Spotlight: Merit Beauty and Proenza Schouler is Every Minimalist’s Coveted Collaboration
$20 GUT SMOOTHIES, $200 ORTHOPEDIC RUNNING SHOES AND $300 CRAFTSMANSHIP-LED HAIR BRUSHES; with the rise of “clean”-consciousness in lifestyle, we have developed an increase in feeling obligated to know and understand the ingredients in our everyday essentials. While many brands will call this intention-based production, I would say it’s clever modern marketing.
Trends dictate what can come and what should go; it’s an endless cycle of consume, get distracted, stash away, and revisit, forget, or toss. Whether it be fashion, music, or sports, all things expire in its it-ness, especially nowadays when our attention spans and materialistic dependencies are arguably limited to millisecond-double taps and can’t-leave-the-house-without emotional support items.
So how can we, as both consumers and brand-side, remain timeless? What stays with us? How can we project such longevity? What makes something perennial?
To me, timelessness has always been associated with the idea of simplicity, elevation, and achievability. In terms of beauty, I among many others think of red lips, bouncy skin, healthy hair, and tell-all eyes. For fashion, I imagine collars, elongating silhouettes, good denim, and diamonds. I think many would agree with me when I say that what was once classic is now interpreted in today’s cosmetic market as “clean.”
A breakthrough brand I’ve had my eye on in the less-is-more shift in the beauty space has been Merit Beauty, which launched in 2021. Since, their products have been used on star-studded red carpets or daily morning commutes, as the mission of the brand is to enhance natural features by intentionally curated products. From those in the limelight such as Greta Lee, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone, to your favorite high school Tik Tok star that seems to always have the funds to pump out Sephora hauls, everyone’s been talking about Merit.
Not only that, but Merit has been one of the many modern beauty brands that “aim to eliminate as much virgin material as possible” in packaging and components. With their mailer box derived from fully recyclable, compostable, post-consumer waste, they also ship with Green Cell Foam which is made of cornstarch that dissolves in water. You can’t deny that the effort in research isn’t there; whether or not Merit’s strategy yields in less waste is something I, as a fan of the brand, would personally love to see more content come forth.
Hence why when Merit announced their partnership with Proenza Schouler for the Fall/Winter 2023 season, I knew that I had to cave in nod to their excellent pairing. Proenza
Schouler, similarly known to Merit for their wearability and modern take on American fashion, both brands share the priority of effortlessness and accessible luxury.
You’ve probably seen Merit without knowing it was them; ever seen a mustard-brown, knotted corduroy makeup bag in a powder room? That’s the Signature Bag, Merit’s cosmetic bag. Think back to the OG Glossier pink bubble wrap pouch that your Boy Brow came in high school with; the Signature Bag is Merit’s Glossier pink bubble wrap. For the partnership, Proenza Schouler reimagined the Bag in reversible vegan leather with gold logo treatment. Yum.
Of course, no bag should pitifully live on a closet shelf collecting dust; the only thing it should be collecting are gum wrappers, tattered up movie stubs, and that lip gloss you’ve been ransacking your jacket pockets for. With that being said, let me walk you through my first impressions on Merit Beauty’s signature products that fill my Proenza Schouler pouch: the Flush Balm, the Signature Lip, the Brow 1980, and the No. 1 Brush.
The Flush Balm
This is probably the product I saw the most of on the Internet when it came to Merit; constantly talked about its buildable formula and dewy finish, I was pleased to find that the blush did live up to its expectations. I tried the shade Fox and upon first swipe, I was pleasantly surprised at its non-sticky yet moisturizing formula.
A continuous pattern I have noticed on these “meltable” blushes have been that once they lose heat from the friction of the pads of your fingers from the product itself, it’s like a race against the clock; you snooze, you lose, and you end up with a chalky, pilling finish. However, this one? Might be the best balmy (but not sticky!) blush I’ve tried to date.
The Signature Lip
To say that I avoid all nude-pink and brown-pink lip products would be an understatement; my complexion, with its tan but red and yellow undertones, have never been too fond of chocolate or sepia. Thus my surmise that the shade Baby could be more of a miss than a hit.
Delightfully wrong. This light but hydrating lipstick not only felt extremely comfortable on the lips but looked like a tier more neutral brown of my natural lip color. It’s sultry, it’s chic, yet surprisingly casual; it also made me look like my mother from her twenties (think of Monica Geller and Rachel Green lip looks from the nineties), which is a win in my book.
The Brow 1980
One insecurity about my features are my sparse and light eyebrows; probably since a cruel boy in middle school called me the Mona Lina. I have never been the same. I know that people have been doing the bleached look, but I have always envied fluffed-up, untamed eyebrows. Frida did it first, fuck all your beauty gurus.
I was a bit disappointed to find this product not layerable. It instantly reminded me of why I lean towards brow pencils and powders over gels and slicks; cream textures, in my
opinion, just don’t look as organic to those of us with less brow hair, especially when you want to set it after with a gel. The initial application with the pomade itself was fine; it filled my brows and gave it extra shape and color. However, when I tried to set it afterwards with light swipes of the Got2b Invincible Styling Hair Gel, the pomade began to shift and separate from the brow hairs.
I’m not sure if it’s the brush of the applicator that made the process feel like the product would get on the skin of my brows but not necessarily the individual hairs, but it made me question if the application would be easier for those with a more protruding eyebrow bone/skull structure or more hair in general in the area.
The No. 1 Brush
I’ll keep it simple. I’ve always been a finger applicator girl; concealer, foundation, blush, eyeshadow, you name it. But just last year, I began using sponges and they have been life changing in terms of coverage. This made me curious if brushes would be even better.
I don’t know about better but this is a damn good brush. It’s thick and dense with soft bristles, and doesn’t leave you with patchy application. I’d say this is a good distributing and blending brush if you’re in the market for one.
The majority of beauty consumers understand clean beauty to an extent of being cruelty-free and naturally derived. Sephora’s Clean at Sephora line seems to define it as “formulated without phthalates, formaldehyde or formaldehyde releasers, oxybenzone and octinoxate.” Those are fancy words for plastic-strengthening chemicals, toxic and flammable gas, hormone disruptors, and thyroid-function blockers; you may have heard of oxybenzone and octinoxate as banned ingredients in sunscreens in Hawaii as they are harmful to corals and other marine ecosystems.
To me, the clean beauty stamp-of-approval is another way to market. What do you mean you’re against animal-testing, should that not be a given? What do you mean your packaging is recyclable, is that not the least you can do as you pump out factories of little plastic gadgets? While I understand that the clean beauty movement is a step forward as we evolve from archaic standards of cosmetics that once normalized the casual usage of lead, arsenic, and mercury, I believe that until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration create more binding guidelines in what defines beauty to be “clean” and not, we will continue to blindly consume within this deceiving echo chamber that we’ve helped romanticize.
Although there have been attempts towards accountability such as the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2019 as introduced and sponsored by U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) that would expand the FDA’s authority to “regulate cosmetics, including with respect to safety standards, product recalls, and product testing,” I consider that it is our responsibility as consumers of the industry to continue the conversation regarding accessible, healthy, and honest cosmetics for everyone to embrace and feel like our most authentic, uniquely beautiful selves.
The Luna Collective or any parties involved in the production of this article is not to receive commission, compensation, or endorsement in the publication of this article.
