Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Primer review

Milk Makeup: the current darling of many influencers and beauty gurus. They have been this hip, new brand for a while though, but of course impossible to get if you live in The Netherlands. What else is new?! So I made a point of checking out the brand when I was in the US last fall. After swatching and looking into the product, nothing in the line really sparked my interest. None, apart from one: their Hydro Grip primer. Why did this spark my interest you say? Well, because it boasts to be a hydrating primer that extends the wear time of your foundation at the same time. That to me sounds like a match made in heaven, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Review: Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Primer

Me being me, I of course didn’t get around to trying this for real until many moons later, but oh well. I finally started using this primer in April and have used up the size you see here and am currently waiting on a mini that I got as a point perk. I bought this smaller travel size after trying the point perk first. It impressed me enough to commit to the travel size. I figured that way I could try the product and see how much I truly liked it after using it over time. It also costs a lot less. The full size product retails for €30. The travel size for half the price. You do need to know that the full size comes with 45 mls of product, while the travel size comes with just 10 mls. So you pay half, but you only get one third of the product.

What is Milk Makeup’s Hydro Grip Primer USP?

The unique selling point for this primer is that it is apparently like no other. As the name would suggest this primer should be hydrating and GRIP your makeup in place an make it much more longwearing. The product makes good on those claims: it is a very hydrating product. So much so that I have found I can use less moisturizer in the morning. In a way it replaces a step in my skincare routine which is great. And where many hydrating primers do nothing to make your makeup last, this one does. With this under your makeup your makeup stays put all day. So far so good.

What is the packaging like?

What I appreciate is when brand continue their quality packaging in their mini and travel sizes. Even the smaller sizes come with a pump and look like baby versions of the larger bottle. That is great and the pump works very well too. I did find that now that I have used up my travel size that there is quite a bit of product coagulated in the bottom that the pump can’t reach. Perhaps you can open the larger size, but the travel and mini size can only be opened with brute force and it would be very difficult to reach the product at the bottom. Nice hygienic packaging, but because of the clear bottom you can clearly see how much product you are wasting. I’d say I have about 1 – 2 uses left in my used up bottle.

What does the primer swatch like?

So we have all our basic information down. What does this product actually do? Well not much that you can see in pictures. If I pump out one pump on the back of my hand you only get a little bit of product. When you blend it in you can see how shiney this is. It is a very strange watery texture, but still a bit tacky and sticky at the same time. That must be the ‘grip’ quality of this product. It feels a bit weird: almost like a very thin glue. I prefer applying primer with a brush to begin with, but with this I would definitely recommend that. You will just be left with sticky fingers otherwise. It blends in easily enough though and foundation and other makeup products blend seamlessly on top.

How does this primer work?

I am not entirely sure, but in the end I think this product has a tendency to dry down a bit which gives it its long-lasting powers. I already mentioned I apply this with a brush which is my preferred method for applying primer. If I use this all over my face I need two pumps of product. The texture is a bit too thick to make do with just one pump. In the before and after picture I don’t see a huge difference in my face. This doesn’t add glow or a tint and it does nothing extra to even out my skin tone. What this does do is add moisture, but that is not something you can see on a picture.

My final thoughts

The Milk Hydro Grip Primer is nice enough that I would repurchase it, but will I be going out of my way to pick this up? No, I wouldn’t. It is a nice primer. It hydrates. It makes me skip a step in my skincare routine. It has a pleasant feel, but is this as groundbreaking as everyone makes it out to be? Not to me. I have tried the Catrice Fresh It Up primer and that I like just as good as this one. Not only is it much more affordable, it is also much easier for me to get. In order to buy the Milk Makeup primer I would have to go abroad or order it from Sephora in France. Cult Beauty sells this, but currently doesn’t ship it to my country.

Would I recommend the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Primer?

Only if you are willing to shell out the cash and if you live somewhere where you can easily get your hands on it. This product is not worth going out of your way to get it. It is worth the price point, it is a really nice product, but it is not as revolutionary as many influencers and beauty youtubers make it out to be. I can get similar results with a primer that is 1/6 of the price. So why would I invest in this much more expensive one?

Have you tried the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip primer?