only in the UNESCO-protected argan forests of southwestern Morocco. Adding to the intrigue, the tedious task of extracting argan oil is the traditional work of North Africa’s Berber women, the vast majority of whom would have no viable means of financial or social independence without the argan cooperatives that employ them. What’s more, the stuff worked – really worked.

Soon L’Heureux was working with a Canadian chemist to develop a skin care line based on argan oil. The result: Kahina Giving Beauty, an organic line of skin care products ($32-$72) using argan oil L’Heureux sources herself during frequent visits to the Berber women’s cooperatives of Morocco.

Lest you think this is another skin care line whose effects only venture skin deep, take in the fact that Kahina donates a hefty 25 percent of its profits to education and women’s rights programs benefitting the Berber women working in the argan cooperatives used by the company.

Launched earlier this year, Kahina recently released its latest product, an eye serum made of argan oil, betaine and collagen-boosting peptides.

Want to try it for yourself? For the time being, Kahina Giving Beauty is available in Ssan Francisco exclusively at International Orange.