Merit Beauty is chic. But is it good?
Plus: Blue … mascara?
View in browser
The Recommendation

December 29, 2025

We spent a month testing every single thing from Merit Beauty

Various products from the makeup brand Merit are displayed on top of a brown background
Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter

Merit — the much-hyped beauty brand with very chic packaging — promises its products are all you need to create a minimalist, polished look in five minutes.

To see if Merit’s claims hold up, our beauty expert assembled a panel of seven testers with different skin tones and types to use the entire line for a month. They dabbed, they swiped, they brushed, and they assessed how their faces held up to commutes, hot yoga, and late-night dinners. Their verdict? Mostly meh.

The one thing we all did love→

We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more ›

What’s hot at Wirecutter

A red Quince Mongolian Cashmere Crewneck Sweater folded into a square.

The best under-$100 cashmere sweaters

Our top pick — drapey, flattering, and absurdly soft — feels like something much pricier→

A Saatva Classic (Luxury Firm) mattress, one of our picks for best mattresses for back-pain, in a bedroom setting.

Got back pain? Consider a new mattress.

A medium-firm mattress provides support while also cushioning your joints. These are the five best we’ve found→

A collage including a toaster oven, a backpack, and a pair of headphones.

Our 100 most popular picks this year

Readers seemingly spent 2025 upgrading their homes with new towels, pillows, and toothbrushes … and treating themselves to diamond earrings→

A close up of a drying options on a dryer.

A hidden feature on your dryer that makes dusting a breeze

This setting shakes out dust faster than vacuuming→

Plus: We’ve also tried everything from Rhode

Various products from rhode skin products shown with a brown background.
Hannah Schwob for NYT Wirecutter

You can credit Hailey Bieber and her beauty brand with the popularization of “glazed donut” skin — but are all of the products from Rhode worth the hype? Alongside a panel of testers, our beauty expert tried every single skin-care product for weeks, including, yes, the TikTok-darling lip balm.

Their unanimous favorite? The glazing milk→

One last thing: The case for colorful mascara

A close-up of someone’s eye with blue mascara next to a graphic of a blue mascara smear.
NYT Wirecutter

Color theory — and lately, various corners of the internet — suggests that plum, navy, and other deeply hued mascaras might make certain eye colors pop or look more intense. So we enlisted five testers to try a rainbow of mascaras, from a subtle brown-black to a bold blue, to see if straying from classic black really makes a noticeable difference.

Blue eyelashes, anyone?→

Looking gorgeous.

You can reach the Wirecutter Newsletters team at newsletters@wirecutter.com. We can’t always respond, but we do love to hear from you.

Wirecutter

If you received this newsletter from someone else, subscribe here.

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for The Recommendation from The New York Times.

To stop receiving The Recommendation, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings.

Subscribe to The Times

Connect with us on:

facebookxinstagramwhatsapp

Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices

The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018