In business and in life, Merit’s chief marketing officer Aila Morin’s number one rule is to always sleep on it; a philosophy she credits to her growth as an executive and, frankly, her mental health. “If I get hit with a problem, I have to be able to say, ‘Thanks so much for sharing that with me and let me get back to you,’” she says. “[Realizing] I don’t need to provide someone with an immediate reaction in the moment [has honestly been the most important thing for my nervous system]. I have never regretted taking a step back.”
What becomes immediately clear in speaking with Morin is how decisive she is, again, both in professional and personal spheres. A self-proclaimed creature of habit, she’ll automate anything she can; though she doesn’t try to systemize creativity. Her best ideas are formed on airplanes—at cruising altitudes with no working Wi-Fi; on vacation when she’s off the grid; or in what she calls the in-between moments, like on her morning commute and at the dentist. “[Ideas] come together for me very quickly, say, 20 minutes, but it’s hard to control when that happens,” she says. “Then I just write it down as fast as possible and share with the team very early because I love to download an idea.”
Morin joined Merit as senior vice president a year prior to its 2020 launch, when the brand was still in its inception stage, not yet the lineup of makeup essentials targeted towards millennial and Gen Z women that you might know and love today. Though she was technically promoted to CMO in 2023, the core focus of the job remains largely the same: “overseeing product development, creative, marketing, customer experience, everything end-to-end that you experience in the brand, as well as creating the business fundamentals of the direct-to-consumer and Sephora split,” she details.
As CMO, Morin has to straddle two worlds—the operational and the creative. “I live in the ‘building a P&L [profit and loss]’ left brain of ‘how are we driving profit and how are we driving scale?’ And then I live in the deeply creative side of ‘what are we naming a product, what is the positioning, and how is this different and special?’” I ask her how she bridges this split. The answer? Location and strategic scheduling.
Her home base in LA, she tells me, brings out her creative side. “I have a lot more space,” she says. “I have an office with all my bits and bobs, [so] I can think. When I go to New York, which is usually once, if not twice, a month, I’m there to work on a P&L, to externalize a project, to operationalize something through the business.” Over the last six years, Morin has shepherded Merit through far too many launches, campaigns, and milestones to count. In building the business and growing her team, her personal time has shrunk. In her 20s she was all career—all gas, no breaks when it came to taking care of herself. Now she asks, “What is the time that I’ve built for myself and what are the nonnegotiables that I put in my personal life? How can I apply the discipline that I put into building a business to how I take care of myself?”
Eight hours of sleep and daily movement—be it Pilates, an hour-long walk, or tennis—are essential. To ensure she hits her goals, she schedules all her workouts at the beginning of the week, and plots them on her calendar with transit blocks for commuting. “It’s more like a commitment to get it done even if it doesn’t look perfect,” she says. “When I say I make it a priority, I adjust my life around making that happen as though it was my job.” Morin will even request walking meetings with team members, or squeeze in a quick 20-minute strength workout after a long flight if necessary.
Generally in back-to-back meetings from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m, waking up 5 a.m. is essential to ground herself before work. After walking her dog, she goes to hot Pilates, which is a five-minute walk from her house (the short distance is key to ensure she’ll always make it). Once back home, she showers and gets ready quickly. Then, she has the same smoothie every morning, following Kelly Leveque’s Fab Four method of protein, carb, fat, and fiber: a mix of chia seeds, hemp seeds, berries, spinach, coconut water, and almond butter. “It gives me a ton of energy,” she says. “A lot of the time, especially if I’m up really early, I don’t have an appetite yet. So this way I kind of force myself to intake a proper breakfast.”
Though she leads one of the industry’s most sought-after beauty brands, hair and makeup take up the least amount of her getting-ready routine. “I try and spend the most of the time on like movement, exercise, eating properly. And then I habit-stack.” When she’s driving to work she’s drinking electrolytes out of a giant water bottle and applying cuticle oil at the stop light. “That 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. [slot] is the only time I’m in control of my day, which is why that becomes so important. And for me, I feel like when I was younger, it was so much more about, like, beauty and getting ready, and now it’s so much more about feeling ready, which is a very different thing.”
What Morin makes clear is that Merit is born out of a place of reality; it is designed to solve problems women have in their day-to-day. Its cosmetics simplify the getting-ready process, much in the way Morin has streamlined her own regimen. In reflecting on what her work has taught her, she says the two are very intertwined—like the eternal chicken-and-egg brain scratcher. For example, Morin’s quick makeup routine laid the groundwork for the brand’s Five-Minute Morning lineup; though she wonders, “When you’re really close to it, did this inspire me or did I inspire it?” At the end of the day, it can be said that helping women thrive is Morin’s north star.
As a leader, Morin is conscious of the example she’s setting. She’d rather show up to the office with wet hair and in a hoodie—ready to work, having taken care of herself first, rather than prioritizing superficial appearances. “I’m really conscious of the fact that I don’t expect perfection from myself to always look a certain way.”
Ahead, Morin dives deep into the beauty and wellness rituals that set her up for success; though she admits she wouldn’t be where she is without self-reflection, therapy, and an incredible support system. “I don’t think I ever understood the extent of how durable I could be as a person until I went through the process of building businesses,” she says. “I have learned that I am so much stronger than I ever would have thought.”
.jpg)
Straightforward Skin Care
Morin keeps body care and skin care very straightforward. Necessaire’s body wash is an essential; and if time isn’t of the essence, she’ll reach for its exfoliator to keep skin soft. For face, it’s CeraVe’s Hydrating Facial Cleanser, plus a spritz of Biba de Sousa’s Hydrating Toner before massaging in Merit’s Great Skin Serum and Great Skin Moisturizer and finishing with the brand’s tinted SPF.
Five-Minute Makeup
Makeup follows a similarly streamlined approach: Primed with tinted SPF, she’ll spot-conceal breakouts with the Minimalist Complexion Stick. Flush Balm blush in shade Bespoke awakens her cheeks with ease. Moving onto eyes, clear gel tames her brows, while a squeeze of Shiseido’s curler lifts the lashes (“Replace it once a year cause it gets less bouncy,” she instructs). It’s followed by a swipe of mascara; plus Merit’s Signature Lip Liner (also in shade Bespoke) and Shade Slip lip gloss in Twin Set.
For days when she’s getting photographed or heading to a board meeting, Givenchy’s loose powder sets and blurs; while Maybelline’s liquid eyeliner gives her gave a subtle lift. Kiko Milano’s lip stain ensures a long-lasting lip combo.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Fool-Proof Hair
Morin actually doesn’t own any hot tools, aside from a blow-dryer; her at-home styling abilities don’t go beyond her trusted overnight heatless curler—which she’ll wear ahead of an important day without fail. “Knowing that I’m going to wake up with good hair, not having to do my hair the morning of a big meeting, is a really weird psychological unlock where I don’t have to think about it and there’s lower risk,” she says.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Well-Rounded Wellness
Working with a naturopath and scheduling biannual blood work are foundational to her wellness practice. Additionally, she swears by her functional supplements—probiotics, fish oil, and histamine-reducing solutions; but that’s not where the ingestibles end.
“I drink four liters of water a day, nonnegotiable,” she says. “So I always have something in my water, mostly because I’m not going to drink it unless there’s something in it.” More often than not, it’s Moon Juice’s electrolytes. For her smoothie, she’ll add Leveque’s protein isolate and creatine; even ashwagandha if she’s feeling particularly anxious.
Morin is big on gadgets too. She uses the Therabody wand as a gua sha to quell morning puffiness. Her latest purchase was a vibration plate which she says helps relieve muscle tension, though the verdict is still out on their scientific efficacy. Last but not least is her go-to sleep supplement: “The Moon Juice melatonin magnesium combo is how I get eight hours every single night.”
Formulaic Dressing
It should come as no surprise that Morin appreciates a good uniform. “My closet’s entirely black, white, some navy, and a little bit of beige,” she says. “When I like something, I just buy a bunch of it because I usually don’t like anything.” For example, she has Khaite’s Bonnie jean in four different washes, and The Row’s Gala pants in three colors. She’ll pair them with one of her 25 Flore Flore T-shirts, a knit sweater or cardigan over top, and then a fun shoe.
