What to buy from Millie Mackintosh's debut makeup and body collection

She’s the queen of the camera-ready barefaced glow so it was only a matter of time before Millie Mackintosh brought out a makeup collection based on her signature look. It launches officially on Monday (18th September 2017) although we spied the makeup ranges already on an introductory 3 for 2 deal at boots.com.

Earlier, Millie gave us a preview of the makeup bath and body range, which sits nicely in the budget category, starting at £8.50 and goes up to £30 and which she designed to do away with the faff of blending shades together to get exactly the ones that suited her.

Her makeup artist Sarah Reygate, who applied Millie’s makeup using the products that morning, calls the look ‘heightened natural’. Up close, the effect was glowing, defined but not overly kilowatt (it was breakfast time after all).

There are 10 items in the range – all of which are gift sets, so clearly aimed at the Christmas market, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a precursor to a more in-depth range in the future.

Millie and her makeup artist Sarah Reygate

On the makeup front, the shade ranges are small, but we’re only really creating one look here - Millie’s signature amped up natural - and one that, says Sarah, works on pretty much everyone. She uses it on her 51-year-old self, her 18-year-old niece and of course on Millie, who is (still only) 28. The pretty rose gold packaging is a nod to Charlotte Tilbury and Rosie for Autograph fans, for whom this will appeal as a budget option.

The are two nude eye palettes, one in earthy browns, the other with more plum tones worn with black eyeliner (no mascara though, which is curious) a brow kit, a brush collection, a bronze/blush contour palette, lip liner, lipstick and lip gloss. Interestingly, she’s gone for only one shade of lip colour, but Sarah assures me this is one that will suit everyone.

Our Not Fair columnist Ayesha Muttucumaru, believes that darker skins would find the nude lipstick a little too pale and possibly struggle with the ‘sunburst’ bronzer powder in the Deeply In Lustre contouring palette (although it was thumbs up to the powder highlighters and eye palettes). We all got very excited by the Luxe Glow Face Illuminator - this soft gold cream highlighter can be used in a crescent shape from temples to cheekbones to highlight, says Sarah, but she mixes it with moisturiser for an overall warm-up on a day when you look like you’ve just been exhumed (or is that just me). For us it’s the hero product and comes with a pink chubby stick that can be used on cheeks and lips for £8.50.

There are no bases in this range (fyi Sarah used the brilliant Chantecaille Future Skin foundation and Burberry Cashmere Concealer on Millie) but other than that the products really take the guesswork out of creating the Millie look – the range is small and you pretty much apply everything. According to Sarah, Millie is super quick at doing her face and the range reflects that – 15 minutes, tops, and you’re done.

At this price point, creating the Millie glow takes some beating.