Rouge Bunny Rouge Milk Aquarelle Liquid Foundation

I have been using Rouge Bunny Rouge Milk Aquarelle on and off for over a year now, more often in the colder weather. I mostly use tinted moisturizers (Laura Mercier or Rouge Bunny Rouge) or a very light foundation (Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua), but reach for foundations on days when I just need more coverage, or I am going out for the evening and want a more finished look. I have a few different foundations, but Milk Aquarelle is the one I come back to the most because of its lovely gel-cream texture, and the simple fact that after I remove it my skin feels softer, smoother, and more hydrated. It is my favorite special occasion foundation.

Rouge Bunny Rouge Milk Aquarelle in Coconut Milk Parfait

Swatches and details after the jump!



Actually, what drove me to write this review was the experience I had this past weekend after not having worn Milk Aquarelle for a long while. I was going to a local holiday wine festival ... I knew that I would be spending my afternoon traveling around to different shops, sampling wine, going into dry, heated retail spaces and going back outside in the cold air. I decided to wear Milk Aquarelle because I wanted something that would last all day on my skin, but also keep my skin balanced and properly hydrated. Milk Aquarelle did not disappoint. After I removed my makeup at night I was reminded of why I like this foundation so much. My skin was actually in better condition than in the morning before I applied it!

I should note that my skin is combination. I have a somewhat oily t-zone with dryness around my nose and cheeks, and I am prone to hormonal nodular acne around the chin area. In the colder months, I tend toward combination/dry, and in the warmer months, I would say it's combination/normal. My skin can be temperamental and sensitive, so I have to watch what I use. My products must be extremely gentle, or I will risk a breakout. I have never had breakouts or any other reactions to Milk Aquarelle.

My shade is Coconut Milk Parfait, the lightest shade RBR offers. It's on the lighter side of what I can wear; if I have any trace of a tan, this shade is too light for me. RBR describes the shade as "milky-pale pink beige" and "ideal for the palest of skin tones."

Left: Coconut Milk Parfait swatched
Right: Coconut Milk Parfait blended

The underside of my forearm is slightly lighter than my face, and you can barely (if it all) see the blended swatch.  It's a pretty good match, I'd say.  I do not have a lot of pink or yellow in my skin; I am pretty neutral, with some redness around my nose and mouth (so if anything I skew yellow if only to cancel out the redness). This shade is pretty neutral to me, perhaps a bit peachy.  When I swatched RBR's other shades last year, I thought they had much more yellow in them than this one did.

To further explain my coloring, I typically use the lightest or second lightest shade of foundation a brand offers. I am around NC/NW 15 or maybe 20 in MAC terms. I wear Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and Perfection Lumiere B10, Bobbi Brown Foundations in Warm Ivory 1.0 or Sand 2.0 (except in the Natural Finish Foundation where I was a Cool Beige 3.25 - strange).  I'm clearly not the palest though; if you are slightly paler than I am you could use this shade (see the above swatch), but I fear that the truly pale will likely be out of luck with Milk Aquarelle.

Milk Aquarelle applies best for me when I use my fingers to spread it and then my Sephora Air Brush or a Beauty Blender to smooth and perfect. As I mentioned, it has a gel-cream texture: light but still creamy. The coverage is light but buildable where you need it; it cancels the redness and evens tone, but allows my skin to come through. If I set it around my t-zone, nose, and chin with a light Laura Mercier setting powder, I get about 8 hours of wear. As I mentioned above, when I remove Milk Aquarelle, especially after several hours, I find my skin feeling soft, smooth, and hydrated. Please note though that if you have oilier skin you may find this foundation too hydrating for your needs.

RBR Milk Aquarelle is expensive at 54GBP, which is about 84USD right now, but given all the issues I have with my skin I don't mind paying more for something that works for me and makes my skin look and feel better. I don't use this everyday, so one bottle has lasted me about a year and I am nowhere near finishing it.  Zuneta now offers samples of Milk Aquarelle, along with a couple of other RBR skin products, so you can see how a shade/formula works on your skin.  I absolutely recommend ordering from Zuneta; their customer service is top notch, and the shipping is fast.