The Cut: What Made It and What Didn't

I've had to slow down on purchases recently as we ramp up to the wedding in just a handful of months, but I did make some great (and unfortunately, not so great) makeup and clothing purchases this month. We have some interesting products to cover, so let's dive in.

Made the Cut

MERIT Day Glow | Citrine

MERIT's Day Glow (along with pretty much every other MERIT product) has achieved a cult following for its natural, lasting, dewy finish that doesn't leave behind glitter or shimmer. They recently added a third color to the lineup: Citrine, a soft gold ($30). I've been using Cava since this product launched and love the way it looks on my skin.

However, I was worried that Citrine might be too dark for my skin tone, so I held off on buying it, but when MERIT launched The Summer Bag a couple of weeks ago I decided to give it a shot so I could meet the $75 purchase minimum to get the bag. I was happily proven wrong — Citrine melts onto the skin and gives just a hint of warmth without pulling orange or looking too dark on my skin tone. And like Cava, it gives a really natural-looking sheen without being glittery.

MERIT The Summer Bag

Like their makeup, MERIT's signature caramel-colored, corduroy handbag is well-loved among fans and has been photographed to death on Instagram. (Not that I can blame anyone for looking at its chic, unusual style and thinking it would make for some great photos.) With only one other iteration — a limited edition, black velvet version that launched for the Holiday 2021 season — it was becoming high time for MERIT to show us what else they could do in the way of handbags.

They came through with The Summer Bag, MERIT's Summer 2022 limited edition bag. At the time of writing, it's currently still available with a $75 purchase. Made of a thick, textured canvas with an unusually wide black strap, it has a minimal shape and profile that align with MERIT's minimalist brand ethos. This tote doesn't have any inner pockets but it's pretty roomy and can hold a lot of stuff. It can be worn crossbody, but it's sort of an awkward, in-between length for that so I'd recommend wearing it as a shoulder bag as intended. This is a really nice tote that goes with a lot of different outfits, that I'll be using well beyond the summer.

Violette_FR Baume Shine

Violette_FR has consistently impressed me with their products, so I decided to give the Baume Shine Universal Highlighter ($25) a try. Much like MERIT's Day Glow, this is a dewy balm that gives the skin a natural sheen without using glitter. It's flattering on all skin tones and has a really nice consistency that isn't sticky. Also like Day Glow, I prefer to apply by rubbing my fingertip across the top of the product and dabbing onto the high points of my cheekbones so I'm not rubbing the clean stick onto my makeup. I also use a different finger for each cheekbone to avoid product transfer from my face to the stick. This lasts long on my face and gives a super nice highlight that's subtle but still noticeable.

Everpress Aglio e Olio Club Tee

Forever on the hunt for great graphic tees, I instantly fell in love with this Aglio e Olio Club tee ($32) from Everpress. The design is by an artist named Michal Loba. I first saw the tee in an Instagram ad in my feed and knew I had to have it; I'm a quarter Italian and grew up eating aglio e olio thanks to my mom, so this was such a perfect tee (and I really liked the design).

Everpress, however, is a bit unusual. The way it works with them is that an artist puts their design on the site and, if you like it, you pledge to buy it. If enough people also purchase the tee by a certain deadline, the tee will then go to print and ship out within a week or two later. If the campaign doesn't meet its target number of sales by the deadline, buyers will be refunded. Right now the campaign for this tee is over, but it appears to be a popular one, as there are multiple ended campaigns for this design (which means enough people purchased it and showed interest in new campaigns that the artist has brought it back over and over). If you want it, sign up to get email alerts if (and likely when) the design is brought back for yet another campaign.

Didn't Make the Cut

L’Oréal Glow Paradise Lip & Cheek Tint

This is an awful product.

I really don't understand how products this bad make it through product testing. This is essentially a tube of barely-tinted water. I picked this up at Target on a whim because I like L’Oréal's Skin Paradise Water-Infused Tinted Moisturizer, which reminds me of the Covergirl Clean Fresh line of products that I like. I got the color Ethereal Blush, a warm terracotta brown.

I squeezed a little onto the back of my hand and was confused by how watery the formula was and how it completely disappeared when I tried to blend it out. It just wiped away like, well, water. I shook the tube and squeezed out more, hoping for a thicker product with more color payoff.

Nope. This is seriously just a tube of tinted water that doesn't build and disappears the instant the product is blended out in any capacity. I find it very hard to believe that L’Oréal used this product, and not entirely different products, in the marketing product shots. Don't buy this. There are plenty of better things you could spend ten bucks on (or fourteen bucks, depending on where you buy this).

Be sure to check back next month for another round of products that made the cut and didn't, and thanks for reading my monthly series, The Cut.

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The Cut: What Made It and What Didn't — July 2022