Credit:
Reviewed / Liv Birdsall / Merit Beauty
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The concept of “no-makeup makeup” is no longer new, yet we continue to see brands pop up claiming to have cracked the code for natural-looking, beauty-enhancing cosmetics. Founded in 2021, Merit Beauty is still a newcomer to this “minimalist beauty” approach, but it’s already received plenty of online praise. I decided to put the Sephora-sold brand to the test, and I can vouch for the magic its products bring to a beauty routine.
What is Merit?
I tried Merit's bestsellers, including complexion, eye, and lip products.
Focusing on minimalism and sophisticated simplicity, Merit offers a selection of makeup products that you can buy directly from the brand or at your nearest Sephora. The brand’s approach reflects a "less is more" philosophy, and its social media accounts show makeup enhancing the beauty of people of all ages. Merit also emphasizes its status as a “Clean at Sephora” brand, meaning its products are formulated without controversial ingredients such as parabens, sulfates, and mineral oils.
I tested most of Merit's bestselling essentials, which include a concealer-foundation stick, cream bronzer, mascara, brow gel, lipstick, and lip oil. Ahead, you’ll find my thoughts on everything I tried, beginning with my favorites.
1. The Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Stick
What it claims: This cream complexion stick is marketed as a concealer and all-over foundation. It claims to provide light-to-medium coverage that lasts all day. The formula includes sea daffodil extract, which Merit claims will diminish dark spots. The Minimalist is available in 20 shades, ranging from very light to deep with neutral, warm, and cool undertones.
What it’s like to use: I didn’t have strong expectations for The Minimalist, but it impressed me. The color in the tube looks too light for my skin tone, but it blends well and brightens up my complexion without making me appear ghostly. I apply the cream as a concealer below my eyes and on top of my dark spots, and I use it all over my face as a lightweight foundation. The coverage fades throughout the day, but I’m confident I could reapply the cream after several hours of wear or experiment with different types of applications to prevent the fading.
Other notes: I tried Merit’s No. 1 Brush and a Beauty Blender to apply this and both worked well to blend the product evenly. I also like this product’s simple packaging that consists of a tall tube with a rotating base to twist the cream stick up.
2. Brow 1980 Volumizing Pomade
What it claims: Merit’s brow pomade contains mica for opacity, vitamin B5 to increase flexibility, carnauba wax to thicken and enhance shine, and kaolin clay to thicken brows. It claims to be volumizing, conditioning, and provide a flexible hold. It’s also supposed to strengthen hairs and create a defined brow with natural-looking color. It’s available in three hues: blonde, brown, and black.
What it’s like to use: In my pursuit of thicker-looking eyebrows, I’ve tried a few tinted pomades that were too liquidy and sloppy, but Merit nailed the formula with Brow 1980. The pomade is lightweight and the “Soft Black” shade matches my natural brows well. The result is thicker eyebrows that look natural and last all day—even through my workouts—without feeling glued down. I can’t say I’ve noticed any significant conditioning or strengthening of my brow hairs, but this is the best brow product I’ve tried. That said, if the viral soap brows are your preference, this might not have enough hold in comparison.
3. Bronze Balm Sheer Bronzer
What it claims: Merit’s bronzer claims to be blendable, lightweight, and sheer. The formula relies on “microfine pigment” to add dimension and color and fatty acids to moisturize and condition your skin. The brand says the product can be used for contouring, sculpting, and bronzing and that the formula is “impossible to mess up.” The brand recommends blending with a brush or your fingers.
What it’s like to use: This bronzer stick is easy to use and makes adding sun-kissed color to my skin less intimidating. My favorite thing about the formula is how creamy it is; it’s easy to swipe on and super blendable, so I don’t need to worry about applying too much. The color “Seine” works well with my skin tone as a bronzer, too. And while I love this formula, I don’t find it as sheer and dewy-looking as the product photos appear—its finish looked more matte in person.
4. Clean Lash Lengthening Mascara
What it claims: Merit’s only mascara is a tubing formula, which means it wraps around each individual lash to provide more definition. The mascara also claims to give a feathery look and resist smudging. With fatty acids for conditioning and vitamin B5 for shine, the formula claims to be smooth, buildable, and easy to remove. It’s available in a single shade called “Perfect Black.”
What it’s like to use: This mascara is a knockout: It’s easy to swipe on my lashes, doesn’t smudge with normal wear, and makes my eyelashes appear longer and thicker. I wouldn’t have known about the tubing aspect based on my experience wearing the product, but it’s a solid mascara that I enjoy wearing day to day. I need an oil cleanser to remove it from my lashes, but I see this as a plus because it means it stays on until I’m ready to remove it.
5. Signature Lip Lightweight Lipstick
What it claims: This bullet lipstick claims to be hydrating, buildable, lightweight, and long-lasting. The formula aims to moisturize with plant-derived squalane and sunflower seed oil, soothe lips with papaya enzymes, and reduce the look of fine lines and signs of aging on the lips with vitamin C. You can find this satin-finish lipstick in nine shades, from a classic pink to a bright red.
What it’s like to use: I love this lipstick. It feels lightweight and comfortable on my lips, stays opaque throughout the course of a cocktail evening, and washes off without staining my lips. One swipe of the color is enough to coat my lips, but I like to add another two or three passes to thicken the product, which also leaves my lips feeling more moisturized, too. I tried the shade “Aperitif,” which is now my go-to red lipstick.
6. Great Skin Instant Glow Serum
What it claims: This serum is a skincare-makeup hybrid. Glow Serum claims to give skin a healthy glow and dewy finish. The formula uses hyaluronic acid to hydrate skin, cacao seed to plump, antioxidants from Japanese goldthread root to soothe and protect, and niacinamide to brighten skin. The serum claims to “support a healthy skin barrier” with continued use. You can use it on its own or before makeup.
What it’s like to use: I like how the serum leaves my skin feeling smooth. However, spraying the liquid into my hand was more of an inconsistent splatter that ended up wasting some product and running down my arm. The formula is much more watery than I’m used to in a serum formula and the application detracted from my experience using it, but it gives skin a healthy glow, as it claims to.
7. Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil
What it claims: Merit’s Tinted Lip Oils claim to be hydrating and smoothing with ingredients like rosehip oil, omega fatty acids, shea butter, and jojoba oil. The oils are fragrance-free and offer a high-shine finish. You can shop the Classics for more color opacity or the Gelées for a sheerer finish.
What it’s like to use: I tested Shade Slick in the Classics shade “Pink Beet.” I was hoping for more of a pop of pink, but the feel and wear of the lip oil make this great, color aside. That said, the oil feels more like a gloss to me with its shiny finish and I wouldn’t describe it as having a buildable formula because layering it on causes the oil to feel sticky and slippery. I’d like to try a darker shade of this to see if it’ll stain my lips more and provide the color I want but in a thin layer.
8. Flush Balm Cheek Color
What it claims: Flush Balm is a multi-use cream stick that can be used as a cheek and eye color. It claims to have a light, buildable formula that uses microfine particles to add color to the skin. The product has vitamin E to condition skin and octyldodecanol for an even application.
What it’s like to use: Merit’s Flush Balm is reliable and easy to blend. It’s only at the bottom of the list because I enjoyed the brand’s other offerings even more. I like the consistency of the formula and how it blends—it adds a glowy flush to the skin without looking cakey. The shade “Fox” is a little too dark as a blush shade on my skin tone, at least for my preferences, but I liked playing with the formula and using it to add color to my eyelids. The small, dome-shaped packaging was also ultra-convenient for use on the go.
Should you try Merit’s products?
Merit offers simplistic beauty products for a minimalistic routine.
Merit offers easy-to-use products that seamlessly blend together and complement each other. I appreciate that Merit’s products hydrate, never irritate, and provide lightweight coverage that amounts to an effortless look that enhances beauty instead of making you look like someone else. Plus, Merit worked equally well with my other favorite makeup products from brands like Tower 28 and Glossier. Also, all of Merit’s products cost less than $40, which I consider semi-affordable, when compared to other Sephora-sold brands. If it’s in your budget, I think Merit is worthy of a spot in your beauty routine.
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