I've Been Secretly Testing Merit's New Cleanser for 6 Weeks—Here's What I Want You to Know
Around three months ago, I received an email with the subject line: Experience Merit's Latest Skincare Innovation. A few weeks later, I was sitting in the treatment bed of my favourite facialist in the game (Katharine Mackenzie Paterson, should you wish to know), being introduced to Merit Great Skin Double Cleanse. And while I am probably Merit's number one fan thanks to the brand's low-fuss approach to beauty (if you don't already know about Merit Flush Balm or Merit Retrospect perfume, get to know), the launch of a Merit cleanser wasn't on my 2025 bingo card.
And yet, with my skin being horribly prone to breakouts as a result of using the wrong cleanser formulas more often than I'd like to admit (I'm constantly testing products for my job, after all), a new cleanser from a brand I am already very loyal to seemed like a good thing to try. And boy, oh boy, have I been impressed. But, as with everything Merit touches, this formula isn't like anything else out there, so let me fill you in...
Merit Great Skin Double Cleanse, Reviewed
Merit
Great Skin Double Cleanse
Pros
- Effectively rids the skin's surface of makeup, SPF, oil and dirt
- Feels luxurious to use
- Doesn't contain any irritating fragrance
- The hard-working formula saves time on double-cleansing
- Contains very impressive ingredients, including PHAs
- Looks exceptionally good on the shelf
Cons
- It does sting eyes a little if you really get it in there (like I did)
- I'd still double cleanse on very heavy makeup days
The Formula
Let's start with the formula and what's promised by Merit Great Skin Double Cleanse. While the brand has typically focused on lazy-girl-approved, foolproof makeup products, in recent years, Merit has started to enter the skin space, too. Great Skin Double Cleanse is the third product to be added to the Great Skin franchise, following the launches of Great Skin Priming Moisturizer and Great Skin Instant Glow Serum. The formulas are, true to the brand's style, low fuss, simple to use and offer glowing results.
What is special about Double Cleanse is that it promises to eradicate the need for that all-important double cleanse at the end of the day (where your first cleanse is there to rid the skin of makeup and SPF, and the second cleanse to really get into the pores).
How does it do this? Well, the bi-phase, foaming cleanser might look like it contains oil, but it actually doesn't. Instead, it contains a combination of gentle oat-derived surfactants to work hard on makeup and grime, as well as plant-derived humectants to restore moisture and hydration. The MVP of the formula, though, in my opinion, is PHA (that's polyhydroxy acid), an ingredient heralded for its ability to provide very gentle but effective exfoliation, boosting glow and limiting risk of breakouts, without majorly disrupting the skin's natural moisture barrier.
And as someone who just wants a simple cleanser that will rid her breakout-prone skin of pore-clogging dirt without drying things out so much that she loses her glow, my hopes were very high.
The Application
Foaming cleansers get a bad rap, but I'm going to let you know right now that there is no need to stress about them—whether or not a cleanser will be drying and bad for your skin depends upon so much more than whether the texture is foaming or not.
