Milk Makeup launched a billion-dollar beauty brand by fusing disruptive product design with authentic cultural storytelling.
ChallengeMakeup brands weren’t speaking to Gen Z’s values or culture. The industry relied on traditional models and conventional beauty narratives, ignoring the seismic shifts happening around self-expression and authenticity. Milk Studios wanted to launch a makeup line that reflected its creative community: diverse personalities with stories to tell, not faceless campaigns. The challenge was to introduce an entirely new brand with a large initial product line and immediately connect with a new audience in a way no other beauty brand had.
ActionAs part of Wondersauce, we designed Milk Makeup’s first digital experience from the ground up. The site architecture made a broad product suite intuitive to explore while emphasizing Milk’s strongest assets: bold packaging, innovative formulas, and the personalities behind the brand. We created a UX that stayed out of the way and let the product and people lead, integrating photography, texture-driven visuals, and “looks” content that showcased real users and achievable styles. The platform blended product detail with cultural storytelling, giving Milk a unique digital voice aligned with its in-store presence.
ResultMilk Makeup’s launch was an immediate success. The brand secured placement at Sephora and rapidly penetrated a crowded beauty market. Its personality-driven approach built deep audience resonance and differentiated it from legacy competitors. Within five years, Milk Makeup was acquired for $1.2 billion, validating the strategy and cementing its place as a cultural and commercial force in modern beauty.
