Issue 94: It's not vanity. It's care
My makeup anchors with Merit
This letter is brought to you in part by Merit Beauty. I have been using Merit since 2021. Truly. I still have my first receipt somewhere.
Most troupe letters are for paid readers. A few times a year, I partner with a brand I genuinely love so I can open a letter up to everyone and share great pieces and products with you.
I am very selective about who I work with. And I am honoured to share my favorite Merit products with you.
The theme for troupe in 2026 is Back to Basics.
In Issue 92 I wrote about the black turtleneck. A piece that really does it all. Day time, dinners, events. It can do no wrong. Polished but still a little sexy.
While personal style is my main focus here, beauty and skincare are tied to that conversation. It is all about how we show up. How we present ourself. How we feel in our skin.
I discovered Merit in 2021. We were coming out of covid. The world was reopening but I was a very different person than I was prior to 2020. I had a one year old. I did not feel like myself. My old makeup routine did not make sense anymore (nor did I even remember what it was).
Merit felt cool and easy. Elevated but not intimidating.A handful of products. It did not feel overwhelming. It felt edited.
And the ingredients mattered. That was new for me. The hormones of pregnancy and postpartum were a real culture shock. My skin was confused. I was confused. (i honestly shutter thinking about it!)
Anchors
I talk a lot about anchors in a wardrobe. What’s an anchor? The thing that makes you feel like yourself immediately.
The coat that makes the outfit so you can wear the same black tee and jeans 5 days in a row. The nike sneakers you have worn for years that pair back a blazer-as-a-coat. The bag that gives it all your personal point of view.
These are not revolutionary pieces. They are repeated. They are ones you rely on to always make you feel yourself.
The magic is less in owning them, and more in actually wearing them. On repeat. With confidence. On a tuesday. When you know you won’t be bumping into anyone you know. Getting dressed for yourself.
That is the energy.
So many clients tell me they do not want to look like they are trying hard. So they shy away from trying at all.
Then, when they do put effort in, it feels so forced. Like a costume.
My friend texted me that she has started wearing her “night” coats during the day. The ones she used to save for dinner. And she said it completely changed how she feels on an average day dropping her kids at school or running an errand.
It made me smile.
Things feel fancy in our heads because we have put them in a category. Evening. Special. Save for later.
But the minute you wear it at 10am to grab a coffee, that line disappears. It just becomes your coat. Your new normal.
Getting dressed is a practice. A practice in knowing what feels like you. (see issue 91)
When you find an outfit that feels completely like yourself, repeat it!!! Again and again.
Get used to that feeling. Of feeling so yourself.
This is where the ease comes from.
In the Spring 2026 issue of Vogue Collections, there is a feature on what designers wear to their own shows. And it’s so telling. They are all in their own version of a uniform. Jeans and a tee. Season after season. When they need to feel clear and grounded, they reach for their uniform. Their anchors.
It is not vanity
Makeup fits into this same practice.
When I realized I put on makeup every single day. I had a brief spiral. Am i that vain!?! do i care that much?
But makeup is so different than it was when I was younger.
It is not about vanity. About trying hard. It is about care.
Every morning I even out my skin and under my eyes with my merit complexion stick. I warm up my face a bit. A little blush. Fill in my brows. Colour my lips. Done.
Takes me three minutes.
Good skin. Soft definition. Nothing harsh. That’s the goal.
It just makes me feel awake. Put together. Like myself. The same way getting dressed does.
Some makeup looks I reference for myself and clients:
Do this first
Here is the most useful thing I can offer you. Figure out your makeup anchors. Your beauty priorities. And then make it a ritual to spend those 3 minutes on it before you get dressed.
If I try on clothes and my face feels like a mess, everything feels harder when I get dressed. Things don’t feel like they look good.
But when I take three minutes first and even out my skin, add blush, brush my brows, put colour on my lips, I feel good in my skin.
Then I get dressed from that place.
It also protects your morning!
If you have kids. If you have a busy house. If you have a full day ahead of you.
Start with your face. Even if you only have sixty seconds after that to throw on jeans and a long sleeve, you are good.
You checked the box that helps you feel good in your skin and it sets you up for the day.
Edited, not excess.
Just like an edited closet matters, an edited bathroom does too.
A bathroom cabinet overflowing with products you could not possibly be using tells one story. A tight, intentional lineup tells another.
One feels cluttered. One feels clear.
Back to basics is not about less for the sake of less. It is about clarity. Knowing what works. Repeating it. Being happy with what you have.
I filmed my routine to show you how I do it. It really does take three minutes once you are in the swing of it. (and not rambling to yourself on camera)
You can watch it here.
I have also listed every product I used in the video below:
Merit complexion stick (ps they give you a free makeup bag if it's your first order!)
Merit flush balm (archival and bespoke)
Saie setting powder (translucent 2)
Saie setting mist (I have the mini, alot comes in it and then it’s easy to travel with)
Dorsey 14k white gold pear huggie…because I know you will ask about it!
*if I am doing a dinner makeup look or want a little extra, I will tap a brush into highlighter and gently press it under my eyes for brightness. Not shimmer. Just light. And if I am really feeling extra, I tight line the lashes. A little eyeliner right on to the upper lash line. It gives definition without looking like you are wearing eyeliner. A trick I read about from one of my favorite makeup artists, Cyndle Komarovski.
Thank you all for being here. I am grateful for every one of you!! Coming up in the next letter…an anchor in my wardrobe I could not live with out.
Have a great weekend!!
xx
Reva
I felt like I was watching a vogue beauty video with my morning coffee. team no mascara forever <3
What shade are you using in the colorscience eye concealer?