How Milk Makeup Is Turning a Decade-Old Formula Into Something Brand New
We talked to co-founder Zanna Roberts Rassi about bringing back the cult-favorite Sticks lineup.
A decade after launching, Milk Makeup isn’t rebranding — it’s reinventing. Born in downtown New York City, the brand was once a symbol of 2010s beauty, when everyday chaos settled into real routines. Now, with consumer awareness on the rise and an endless list of new brands attempting to outlast the algorithm, Milk is going back to what works.
The editorial aesthetic and on-the-go philosophy that Milk Makeup emerged from sits at the center of its biggest drop of the year. In addition to a complete relaunch of the brand’s hero Sticks collection, Milk is also introducing Line + Fill, a new lip innovation that’s said to combine the precision of a liner with the payoff of a lipstick. For co-founder Zanna Roberts Rassi, the launch isn’t just a packaging refresh, it’s a complete reworking of the brand’s most loved category. Above all else, Milk is emphasizing that its DNA hasn’t budged — rather, it’s evolving to better suit the needs of modern makeup fans.
The full rollout arrives just in time for Milk’s 10-year anniversary. Alongside the updated Sticks, Line + Fill expands the brand’s ethos of high-performing products built for busy schedules. Available in ten versatile shades, the multi-use product is formulated to be creamy and matte, with ceramides, aloe vera, raspberry seed oil and avocado oil working over time to keep lips hydrated. The rest of the Stick lineup gets an equally significant upgrade, powered by hyaluronic acid alongside jojoba seed oil, pomegranate flower extract and ceramides for a formula that hydrates as much as it colors. The reintroduced range includes a bronzing stick, a cool-toned contour stick, a multitasking lip-and-cheek stick and a new blurred-finish counterpart and a glow-focused highlighter stick rounding out the reimagined collection.
Since Sticks helped establish Milk Makeup’s identity from the start, bringing the products back in an expanded form serves as a major milestone. For early adopters of the brand, Milk’s new era might look a little different, but it’s far from a departure. In an industry overflowing with new launches and discontinuations, the brand is yet again reminding us of why it started in the first place: to make products that work as fast as we do — no matter if we’re crammed in a cab on the way there or have hours set aside to get ready.
Ahead, we speak to co-founder Zanna Roberts Rassi about relaunching the cult-favorite Sticks lineup and an upcoming film inspired by Milk’s new era.
On Dreaming up the New Launch
Sticks have basically been with Milk Makeup since day one, we’re talking ten years ago. We’re proud to be one of the OGs who helped put the whole category on the map, but this time around we wanted to reinvent it. There was so much room for Sticks to work harder. So, we went back to the drawing board. The new formulas had to hit this impossible sweet spot — creamy enough to actually blend, pigmented enough to show up and durable enough to last. Everything had to layer without dragging makeup underneath, which is a much taller order than it sounds. It took us a full year to crack that balance, but we got there.
Milk Makeup has always been about [being fast and lasting], and Line + Fill takes that same utility to lips. It’s a liner, a contour and an all-over lip color in one, with a creamy matte formula that lets you define, fill, or both. Even the new campaign leans into this. You see the products living inside your actual day — fast-paced, in motion, very New York at its core.
On Reimagining the Cult-Favorite Sticks Lineup
This isn’t a packaging refresh, it’s a full retool. We rethought how the whole family looks, feels and performs. A few highlights: the size went from 6 grams to 8 grams per Stick, so that’s 33% more product. The bullet is dome-shaped now, so you get a smoother, more controlled swipe instead of that flat drag. Caps are color-matched so you’re not digging through your bag playing shade roulette. Plus, there’s a click closure now, a small detail, but when something lives in your tote for years, that click matters. Formula-wise, it’s next level. You feel it the second you swipe it on — super creamy and blends like a dream. We upped the pigment and added ingredients that lock it in for eight hours.
On What Fans of the Original Sticks Can Look Forward To
We went from 24 Sticks to 32, so there’s a ton more to choose from. But the big one is Blur: eight brand-new shades in a soft-focus matte finish. Think diffused, no hard edges, just a haze of color that works on cheeks and lips. One Stick, a couple of swipes, and you’ve got a whole look, somewhere in between no-makeup-makeup and full glam. It’s matte, but not flat or powdery — it moves and feels alive. Formula-wise this is peak Milk, real pigment payoff without giving up that skincare-first feel, and it actually lasts.
On How the Brand Has Evolved
Milk was born inside Milk Studios in downtown NYC — a real, living, working space full of creative energy, not a marketing boardroom. It came out of genuine on-set needs. We’d watch the best MUAs in the world work fast and instinctively — lipstick on cheeks, bronzer as eyeshadow, whatever got the job done in five minutes flat. We wanted to bottle that off-label, no-rules artistry into products anyone could pick up and use, anywhere, anytime. Zero fuss.
That energy is still in everything we make, [from] products and campaigns to videos and copy. It’s the spirit of our hometown, and that never changes. What’s changed is the execution, not the philosophy. Ten years ago we helped invent the category. Now, we’re pushing it to work even harder for a customer who’s busier and more discerning than she was a decade ago. The Stick relaunch is proof — same DNA, same one-handed, back-of-the-cab ethos, just leveled up.
On Who Milk Makeup Is For
Milk is for people who like to get shit done. People with places to go, who love makeup but aren’t giving it 20 minutes in front of a mirror. No hundred-step tutorial, no instruction manual. Our products aren’t precious, and neither are the people who wear them. They just need stuff that keeps up instead of slowing them down. That energy is very New York — fast and always moving, [with] plans changing on the fly. Milk was built to match that: instinctive, in motion, for the creative hustler who exists everywhere, not just here.
I call it the efficient multitasker, because it’s just true. Someone who doesn’t need a manual for their makeup. Foolproof application, usually without a mirror in sight. That’s who we built for on day one, and it’s exactly who we’re building for now. I’ve used our Sticks in every corner of the globe, every mode of transport. Function first, fuss never.
On the Future of Milk
A big priority right now is getting back to what makes Milk, Milk. That means reconnecting with our creative community and putting as much energy into building the brand as we do into the product itself. Going back to our NYC roots — utility meets culture, meets cool. We’ve got a huge new brand film in the works that really brings that vision to life, and I cannot wait for people to see where we’re headed.
