On a trip to New York last July, during my usual browse around Sephora in the Meatpacking District, I noticed that a section that should have been filled with products by Merit Beauty was littered with “out of stock” cards. Not that my interest needed piquing; I was already mustard-keen to try Merit (a minimalist US makeup brand that takes a “capsule wardrobe” approach to your everyday face) because its founder is Katherine Power, the entrepreneur behind the reliably excellent Versed skincare, already available in the UK. So I grabbed what little I could and headed to the till.
This month’s arrival of Merit in the UK has filled the gaps. I’m new to The Minimalist (£40), a two-in-one foundation and concealer in 20 shades, but I’m already enjoying it enormously. It’s a velvety-textured, solid stick that glides directly across the skin, then is buffed in with the soft and easy-to-use No 1 brush (£32) – or whichever foundation brush you have already – or tapped on with fingers for more coverage.
