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When Merit Beauty has its once-a-year sale, you can hear a pin drop in the Vogue offices. Where are our editors, you ask? Dutifully adding items from the Merit Black Friday sale to cart—and you’re cordially invited to join us this year. The 2024 sale is slated for November 25 through December 2, when almost every product sitewide will be 20% off. But because Merit products are among our favorite beauty gifts to give, we’ve arranged a little present just for you: a day to shop early! By using the code EAVOGUE on November 24, Vogue readers can get a headstart on scoring Merit deals.
Wondering what to buy? Scroll through the Vogue beauty archives, and love letters to our favorite Merit products are posted everywhere. From a glowing review of its first-ever skin-care product—aptly called the Glow Serum—to an ode to the Minimalist complexion perfector, and from the must-have blush for a “strawberry-girl” flush to the new perfume that puts a modern spin on vintage notes, every product in Merit’s collection has a loyalist (and a constant restocker) on Vogue’s beauty team.
Vogue’s Top Merit Black Friday Sale Picks:
Celebrities also swear by the clean, famously foolproof line of skincare, makeup, and brushes. Anna Sawai stands by its Flush Blush; Lola Tung uses its cult-loved concealer, and the nation’s domestic goddess-in-chief is a fan of the whole collection. Impossibly dewy at 83, Martha Stewart recently took to Instagram to share an all-Merit-beauty routine that gives off just the glow for the season of fetes. (The five-minute regime is, she declared: “easier than making a pot of soup.”)
Ahead, find Vogue’s top picks for the must-have products from the sale, ranging from Stewart’s go-to serum to festive gift sets, a miraculously approachable red lipstick, and more.
Five-Minute Morning
- Why We Love It: For those with harried weekday mornings, the gift of a five-minute, flawless makeup routine is tough to beat. Merit’s streamlined set offers key tools for achieving an everyday beauty look in minutes flat. In less time than it takes to brew a pot of coffee, your eyes can be defined with a volumizing brow gel and a lengthening mascara; your lips can be tinted with a glossy wash of color, and your cheeks can radiate a healthy glow that suggests you’ve just returned from a leisurely stroll in the sun. (Monday morning chaos? Certainly not you.)
- What’s Included: The seven-piece set holds the items that make up Merit’s core collection, including The Minimalist, Flush Balm, Shade Slick, Brush No. 1, Day Glow highlighter, Clean Lash Mascara, and the Brow 1980 pomade.
- How to Use: Perfect a mere-minutes makeup routine by covering imperfections with The Minimalist, then wake up the complexion with the Flush Balm and a touch of Day Glow. Define the eyes with a few swipes of mascara and a touch of brow gel, and call it a (beautiful) day. Fun fact: I put the set’s claims to the test by setting my timer for five minutes and whizzing through an application of each product. I added a supplemental spritz of Retrospect and set the look with my go-to setting spray, and I finished with twenty seconds to spare.
The Minimalist
- Why We Love It: The Minimalist is a lightweight multitasker that can serve as a concealer, a foundation, or a contour. (Made with sea daffodil extract to even out the skin tone and fatty acids for moisture, it also falls into the makeup-as-skincare category.) With Merit’s signature, lightweight feel, the cream-to-powder formula comes in 20 shades and has a second-skin finish. As ever with Merit, application is a breeze. “The small rounded bullet is about the size and shape of a finger,” Vogue contributor Katie Becker wrote. “It allows you to draw on coverage like you’re using a skin-perfecting stylus.”
- Key Ingredients: Sea daffodil extract, fatty acids
- How to Use: The versatile tool can be applied in one of three ways. To use it as a spot concealer, dot it over blemishes, then blend it out with a finger or a brush. It can also provide all-over complexion coverage; or, pick a hue three shades darker than your natural skin tone and swipe it on to contour the cheeks, jawline, forehead, and chin. “This changed the game for me,” Vogue contributing editor Celia Ellenberg wrote when the product launched in 2021. “The shade matching is spot on, although it’s the targeted or allover, natural coverage you get from this nourishing stick that really sold me.”
Flush Balm
- Why We Love It: Berry-stained beauty has a hold on the TikTok cohort, and it’s easy to see its sweet appeal. Merit’s creamy cheek color—a cult classic for the brand—is key to achieving that just-back-from-a-berry-patch flush. Available in nine hues ranging from the soft-peach Beverly Hills to the sheer-red Rouge, the blush swipes on directly from its rounded stick, leaving a sheer, lit-from-within finish in its wake. The formula is buildable, so you can pick your color intensity depending on the day. But if it’s the viral “strawberry girl” flush you’re after, keep reading for Vogue’s recipe for achieving the look.
- Key Ingredients: Vitamin E, microfine pigment powders
- How to Use: To get a strawberry-glazed beauty look inspired by the likes of Hailey Bieber, create a base with a tinted moisturizer or a lightweight, dewy foundation. (The Minimalist would be a safe bet.) After applying a face base, sweep the Flush Balm along the apples of the cheeks and over the bridge of the nose, where the sun naturally hits. Blend it in with a finger, a brush, or a sponge, and voila: a summery, outdoorsy flush to keep ashen winter skin at bay.
Great Skin Instant Glow Serum
- Why We Love It: Merit’s first-ever skin-care product, launched in 2022, made its debut on the New York Fashion Week runway. That season’s Altuzarra models were the first to experience the glass-skin-making effects of the serum, which blends four types of hyaluronic acid with niacinamide, skin-tightening cacao seed extract, and Japanese goldthread root. (Since its launch, the serum has become a staple in Stewart’s pre-makeup regime.) “We wanted something that made your skin just look instantly plump, awake, really well-rested, and hydrated,” Aila Morin, Merit’s chief marketing officer, previously told Vogue. “That was the genesis for the formula.”
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, cacao-seed extract
- How to Use: Morin shared that the serum was developed as a base for the Minimalist, the brand’s beloved foundation-slash concealer (more on that below.) “We all know that it’s so much easier to have great makeup if you have a great base, right?” Morin said. “Hydrated, healthy, and glowing skin is so much easier to do makeup on.” Apply the serum and give it a moment to sink in before applying the Minimalist (or any type of skin coverage) for easy, frictionless application.
Great Skin Priming Moisturizer
- Why We Love It: Merit’s new moisturizer also primes the skin for makeup, turning it into a smooth, silky canvas for color. Infused with a complex of peptides, spermidine, and barrier polysaccharides, the formulation strengthens the skin barrier. Of course, it also moisturizes the skin, flooding it with nourishing oat extract, squalene, and jojoba oil. It became an instant favorite for Vogue’s senior beauty shopping writer Kiana Murden, who shares: “I’ve been reaching for this because the texture and finish are sublime. The rich cream sinks quickly into the skin, creating a nice, supple glow without being overly dewy. Merit likens this to a ‘cashmere’ finish, and I couldn’t agree more.”
- Key Ingredients: Peptides, spermidine, barrier polysaccharides, oat extract, glycerin, jojoba butter, squalene
- How to Use: Though the moisturizer doubles as a makeup primer, it can also be used on its own as a salve for winter dryness. “[It] leaves the skin radiant, bouncy, and smooth,” Murden wrote.
Retrospect L’Extrait de Parfum
- Why We Love It: Merit’s first-ever fragrance—a warm, musky, floral with a second-skin finish—is the olfactory version of a chic vintage dress. The first time I spritzed it on, I imagined myself in a hotel powder room, surrounded by Grace Kelly types powdering their noses and dotting on lipstick. With notes of pear, aldehydes, jasmine, rose, vanilla, and musk, the perfume comes in a smoky gray bottle with a gilded top. The design was inspired by modern jewelry, and fittingly, the bottle makes for a striking vanity accessory.
- Notes: Bergamot, ambrette, pear, aldehydes, jasmine, rose, orris, rosemary, violet, vanilla, musk, moss
- How to Use: Spritz it on in the morning, and enjoy the fragrance as it evolves throughout the day. “It opens quite soft and fresh,” perfumer Fanny Bal previously told Vogue. “Like what you would want in the morning. By midday, when you are at work, it’s hitting the floral notes and is more traditional. Then, by evening, it’s turned sexy, with a little moss, a little musk, a little vanilla, a little wood.”
Signature Lip Lightweight Lipstick
- Why We Love It: Merit’s Lightweight Lipsticks stay true to their name, coating the lips with a featherlight finish and a light tint that makes any color approachable. To wit: “I rarely wear a red lip but when I do it’s the Merit signature lip in the shade Tiger,” Vogue’s production and editorial coordinator Irene Kim once wrote. “It’s such a subtle red that I’m not intimidated by applying the lipstick perfectly. Plus I get compliments every time I wear it so that must be a good sign.” Infused with lip-loving ingredients such as squalane, sunflower oil, and papain enzyme, the formulation also moisturizes, soothes, and conceals the appearance of fine lines. What’s more, it comes in 17 shades with both matte and satin finishes.
- Key Ingredients: Squalane, sunflower oil, papain enzyme, vitamin C
- How to Use: Merit declares its makeup “impossible to mess up,” and this lightweight lipstick is no exception to the rule. It can be applied directly from the tube, and it blends out easily with a brush or a finger. It’s also buildable: One coat will leave a sheer wash of color, while added layers will enhance the color payoff.
Bronze Balm Sheer Sculpting Bronzer
- Why We Love It: Merit describes its sheer, buildable balm as “the easiest bronzer ever,” and I can attest to that. As someone with very fair skin, and as someone who gravitates more toward the aforementioned berry-stained vibe than a fresh-from-the-beach glow, I rarely wear bronzer. However, Merit’s light-touch formulation has given me the courage to contour without fear of creating too harsh a look. The balm swipes on like silk, leaving just a hint of luminous, sun-kissed color in its wake. (I chose the Quince hue, which the brand describes as “bone-dune.”) A cinch to blend, the breezy formulation bathes the skin in a candlelit kind of glow. What’s more, the bronzer is infused with fatty acids to moisturize the skin.
- Key Ingredients: Microfine pigments, fatty acids
- How to Use: To add a touch of warmth to the face, take the wide side of the dome-shaped stick and swipe it along the places on the face where the sun naturally hits, such as the temples, the cheekbones, and the bridge of the nose. For a more sculpted look, use the narrow side of the bullet to apply bronzer more precisely to the hairline, jawline, cheekbones, and any other areas that call for some contour. Blend the bronzer in with a finger or a brush—the brand recommends using its tapered blending Brush No. 1 for all complexion products.
Solo Shadow
- Why We Love It: Vogue editors deem Merit’s standalone shades “the answer to shimmery shadows and palette fatigue.” The cream-to-powder shadows come in eight matte colors, including four neutrals and four “statement” hues. (Stewart’s choice is “Vachetta,” a warm beige from the neutral range.) Inspired by makeup trends of the ‘90s and early aughts, the statement shades range from the olive-green “Viper” to the classic navy “Midnight.” Resistant to creasing, the talc-free formulation smooths and soothes the skin around the eyes with peptides and chamomile, calendula, and magnolia-bark extracts.
- Key Ingredients: Chamomile extracts, calendula extracts, magnolia bark extract, peptides
- How to Use: While the Solo Shadows can be combined to create any number of eye looks, the standalone shades offer a chance to test out a single-shade look. Merit’s buildable formulation creates a sheer wash of color with one coat; for a more intense color payoff, add more layers with a finger or a brush. (Merit’s Brush No. 2 has two ends, for a wash of color or precise application.) Celebrity makeup artist Omayma Ramzy previously shared her preferred single-shadow method with Vogue: start with a subtle matte look for the day, then add more layers as the day goes on to get a deeper, smokier look for evening.
Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil
- Why We Love It: Softening, conditioning, and tinted with just enough color to give lips a natural flush, Merit’s oils come in 12 glossy shades. The Classic hues range from the creamy, clear “Bel Air” to the orangey-red “Cara Cara,” while the selection of “Gelées” features sheer shades of pink, red, and brown. Those hues are just a baseline, though: Rather like a glossy mood ring, the colors change according to natural pH levels in the lips, and look different on everyone who wears them. (My go-to shade, the deep-berry Sangria, dries down on my lips with a sheer, plum-colored hue that will help me embody sugarplum-fairy chic this holiday season.) The formulation is infused with moisturizing ingredients ranging from shea butter to jojoba oil, while fatty acids protect the delicate skin on the lips.
- Key Ingredients: Rosehip oil, omega-3, -6, and -9 fatty acids, shea butter, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil
- How to Use: The tube comes with a small, doe-foot applicator that makes it easy to apply the product precisely. I prefer using the pointed end of the tip to line my lips, then I fill them in using the wider side of the wand before using a finger to blot.
The Full Collection
- Why We Love It: For the Merit lover—or for anyone who wants a foolproof makeup routine—The Full Collection is the gift set that will keep on giving, one luminous, naturally flushed look at a time. The set contains one of each Merit product, ranging from the Great Skin serum and moisturizer to the Minimalist, the Flush Balm, the Bronze Balm, and the Signature lipstick. It also holds both of the brand’s brushes, and a bottle of Retrospect.
- What’s Included: The set contains 14 products in all, including skincare, makeup, perfume, and brushes.
- How to Use: The items in the set can be used together to create a smooth skin base, a full face of minimalist (or party-ready) makeup, and a dash of fragrance to finish off any look. Of course, one may also opt to parse out the items, starting with the skincare products one day, exploring lipsticks and lip tints the next, and perfecting a naturally flushed bronze after that. However you pair the makeup products, they’ll be easy to apply: The set includes Merit’s No. 1 brush for blending complexion products and its No. 2 brush for easy eyeshadow application.
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