The Beauty of Looking Like Yourself

For MADGE founder Merrin, beauty was never about becoming someone else. She talks ageing, confidence, building a global beauty brand and learning to trust the woman behind it.

By HTE Founder, Erin Hughes.

Like many businesses, MADGE began with its founder trying to solve her own problem.

Merrin wanted a primer that gave her the finish she loved without feeling heavy. What she couldn’t find on the shelf eventually led her to question what she actually wanted from makeup.

“I wanted products that made your skin look and feel beautiful rather than making you feel like you needed to cover it up,” she says.

That idea became MADGE.

Effortless, skin-first beauty designed for real life.

But underneath the primers, tints and glosses is a bigger idea.

What if beauty wasn’t about becoming someone else?

What if it simply helped you feel more like yourself?

Looking like yourself

As Merrin has grown older, her own relationship with beauty has evolved.

“I think I’ve become much more comfortable with looking like myself,” she says.

“I’ve always loved beauty and makeup, but I don’t think makeup should make you feel like you need to become someone else. For me, it’s about enhancing what’s already there and feeling confident in your own skin.”

It’s a philosophy that sits at the heart of MADGE, and one Merrin believes matters particularly as women age.

“I think the industry has often made women feel that ageing is something they need to fight or hide, and I don’t agree with that,” she says.

“There is so much beauty in every stage of a woman’s life.”

Merrin also sees women themselves changing the conversation. She believes they’re increasingly looking for products that perform, feel authentic and fit easily into busy lives.

“I think it’s less about looking heavily made-up and more about looking fresh, healthy and like yourself, just enhanced.”

The women who taught her about beauty

Ask Merrin to name her ultimate beauty icon and she doesn’t choose a model, actress or celebrity.

She chooses her grandmother and her mother.

“They both have such a beautiful, effortless sense of style, and I think a lot of my relationship with beauty came from watching them,” she says.

What they passed down wasn’t a particular lipstick or beauty ritual. It was something more enduring.

“They taught me that beauty isn’t about looking perfect or following every trend. It’s about how you carry yourself, feeling confident and being comfortable in your own skin.”

It’s easy to see the connection between that lesson and the company Merrin would eventually create.

Long before MADGE became a beauty brand, the philosophy behind it was already being shaped by the women around her.

What you don’t see on the shelf

If MADGE is designed to make beauty feel effortless, creating those products is anything but.

One of Merrin’s biggest surprises since entering the industry has been discovering just how much work can sit behind something that appears simple on a shelf.

“There are so many decisions around formulation, ingredients, texture, colour, packaging, testing and manufacturing that customers never see,” she says.

“You can spend an enormous amount of time getting one small part of a product exactly right.”

The First Glossy is one example. Merrin wanted high shine without the uncomfortable stickiness traditionally associated with gloss, eventually adding details including a cooling effect and a metal applicator.

For someone discovering MADGE for the first time, however, Merrin points to the Glow and Go Sydney 2-in-1 Primer and BB Hydrating Tint.

It brings the story almost full circle: skincare and makeup working together to create glowing skin without relying on heavy foundation.

The solution, in many ways, to the problem that started MADGE in the first place.

Learning to back herself

Building a beauty company hasn’t only taught Merrin about formulations and manufacturing.

It has taught her about herself.

“Probably that I’m much more resilient than I realised,” she says.

There have been highs, but also the inevitable moments when things haven’t gone to plan and Merrin has had to make decisions without knowing exactly how they will turn out.

“I’ve learned not to let one difficult moment make me question the whole vision.”

It’s also taught her when to listen to the market and when to trust herself.

Merrin pays attention to beauty trends, but she doesn’t want MADGE to become a brand that simply follows them.

“I always come back to whether the product genuinely fits what we stand for and whether it’s something I would want to use myself,” she says.

“If it feels right for MADGE and I believe in it, I’m happy to back my instinct.”

Sometimes building something of your own comes down to exactly that.

Making the call.

And backing yourself.

When an idea becomes real

For Merrin, MADGE began to feel like a real business when women she didn’t know started buying the products.

Then they came back.

They recommended them.

They made MADGE part of their routines.

“There’s a big difference between having a vision in your head and seeing real women make MADGE part of their everyday routine,” she says.

“That’s when it started to feel very real.”

Now, the brand is entering its next chapter.

MADGE has recently landed in All About Eve stores, marking another step in the brand’s growth in Australia.

I went along to the launch, and it was such a fun morning with great energy. It was also so cool to see MADGE in the store.

“I was lucky enough to have my makeup done by Chantelle Baker, and the result was exactly what Merrin had been talking about. I still looked like me, just slightly more elevated. A simple, effortless everyday look.

It brought me back to something Merrin had said earlier about makeup enhancing what’s already there rather than making you feel like you need to become someone else.

MADGE’s ambitions extend well beyond Australia too. The brand is already in the US, with Merrin hoping to continue expanding there and eventually into other international markets, including Asia.

But bigger doesn’t automatically mean better.

For Merrin, success is building a brand women love, trust and return to.

And personally, success has another important measure.

“I want to build something I’m proud of while still having space for the other parts of my life that matter to me,” she says.

“I don’t think success should mean that work becomes your entire life.”

Keep going

If Merrin could sit beside the woman who first decided to turn a frustrating search for a primer into a beauty company, she knows what she’d tell her.

“Keep going.”

Trust the instinct. Enjoy the ride. Accept that the difficult moments are part of building something you believe in.

And stay true to the vision.

It’s advice about business, but there’s something in it that also reflects Merrin’s approach to beauty.

There will always be another trend telling us what to wear, another product promising to correct something, another version of who we’re supposedly meant to be.

Merrin’s philosophy is simpler.

Become more comfortable with looking like yourself.

Trust what feels right for you.

And whether you’re standing in front of a mirror or building something from nothing.