The world of clean beauty has exploded in the past couple of years! There are sooooo many new brands popping up left and right, and it’s hard to keep track. On top of that, greenwashing is rampant; how do we know what’s truly safe and non-toxic to use? Today we’re going to discuss Merit Beauty, which is a brand that my readers frequently ask me about, and decide whether or not it lives up to the clean claims!
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What this post covers:
About Merit Beauty
Merit was founded in 2021 by Katherine Power, who is also the CEO of Who What Wear and founder of Versed Skincare. The brand is based in Los Angeles, California. They position themselves as “a clean, luxury beauty brand inspired by minimalism.” For being a relatively new brand, they sure have taken the internet by storm and have gotten super popular! Merit is also:
- Vegan
- EU-compliant
- Cruelty-free (Leaping Bunny Certified)
- Clean at Sephora (more on this “certification” below)
Merit Product & Ingredient Reviews
Let’s go through each Merit product! The majority of them I would not suggest using due to their ingredients, but there are a couple that are not too bad.
Update 2025: Thankfully, Merit removed the ingredient BHT from their products! It’s a toluene-based antioxidant that is used to preserve and make products last longer, but it’s carcinogenic and linked with liver and endocrine disruption. That being said, they still use ingredients I prefer to avoid.
Merit Products to Skip 👎 (& Dupes to Use Instead!)
Here are the Merit products that I do NOT recommend due to their ingredients, as well as some brief info as to why they should be avoided. Plus, better swaps for each item that are much safer and cleaner!
❌ Brow 1980 Volumizing Pomade: Contains acrylates, phenoxyethanol, trideceth, chloroxylenol, and silicones.
*️⃣ Clean dupe to use instead: TOK Volumizing Brow Gel (discount code ORGANICALLYBECCA)
❌ Clean Lash Lengthening Mascara: Contains phenoxyethanol, steareth, PVP, acrylates, silicones, and tromethamine.
*️⃣ Use instead: Honest Extreme Length Mascara
❌ Flush Balm Cheek Color: Contains silicones, lake dyes, and hydrogenated polyisobutene.
*️⃣ Use instead: Axiology Lip-to-Lid Balmie (discount code ORGANICALLYBECCA)
❌ Retrospect Perfume: Contains alcohol denat and undisclosed fragrance.
*️⃣ Use instead: Wyld Notes Sweet Decadence (discount code ORGANICALLYBECCA)
❌ Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil: Contains pentaerythrityl tetra-di-t-butyl hydroxyhydrocinnamate, lake dyes, and hydrogenated polyisobutene.
*️⃣ Use instead: Saie Glossybounce Lip Oil (FYI, these also contain lake dyes, but it’s very difficult to find lip oils that don’t!)
❌ Signature Lip Liner: Contains lake dyes and silicones.
*️⃣ Use instead: FitGlow Lip Liner
❌ Signature Lipstick: Contains lake dyes, aroma, phenoxyethanol, and polyethylene.
*️⃣ Use instead: Hynt Aria Lipstick
❌ Solo Shadow Eye Color: Contains lake dyes and silicones.
*️⃣ Use instead: RMS Eyelights Cream Shadow (discount code ORGANICALLYBECCA20)
❌ Uniform Tinted Mineral SPF45 Sunscreen: Contains butyloctyl salicylate and quaternium-90.
*️⃣ Use instead: Saie Slip Tint SPF34 Moisturizer
Clean Merit Dupes:
Related post: “13+ Clean & Non-Toxic Swaps for Popular Viral Beauty Products”
Quick info about some of these ingredients:
Aroma & Fragrance/Parfum: Brands don’t have to disclose what’s in it, and can be a concoction of 4,000+ endocrine-disrupting chemicals! Learn more about fragrance here.
Lake Dyes (Red 7, Yellow 5, etc.): Most synthetic coloring is derived from crude petroleum which might contain carcinogenic contaminants and heavy metals. Potentially linked to allergies. I personally use these in moderation in lip and cheek products (it can be difficult to achieve certain pigments naturally), especially if the rest of the ingredients are clean, but prefer to avoid them if possible. Learn more about lake dyes here.
Phenoxyethanol: A preservative that is part of the glycol family that can contain carcinogens such as ethylene oxide and benzene. It’s also linked with skin issues such as dermatitis. Learn more about phenoxyethanol here.
Polyethylene: A nanoplastic that may contain hidden contaminants like 1,4 dioxane and ethylene oxide.
PVP: A polymer that can be contaminated with acetaldehyde, a human carcinogen.
Silicones: These give products a smooth texture, but don’t break down in the environment and are possibly tied to endocrine disruption. These are also something that is okay to use on occasion and if there is a lower amount used in a formula (lower on the ingredient label and not many used). You will see them on a label as dimethicone or words ending in -siloxane or -silane.
Wanna learn more about reading ingredient labels and what to avoid? Download this Ingredient Index! It has a glossary of 55+ ingredients to watch out for in your cosmetics, cleaning, and personal care products. Plus, sources and studies for further reading.
Safer Merit Products 👍
Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that these are completely pure or clean. But they are much better than the rest of Merit’s products, and I would be okay using them myself!
- Bronze Balm Sheer Sculpting Bronzer: Does have silicones but everything else looks fine.
- Brow 1990 Sheer Gel Pencil: Does have a silicone but everything else looks fine.
- Brush No. 1 & Brush No. 2: Nothing wrong with these! They are vegan and cruelty-free makeup brushes. If you really want to get nitpicky, I’d suggest looking into what the bristles are made of.
- Day Glow Highlighting Balm: This does contain a synthetic emollient, hydrogenated polyisobutene, which is the only thing I’d flag in it, but not a total dealbreaker.
- Great Skin Instant Glow Serum: This does have butylene glycol and pentylene glycol which are alcohols that are fine to use in moderation. Other than that, looks good!
- Great Skin Makeup Removing Cleanser: Has cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine which can irritate sensitive skin, but is clean otherwise.
- Great Skin Moisturizer: Also has hydrogenated polyisobutene and polyacrylate-13 but nothing majorly concerning.
- Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Stick: This one is really in-between for me! There are other low tox foundation sticks I prefer, but this one isn’t horrible—I don’t love the hydrogenated polyisobutene and silicones, but there are no major red flags.
Conclusion: Is Merit Beauty Clean? 🤔
THE SHORT ANSWER: No, Merit Beauty is not totally clean.
THE LONG ANSWER: It depends. Merit is certainly not the *worst* brand on the market and is a step above most conventional beauty brands. They do have a select few products that are okay and clean-ish. But the majority of them do NOT pass my standards and are not what I would consider clean.
In general, they use a lot more synthetics in their formulas vs. pure and natural ingredients. Synthetics are not always a bad thing (there are “safer” synthetics). But when you look at the ingredient lists, they’re mostly comprised of synthetics and silicones. It’s hard to justify the price, in my opinion, when you’re paying for a bunch of cheap fillers and unnatural stuff.
Lastly, I’d like to point out that Clean at Sephora really doesn’t carry much weight and shouldn’t be fully trusted. Their guidelines are super loose and still allow plenty of not-so-safe ingredients. For a list of #OrganicallyBeccaApproved brands at Sephora, download this freebie!
Shop Hundreds of Clean & Natural Products!
If you’re looking for green and natural beauty brands, head to The Organically Becca Shop! It’s a curated selection of hundreds of products that I have personally vetted and recommend. It includes makeup, skincare, hair, body, personal hygiene, household items, and so much more.
I hope this information was helpful! As always, my intent is not to shame you or make you feel bad if you do use Merit. My goal is to provide the information for you so that you can make informed decisions and decide what’s best for you going forward. Thanks for reading 💚
References:
- Acetaldehyde makes a distinct mutation signature in single-stranded DNA
- Butylated compounds (BHT)
- Chemical Profile: Siloxanes & Silanes
- Risk assessment of volatile organic compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) in consumer products
- Toxic effects of fragrance products
- More thorough info and studies are linked in my Ingredient Index ebook!
This is so great! I do love a lot of their products but have defaulted to BEAUTYCOUNTER and some other brands you’ve recommended. Thank you for the review. It’s really helpful.
Thank you for this. I was just about to order because I saw their “clean” statement on the website. I’ve recently thrown out almost all my Charlotte Tilbury and was looking to replace it with “clean” cosmetics. It’s so frustrating. You think brands are clean but when you look they aren’t. I will look at your recommendations. Again thanks I would have purchase if I hadn’t done further research and found this.
Thanks for reading, Karen!