What it is: Milk Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tint is a lip and cheek stain in a water-based jelly stick. It dries down quickly, feeling almost like nothing on the skin. It is not sticky at all and also does not feel moisturizing, hydrating or slippery. It feels like a “water stain” but instead of being liquidy, it has a giggly, gelatin-like texture. 

Price/Quantity: $24 for 5g / 0.17 oz.

Availability: Milk Makeup, Sephora

Shade Range: 4 Shades

Packaging: Chubby stick in a plastic twist up container. The cap pulls off and snaps back on. It requires a decent amount of effort to remove and replace the cap but it’s definitely not unreasonably difficult. Most of the label on the bottom of the packaging has large enough text to not need reading glasses (lol) but there are a few things I’d say are too small.

Smell/Fragrance: Very light floral scent. It’s not like a rosy scent, more like an “herbal” floral scent.

Expiration/Shelf Life: 6 months after opening.

Ingredients: Aqua/Water/Eau, Glycerin, Sorbitol, Propanediol, Butylene Glycol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Niacinamide, Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis Flower Extract, Hylocereus Undatus Fruit Extract, Kappaphycus Alvarezii Extract, Tremella Fuciformis Polysaccharide, Chlorella Ferment, Tocopherol, Maris Aqua/Sea Water/Eau De Mer, Allantoin, Agarose, Carbomer, Sodium Hydroxide, Glyceryl Acrylate/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Pvm/Ma Copolymer, Potassium Carbonate, Citric Acid, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Benzoic Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Benzyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance (Parfum), Linalool, Red 28 (Ci 45410), Red 40 (Ci 16035), Yellow 6 (Ci 15985). Source: Milk Makeup

Performance

Shade Selection: All of the shades look like they are bright options. I only have this one shade (Spritz) that I can really comment on, but if the others offer the same level of color punch this one does, they are geared toward people that like brighter color in general. I chose Spritz, which is described as a coral orange, but this comes off much more red in person. I don’t get as much orange from it as I was hoping for. For the swatches above, the left side is a few swipes of the stick directly onto the skin, and the right side is applied with a tiny damp sponge (like a mini Beauty Blender). I find it interesting how the color looks warmer and less pink on the sponge side.

Application: This is a product I’ve had to try different ways of applying to get it to work well. The methods that worked best for me are the bolded paragraphs below.

For the cheeks, my first attempt was applying directly to the skin from the stick, thinking I’d just blend it out with my fingers. The color absorbed instantly into the skin and left a large red dot with hard edges on my cheek that was difficult to blend and diffuse. It stains the fingers doing this, so I need to be careful to clean my hands well afterward.

My second attempt was using a brush to pick up color and then apply to the cheeks. This worked way better and resulted in a much sheerer application that was still not entirely blendable, but sheer enough to be able to build up in a much more even way. I was mindful to choose a brush with dark bristles to avoid staining the brush.

The third attempt was using a damp sponge, which was my favorite way. It gave me an equally sheer application as the brush but somehow I felt it applied more evenly this way. I have a black sponge luckily, but if you go this route be aware it may stain a sponge as well. Below is how it looks applied with a sponge:

I tried one last thing when using it as a blush and that was to sweep it broadly directly onto the cheek, drawing the product on from the hairline near my ear halfway toward my nose, covering the entire area of the cheek I wanted to apply blush to with one large but very thin layer. Then I quickly grabbed a dense foundation blending brush and blended it out, focusing mainly on softening the edges. This does work and it did transfer a little to my brush, but my brush cleaner was able to remove it without leaving stains on my brush bristles. Applying one layer this way gives me a reasonably sheer but bright look and I was able to repeat the process and build up a second layer for more color intensity.

For lips, I first tried sweeping this directly onto bare lips that were not prepared in any way. No lip balm, no exfoliation, etc. They were ever so slightly chapped as well. The color grabbed onto the driest part of my lips the most intensely and went on unevenly in general. It didn’t feel like much of anything as the formula is super thin. It leaves no feeling of residue on the lips but I am somehow more aware that they are dry with this product over top. I have the feeling of wanting to apply lip balm over it.

Next time, I tried to apply it over lip balm and that gave me a slightly more even look, but the color still applied more heavily toward the inner part of my lips than the outer part. This is a look that is kind of unique and some people go for the “I just ate a popsicle” look on purpose. This had a much more comfortable feel to me as well.

Texture/Consistency/Finish: Feels literally like Jello and has a slightly cooling effect if it touches the skin. It doesn’t have a menthol-y cooling feel, just cool like cool water. It “melts” ever so slightly if it touches the cheek directly and a little bit at a time will transfer to the skin. Very thin lightweight feel, without any tacky residue at all. Milk describes the finish as being like watercolor and I think that fits well. It’s sheer and see through but at the same time the color is vibrant, very visible and can have hard edges if you aren’t careful in how you apply it.

Pigmentation/Color Payoff: It is technically sheer (transparent) but the color it gives is pretty intense and bright. For cheeks, if it is applied with a brush or sponge, I can see how they would describe this as being sheer. It is very buildable when used that way and can go from barely there to POW. For lips, if I just do one or two quick passes, the color goes on lightly over most of my lips, except for parts that are drier (especially the inner part of my lips). On those parts it looks pretty bright. If applied over a balm, it does go on more sheer and a bit more evenly, but still not as even as I’d like.

Longevity: On the cheek it really lasts well. If I wear it all day, it hardly fades at all by the end of the day. On the lips it needs to be reapplied after about half a day to maintain color vibrancy but it stays on well through meals and barely transfers at all onto my coffee cups.

Pros and Cons

Things I like:

• As a blush, has good staying power, resists fading.
• Doesn’t leave a sticky feel on the skin.
• As a lip product, reapplies well (if used over lip balm).
• When worn over a lip balm, gives me the look of a bright/bold lip gloss without the mess of one.
• Little to no transfer or fading with eating and drinking.

Drawbacks and other considerations:

• Requires lots of trial and error to figure out how to use it.
• Stains fingers if you use your fingers to blend it out.
• Doesn’t apply evenly on the lips the way a lip gloss or balm does. Tends to deposit color more heavily on drier areas and to the center part of the lips.
• As a lip product, it isn’t necessarily drying, but does not provide any moisture or slip at all.

Do I Recommend It?

This has been a frustrating product for me. If you are someone that struggles with products that require a learning curve, just be aware that’s what you’re getting with this one. For someone that enjoys learning how to use new products/formulas and trying different application methods, the main benefits I’d say this one offers is the type of color effect it offers on the cheek (being very vibrant while at the same time sheer/transparent), longevity as a blush, the popsicle lip look, and the ability to wear a bright/bold lip color that can hold up through meals and not transfer onto drinking glasses. If any of those is important to you, it might be worth checking out.

Comparisons

From left to right:

• Milk Cooling Water Jelly Tint in Spritz
• Elf Camo Liquid Blush in Coral Crush
• Saie Dew Blush in Poppy
• Revlon Gel Serum Blush in 130 Beaming Coral
• Nars Blush in Exhibit A
• GXVE Beauty Feelin’ Cheeky Blush in Flirty Talk

The formula is very different for all of these but I picked out a handful of shades to help make the color of Spritz more clear. To me it is more red than orange, but I do see the pinky/coral tone clearly. The Milk product doesn’t leave any sort of dew or reflect on the skin as it absorbs and dries down completely. If you like a glowy cheek, use a hydrating product underneath to help give the skin a dewier finish.

Ulta Beauty Weightless Water Lip Stains are sheer, buildable lip colors with a lightweight feel that come in four easy-to-wear shades. They have a super thin feel to them compared to something like a gloss or balm and they dry down to an almost matte finish. Upon first swipe, the color goes on lighter than what you see on the top of the packaging but you can build up the intensity with a few layers. They have a light fruity scent but have a somewhat bitter taste. The taste isn’t that strong and it goes away after blotting. These are $10 each and can be purchased from Ulta.

I’m not a huge lip product user in general and lip stains are not something I have a whole lot of experience with. The last ones I tried were from Fenty and before that I dabbled with Benetint a few times. But, I’ll try to give you whatever useful info I can. My preference in lip products are things that require little effort and upkeep and don’t look super bold.

I wear tested all of these and got better results with some than others. The way I wore them most of the time was blotted and with balm or gloss over top. Very Berry was the one that faded most obviously and in a somewhat uneven way, holding on longest to the parts of my lips that were driest and fading sooner on the inner parts and around the edges. Mango Dreams did something similar but it wasn’t as obvious being a bit lighter of a shade on me. Fading from both of these shades started showing by lunchtime. The other two shades lasted much better on me looking nearly the same late in the afternoon as they did early in the morning. I did not experience color transfer from any of them since it was the skin that was stained and the color did not leach into the balm or gloss so, even if I touched that, it still did not transfer.

For application and longevity, I realized some things after using these all week long. It helps to apply a lip balm way before I apply these – when I’m doing my foundation and eye makeup. If I let that hydrate my lips for a while, then wipe off the excess before applying the stain, I get a much more even application. Otherwise, the deeper red shades clung to areas of dryness and darkened on those areas as the stain dried down. Prepping the lips this way and then applying balm or gloss over top seemed to also improve longevity. I got less uneven fading throughout the day and my lips didn’t get dry or chapped even after many hours. Another thing is, these are way more customizable than I thought. You can apply the smallest amount and get a little hint of color if you want. The color you see on the packaging is more of what you get if you build it up.

Below, I show you photos of all the shades applied 4 different ways. The first photos are just the stain applied to bare lips (no balm underneath) and with some of the shades, I applied a couple of layers if the first didn’t go on evenly. Next, I blotted some of the stain off. And for the last two pictures I applied some clear lip balm and lip gloss over top of the blotted stain.

Very Berry

Very Berry went on the most unevenly out of all of them but I only tried using this on lips that were not well prepped. Will have to try again on another day.

Mango Dreams

Mango Dreams ended up looking way less bright, orange and intense compared to Very Berry. It went on more sheer at first and looked much more “natural” on my skin tone than I expected once I blotted and used some balm over it.

Pink Popsicle

Pink Popsicle was the shade I most dreaded using. I really don’t like bright bubblegum pink lip colors but it turns out that this is my favorite shade out of the four. This one is very sheer at first and is cooler toned than I expected. It even builds up nicely, looking more like a berry pink than a barbie pink at full intensity.

Cherry Pie

Cherry Pie is another I ended up like more than I thought I would because of how it looks when applied lightly. It is a warm red and when it is sheer, it looks pretty close to my natural lip color, but just a warmer version of that.