This Near-Magic Lip Liner Makes My Lips Look Like I Got Filler
My seemingly endless search for the perfect lip liner is finally over.
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by The Candidly Team
I wish I had the bravery for filler. I wish the newly formed lines on my shrinking lips didn’t bother me so much. I wish the ever-expanding gap between my top lip and nose wasn’t all I saw in photos of myself.
I share this so that you really believe me when I tell you that I have tried over 100 “your lips but better” lip liner colors and formulas in the last few years, and that isn’t hyperbole. Most of them are too orange, and the rest are too pink. And if the color is sort of ok, the formula is too hard and doesn’t glide easily. And if the color is ok and the formula is ok, it still just ends up looking … ok. Not like I have bigger lips, just that I’m wearing lip liner. All of this to say, a few months ago, I found a lip liner that really and truly changed my life. Insofar as a lip liner can change a person’s life. Which, let’s be honest, it absolutely can.
I wrote about this lip liner so much on our site, it got the attention of Merit Beauty, and now I am sort of gobsmacked and humbled to say that this article is now an official collaboration with them. But as you can see, the chicken and egg scenario is that I found this product months ago, shouted it from the rooftops, and now here we are. So after all these ridiculously verbose paragraphs, let’s get to the goods. It’s the Merit Signature Sheer Lip Liner in the color bespoke*, and it is utterly, utterly, uniquely perfect:
In this case, it is both the formula and the color that are wildly different from anything I have ever used in my 33 years of wearing makeup. I can’t say why exactly, so I think it’s best I just show you with a visual:
This is … astonishing, yes? So the color is unlike any color that exists. It’s simply undupable. UNDUPABLE! It’s a little bit brownish but it actually has a very mauvey pink to it, so that it nevvvvvvver looks orange, which is always the dead giveaway of “LOOK AT MY LINER I USE TO PRETEND I HAVE BIGGER LIPS” and why most of us hate how we look in lip liner.
But here’s its other magic: it’s sheer. It’s wild no one has done this before, but it gives almost a shadow effect instead of an opaque line, making it, well, the single best lip liner of all time IF your goal is to make your lips look bigger and juicier and plumper. Which seems like a universal goal, yes? I originally bought like 6 liners in bespoke because it was sold out for months and I actually got quite panicky. But now I get the lip duo* with the bespoke liner and the tinted lip oil in the shade pointelle, which is all I’m wearing in the photo above.
Merit makes lots of sets that are cheaper than buying things individually—they also do a trio* which includes the liner, lip oil, and their geniusly designed blush called Flush Balm*, which is the first blush I’ve ever used in my lifetime where I can wear it directly on my skin without foundation and it gives me color and actually blurs my pores.
Fun fact—the makeup artist on Heated Rivalry used this blush in the shade “cheeky*” on Hudson Williams, but if I start talking about that too much I’ll lose my train of thought. They also do a “five minute morning” set*, which is genius, and a few other sets that feature their best-selling products. My personal faves that I have been using looooong before this partnership are their face brush* which we have written about countless times, their gorgeous face serum* which gives glow without being oily, and their not really a foundation not really a concealer stick* except it’s both and, similar to the lip liner, doesn’t announce itself, it just makes your skin look even and pretty.
Here’s a whole face of Merit, so you can see what I mean. Please note that I’m smiling so that you can see my crow’s feet, and how NOTHING about this makeup sinks into them:
The Color Trio* with Liner in Bespoke*, Lip Tint in Pointelle*, Flush Balm in Terra Cotta*
The Base Set* with Minimalist Stick in Suede* (gifted)
And because we’re here, why not swatch some colors because I find nothing showcases colors better than non-professional lighting on people’s hands so I can really see the shades:
Here are my favorite blush shades:
They also do very wearable lipsticks in two different formulas. The two shades on the left are their newest lipstick formula which is called the Signature Lip Blush*, which gives this lovely, hazy, blurred look on the lips. The two colors on the right are their regular lipstick—the color millenial* blotted on the lips is like life’s perfect pink, and the color baby* is a universal “looks amazing on everyone” shade.
Their lip gloss, called Shade Slick, is more like an oil—never sticky, and supremely hydrating. Every color is wearable so just pick the one you most gravitate to. My fave is Pointelle.
And some of their VERY crease-proof single pot eyeshadows, which we also wrote about eons ago here:
And so. In conclusion. Merit is very, very good. The lip liner* will change your life. The rest of it will definitely change your face. And of course, if you support this article by sharing it or, gasp, buying something from it, perhaps Merit will work with us again, and I’ll continue to have a job so that I can bring you similarly urgent news that will help you like what you see in the mirror every morning. A not insignificant thing.
We only work with companies we feel passionately about, and this post contains sponsored content. Our opinions are 100% our own, and in fact we only work with brands AFTER we've discovered something of theirs we love. Supporting this content means we all get to keep doing what we're doing here at The Candidly. And keep our jobs. So thanks for that.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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