Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Merit Beauty | Flush Balm Cheek Color in Terracotta and Signature Lip Lightweight Lipstick in Tiger | Review and Swatches

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Not Sponsored: Clean Beauty. Minimalist Beauty. I've been wanting to try makeup brand Merit Beauty for awhile. Their slogan is "impossible to mess up". That sounds good to me! Merit Beauty offers a holistic approach to beauty. To give you some background, all of their products are EU and Clean at Sephora compliant. They only use "good" ingredients and have eliminated "bad" ones. Their products are vegan, cruelty free and certified by Leaping Bunny.

I purchased their Flush Balm Cream Blush in Terracotta (warm creme). Merit Beauty describes this blush as blendable, buildable, lightweight, multi-use and with a satin finish. The formula for this blush has Vitamin E in it to condition your skin and it is formulated without acne-triggering ingredients. Let me share my honest thoughts with you. I wish this blush had different packaging. You either have to apply it with your fingers, directly on your cheeks (skin) or use some form of applicator. Sanitary wise, I wouldn't have gone with this packaging. The color of the blush is beautiful, but it applies lighter than it looks. Take that into consideration when choosing one of their blushes. It may look dark in the packaging, but it applies lightly. For this particular shade (Terracotta), Merit states it is for light to medium skin tones. So this particular color, will not work for anyone with a dark hue. But no need to worry, because Merit has darker shades to choose from in their blush collection. The next issue I have with this blush is shine! I have super dry skin. Super dry! When you apply this blush it has a shine, glow to it. Look at the last picture below of my cheeks. Do you see the shine? glow? I can get away with it because my skin is so dry, but for someone that has oily, combination, or even normal skin, this may be an issue. If you wear this blush to a daytime event or you're out in the sun, you may look a little SHINY. Also, if you have any type of acne or scar on your cheeks, this blush may make it more noticeable. So those things are factors to consider. Merit states that the color of their blushes are buildable. Remember, they apply lightly. The color you see on my cheeks took several applications (4-5 applications). This blush can also be used on the lips. It felt good when I applied it to my lips (vitamin e), but this color blush did not look good on my lips (too light, but one of the darker colors would probably work better for me). This blush worked for me, but take into account your skin condition and factors. Some other blush options that I can suggest are, Glossier Cloud Paint and Nudestix Nudies.

I also purchased Merit Beauty's Signature Lip Lightweight Lipstick in Tiger (brick red). Merit describes this lipstick as moisturizing, lightweight, buildable and with a satin finish. This lipstick contains, plant derived squalane and sunflower seed oil (moisture), papain enzyme (soothe lips), stabilized vitamin C (diffuse the appearance of fine lines). I love this lipstick! Merit describes it as a brick red. It definitely pulls as a rich brown. The color payoff is great. In my picture below, I applied two layers of this lipstick. It feels great to the lips, applies evenly and gives off a healthy shine. I will definitely purchase more of their lipsticks. If you're looking for more of a matte lipstick, then this wouldn't work for you. But I will say, this lipstick is not overly shiny, not greasy and not oily feeling or looking. I really like it.

Sweet-Bittersweet-NotSweet