Merit Beauty Launched At Sephora Today. Here’s Every Product Worth The Hype, According To A Beauty Editor

The minimal makeup, skincare and fragrance brand launched at Sephora on September 30.It’s the modern, minimalist makeup brand beloved by celebrities including Dakota Johnson, Issa Rae, Suki Waterhouse, Sofia Richie Grainge, Martha Stewart and countless more. Now Merit Beauty has launched in New Zealand from today. Available It’s good news for luxury lovers or those with a penchant for shelfies – the products look high-end but all without the designer price tag. Unlike other cult beauty brands that have recently rolled out in both territories with a tight edit of products (here’s looking at you, Rhode), Merit’s full range of makeup, skincare and fragrance will be available, other than one product – The Uniform, a tinted mineral sunscreen. The collection has bridged the generational gap, amassing fans of all ages who love Merit’s beauty essentials that enable the wearer to do more with less. The brand’s core collection, Five Minute Morning, is described as “everything you need to get ready in five minutes, nothing you don’t”. This collection spotlights seven products designed to be applied intuitively (and quickly). Wondering what’s worth shopping from Merit? Here are the top eight products we’ll be adding to cart. Minimalist Complexion Stick, $77The cornerstone complexion product in Merit’s Five Minute Morning Routine, the Minimalist Complexion Stick subs into routines as a lightweight foundation/concealer hybrid that’s easily blendable with your fingers or the Brush No 1 Blending Brush (more on that below). With the coverage of a concealer and the blendability of a foundation, a few swipes will blur blemishes and disguise redness. But unlike cakey foundations, it promises a natural-looking, skin-like finish. Other stick-format foundations can be tricky to manoeuvre in smaller areas, such as under eyes or next to your nose, but this bullet is much slimmer, which makes accessing those spots a breeze. I’m not alone in my love for this foundation/concealer hybrid, either; the Minimalist Complexion Stick boasts an impressive roster of Hollywood devotees, from Martha Stewart and Reese Witherspoon to Meg Ryan and Katie Holmes. Flush Balm Cream Blush, $61If you spent your adolescence swiping on chubby blush sticks, then consider the Flush Balm Cream Blush the decidedly grown-up version.Beloved by Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Katie Holmes, these dome-shaped balms are super versatile for lending a flush of colour to cheeks, eyelids and lips. The satin-finish formula is highly blendable, so you can build up your desired intensity level without drying down too much between light layers of product. No patting or rubbing required. It comes in 13 shades in a variety of undertones, from baby pink and cool mauve to soft orange red and deep pink brown. You can dab on the product straight from the pot and blend out with a fluffy blending brush or your fingers, depending on preference. Solo Shadow Cream Sheen Eyeshadow, $53This cream-to-powder eyeshadow pot is available in two finishes – four wearable sheens and eight mattes. And when I say wearable sheens, I mean it. Unlike other sheen eyeshadows that can be glittery or shimmery, Merit’s take lends the perfect amount of gleam to eyelids. Pot formats like this always encourage the makeup artist within and I prefer to pat it on with my fingertips rather than using a brush. The warmth of my fingertips helps blend the formula into my eyelids seamlessly for a wash of colour. It applies like a cream before drying down to a matte, meaning it won’t budge. I have oily eyelids and didn’t struggle with the product’s longevity. My favourite shades include Studio, a cool-toned brown matte, and Glace, a soft rose sheen. I lay down a base of Studio all over my eyelid first, then add a little Glace in the inner corner of my eye for a little dimension. Day Glow Highlighting Balm, $65Another stick format to fall in love with is the Day Glow Highlighting Balm, designed to add a metallic sheen wherever the sun would naturally hit (think cheeks, the bridge of the nose and the cupid’s bow).As someone who wears highlighter most days (M.A.C Strobe Cream has been a mainstay in my makeup routine for years now) this was one of the products I was most excited to try. Unlike other highlights, which feature chunky glitter, this creamy formula leaves a healthy-looking “dew” on skin without clinging to dry patches. The formula is brimming with plant-based squalane, phytosterol and amino acids to care for skin while it illuminates, supporting healthy skin barrier function and optimum hydration levels. Cava is my new go-to shade, a pearlescent champagne hue that adds brightness even on the dullest day. Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil, $57I’m notoriously fussy when it comes to lip products. I’ve tried countless tubes that have exacerbated any dry skin on my lips. Too tacky or sticky (especially in the wind when my hair likes to get stuck to my lips). Or too fragranced, where I feel like I’m swiping on something that smells like a dessert. Merit’s Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil is none of the above. It feels luxurious to apply yet lightweight, promising buildable colour and long-lasting hydration. The formula has attracted the attention of global beauty editors and content creators for good reason – it leaves lips ultra-shiny and plump-looking, with a captivating yet subtle sheen of colour. Lip oils can get a bad rep for feeling greasy, but these aren’t. Instead, the rosehip oil, fatty acids and shea butter leave weightless hydration with gloss-like results. Brush No 1 Blending Brush, $65 “The No 1 tool in your kit to blend your complexion products. You won’t be able to tell where your skin ends and your makeup meet,” is how the brand describes its multifunctional brush. The densely bristled brush helps buff and blend all cream complexion products (ideal for using with The Minimalist Complexion Stick, Flush Balm Cream Blush and Day Glow Highlighting Balm).It does so without leaving visible brush strokes (no mean feat, I’ve tried a handful of others that leave my complexion products streaky, not seamless). The bristles are crafted from ultra-soft vegan materials, meaning they’re gentle enough for using on the most sensitive or reactive skin types. Great Skin Instant Glow Serum, $85Martha Stewart is a fan of this lightweight bi-phase serum, and now I am too. I’m forever hunting products that prep my skin for makeup application, and believe me when I say this dewy skin serum is excellent. It absorbs quickly into skin and can be worn alone for a lit-from-within glow, or used as a precursor to makeup.The formula contains four molecular weights of hyaluronic acid (a hydrator said to leave skin moisturised for up to 24 hours) with niacinamide (excellent at brightening and refining skin texture). Caffeine-rich cacao seed extract joins the party to wake up your complexion, stimulating blood flow and leaving skin plump and juicy. It’s non-comedogenic, too, meaning it’s great for oily or combination skin types (I’m the latter). My mission for the rest of 2026 is to slowly wind back how many days I spend wearing makeup each week, and armed with this glow serum, I’m confident I can do just that. Retrospect L’Extrait de Parfum, $277A diehard fragrance fan, it would be remiss to omit Merit’s Retrospect L’Extrait de Parfum from this list. The scent (which took two years to develop) opens with top notes of juicy pear and bergamot, a heart of jasmine and rose, before warming down to base notes of earthy moss, vanilla and musk for extra sensuality. Similar to Glossier You, Retrospect is a skin scent designed to enhance the natural, warm smell of clean skin rather than over-scent with an obvious trail of perfume. Described by Merit as a “rich, nuanced scent which evolves throughout the day”, the fragrance is said to smell different on everyone, chemically reacting to each individual’s body chemistry and skin type. Also that packaging? Stunning. No notes. And here’s what’s not worth the hype...So that’s everything worth your hard-earned coin, but what’s not? I adore a tubing mascara, and have a handful of tried-and-true favourites spanning drugstore dupes to high-end department store beauty buys. Merit’s Clean Volume Tubing Mascara, $57, is Japanese-made, said to lift, separate and add volume. It’s touted as being good for sensitive eyes. But the brush is much smaller than I’m used to, which is not necessarily a bad thing; smaller brushes make it easier to collect little lashes in the inner and outer corners of your eye. I just prefer a larger wand to really fan out my eyelashes. The formula dries quickly, which makes building it up to reach your desired level of product without it clumping tricky. I’m not a spider lash girl, but others may not mind as much. However, it removes quickly with an oil cleanser, which is a bonus. More beautyThe top beauty trends that emerged from the NZFW runway; experts share their go-to products to use backstage; wellness rituals to combat burnout and how to achieve great eyebrows.