Few things are as irritating as makeup showing up on Instagram and YouTube being touted as the greatest things since Muji cotton buds, while being completely unavailable to purchase where you live. Enter Milk Makeup. The best cream bronzer ever – “it’s the perfect shade of brown”, cream blush for people who hate blush colours, makeup fit for your carry-on liquid-ban requirements, face oils in stick form (whaaat), are just some of the claims I was inundated with. Sephora? No. Mecca? Nah. American department stores that will ship? Nope. The brand’s own e-commerce: We’re working on it. The UK was recently granted the right to purchase via Cult Beauty but sadly they will not ship it worldwide. Regardless of its classified buying status, it’s worthy of review for those who live in the US, UK, or those travelling – or those shovelling dollars into the accounts of those friends who are travelling.
I found myself in the latter group, emailing off a shopping list to someone landing at Sephora New York a few months ago. Since then, I find myself with two new staples. The cream bronzer in Baked, and the cream blush in Swish – reviews coming soon.
I was intrigued enough to try the Cooling Water; a blue solid gel that is invisible on the skin but supposedly cools and de-puffs the skin. It was novel, the first and second time I used it, but the cooling effect was extremely short lived and disappointingly subtle. Sure, you can swirl it around your eyes but it’s got nothing on a jade roller or the back of a teaspoon. The blurring primer was equally meh.
The Matcha Cleanser is an on-the-fence product for me. Having never used a stick cleanser, the application took some getting used to, but my face felt clean and refreshed afterwards. I’m not sure a stick-form cleanser would be my first choice, given that you have to rub it over your dirty face and then put the lid back on for next use, but I didn’t hate it. It has some exfoliating properties, the little bumps on the product look a little suspicious after first use, and I imagine this would be a winner for frequent flyers getting around the no-liquids rule.
The Hydrating Oil is a wild card buy, and reviews seemed mixed. For me, this is the pick of the skincare litter. A roll-on oil isn’t something we’re used to and I do find myself forgetting to use this, but when I do, it is satisfyingly luscious, hydrating and dewy, and would be wonderful while flying long haul. Say, to Sephora New York, to stock up on more Milk Makeup cream bronzer.