Merit is a clean, minimalist beauty line founded by Who What Wear’s co-founder, Katherine Power. Who What Wear readers will be able to shop Merit exclusively for the first 24 hours before the brand’s launch on January 12. Enter the password minimalistbeauty on Merit’s website to shop. Here, Power shares why Merit is the beauty line your makeup bag has been missing.
Hello, dear readers. It’s Katherine Power here, entrepreneur, mom, and co-founder of Who What Wear, Versed, and Avaline. If we haven’t yet met, it’s nice to meet you, and for those of you that I’ve known for a long time, it’s great to be writing to you today. I am very excited to share with you (first) the debut of my new clean-cosmetics brand, Merit. Whether or not you know it, many of you helped me in the creation of this new project. What started as my own personal need quickly became something that you said you were looking for also, and I just had to do something about it. Almost four and a half years ago, I posted a short video from my bathroom doing my makeup in five minutes. This was a normal part of my routine. However, if I’m being honest, I mostly did my makeup in five minutes in the car on my way to work because I have very little spare time to put into “looking good.” I received such an enormous positive response that I started thinking about creating a collection of clean, comfortable products that were everything I needed to look like myself, but better.
Around that time, I started to feel like I didn’t connect with any of the beauty brands on the market. I grew up wearing the legacy luxury and prestige brands that my mother had once introduced to me, always gravitating toward the products that made me look “natural,” but after having my son, I wanted to wear cleaner formulas than those brands offered. (While I was pregnant, I literally became nauseous when I would use my normal, “non-clean” lip products.) As the clean-beauty landscape started to grow, I tried a lot of great products but always felt like they were being marketed toward a younger customer who was looking for newness (and excess) at every turn. I just didn’t connect with them emotionally.
I felt compelled to create a brand that would reimagine luxury beauty for modern consumers like myself by making it cleaner, well edited, accessible, and, of course, beautiful. Merit is the antidote to the overwhelming, saturated world of beauty with too many steps and 50 shadow palettes being dropped every week. It’s built around the concept of minimalist beauty and the fact that we just want to look like ourselves, but better.
In 2020, we learned that we don’t need much. We got used to our natural hair textures, bare nails, and minimal makeup. The Merit launch assortment is everything you need to do your makeup in five minutes and nothing you don’t. It’s clean, comfortable, and long-lasting makeup you’ll actually want to wear—even if your only outings (for now) are on Zoom. At Merit, we believe that less is more.
Starting today, you can shop for Merit products on www.meritbeauty.com with the password minimalistbeauty, and beginning February 16, 2021, you can find us in over 500 Sephora stores across the U.S. and Canada. I would be so honored if you would try Merit and let me know what you think by DM’ing us @merit or on my personal handle, @katherinepower. Wishing you all good health and happiness,. Katherine
To shop the products on Merit’s website, enter the password minimalistbeauty.
“I’m not someone who usually even bothers with foundation or concealer, not because I have flawless skin, but I find that most products feel heavy and cakey or look unnatural. The Minimalist is perfect coverage that you can build and looks amazingly natural. The applicator stick makes it so easy to apply. I’m impressed.” — Merit customer
“I’ve been using different highlighters for a while now, but Day Glow is, by far, the most natural. It glides across my face so smoothly and gives me such a gorgeous and natural-looking dewy glow. It distributes well onto my face (I find usually with highlighter sticks I need to press down, but not with this one) and feels so soft. It’s fragrance-free, which I love, and doesn’t leave streaks as if I dragged a sparkly marker across my face. It’s glowy without the glitter! I look like I just stepped off the beach.” — Merit customer
“This lip oil is the perfect ‘natural’ lip color with one application, but if you build it up, it’s the perfect night-out lip color. I have the Sangria shade, and it’s beautiful. Not too overpowering for my small lips!” — Merit customer
“I have used so many upscale brow gels products like Tom Ford, Chanel, etc., so I honestly didn’t expect much, but I was wrong! This brow gel has one of the softest brush bristles and the most rich texture ever. It perfectly grooms my eyebrows, making them appear naturally thicker and effortless. I’m obsessed!” — Merit customer
“I am in love with this product! It gives me the perfect flushed, glowy look. The color is so natural, and it complements my skin tone perfectly. I love the formula because you can also wear it on your lips, and it doesn’t make them look dry. An amazing product overall, and I can’t wait to own all the shades.” — Merit customer
“I’ve been loving the formula of this mascara so much, and I can’t believe I found a clean mascara that works so well! It’s perfect for my everyday makeup look and doesn’t fall out under my eyes. So happy I found you!” — Merit customer
“I love this brush. I often feel like other brushes tag at my skin as I try to blend it in but not Brush No. 1. It’s beyond soft and doesn’t make my skin agitated when I use it.” — Merit customer. Next up, Naomi Watts Gets Candid on Nontoxic Beauty and “Riding the Wave” of Aging.
