If you engage with beauty content on social media, you've had to have seen Merit Beauty. Their easy to use products and stong brand morals are ones that shine in the market, making it an appealing brand for many makeup users. Their light brown signature bag, minimalist packaging, and the one staple product per category are branding that you can't forget. Merit Beauty is a dream come true for makeup minimalists. Earlier this year we sat down with Aila Morin (Merit's CMO), to ask her more about what goes on when building a brand like Merit. Unlike other makeup companies, Merit doesn't have many launches or crazy social media campaigns. Instead, they believe that less is more. We had the opportunity to try some of their products and share what we think, and spoiler alert... we love it!
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As women in our 20's and 30's, we've been heavily focused on clean-ifying our lives in all aspects: diet, skincare, makeup, clothing, and Merit was unquestionable when we saw their formulations and mission. For people who are not "makeup users", their line of products is perfection. Their products are straight forward, simple to use, and can even be applied with fingers instead of a brush or beauty blender. The overall goal of the brand is to simplify the world of beauty, and make it more efficient to get ready. The products allow for those who do not wear makeup to obtain a subtle glow, while keeping the skin hydrated. Their products also cater towards those who are more experienced with makeup as well. Their products are a great base layer, and work with products from different companies very well.
The Flush Balm in shades Beverly Hills and Stockholm are staples in Sheenu and Jasmine's everyday makeup look. The product provides the perfect sun kissed look, that is impossible to overdo due to how buildable and bendable it is. As a result of this, Jasmine likes to use this product as a base for an evening look, and then add a powder blush on top to intensify the look.
Another common favorite amongst our co-founders is the Signature Lip. Coming as both a stain and a matte, this product offers many different finishes making it a versatile staple to add to your collection. Maison and Classic are two shades they love.
"A little goes a long way with this lipstick, and the color lasts all day long". — Jasmine
Bronzer and a highlighter are staples in the makeup bag. Sheenu loves the Day Glow Highlighter, so much to the point where she gifted her Mom one. The shade Bounce provides the perfect glow and is a key product to achieving the no-makeup makeup look. The Bronze Balm is another product that perfectly captures the no-makeup makeup look. The product blends into the skin very well, and once you set the product with a setting powder, nobody will be able to guess that you have a bronzer on.
BTW! Check out Jasmine's 5 minute, easy makeup routine!
MERIT Beauty offers a wide range of products that are able to be worn on their own to create a simplistic look, or paired all together to provide a subtle yet glowy glam look. Products such as their the Great Skin Moisturizer, and The Minimalist are great base products to keep your skin hydrated, and healthy due to the PH-Balancing ingredients included in the products. If you want to add a subtle color and highlight to your skin looking at products such as the Flush Balm, and the Day Glow are easy to apply and buildable meaning that you can layer other products on top to achieve a bolder glam look. Adding the Bronze Balm on top further adds to the glowy apperance and subtly enhances the look.
Despite there being a small range of eye and eyebrow products to choose from, the products are guaranteed to help complete any makeup look you are trying to achieve. Merit Beauty offers two different types of eyebrow products. Both products coming in a shade range including four different colors going from taupe being the lightest, to brown-black being the darkest. One of these products comes as a gel pencil including a brush on the other end, and the other being a gel coming in a tube similar to mascara. To pair with that, their eyeshadow comes in a range of neutrals and four statement colors. The Solo Shadow is a buildable product, meaning it can be paired with another eye shadow in your collection, or you can leave it on its own, as it has a matte finish.
Aside from carrying face and eye products, Merit's line also contains serums, perfume and lip products. One common denominator with all Merit products is that they will last all day long, no matter what product it is. The Retrospect Perfume is one of those products. Starting off as a fresh clean scent, it evolves into florals and then settles into a warm vanilla musk. And as for their lip products, the Shade Slick provides an all day tint in a wide range of reds, pinks and nudes, and the Signature Lip Liner adds the perfect subtle outline to your lips. To top it off, the Great Skin Instant Glow Serum provides a hydrated, glowy look which can be worn on its own or used as a base for the rest of your Merit products.
