Au lait, au lait

THE best ingredients in beauty products can be everyday ones: olive oil is excellent for dry skin; egg whites turn a good trick in your hair (despite being gross to use); and milk’s brilliance is nothing new.

When people had to construct beauty products from whatever they had to hand, milk was the ingredient of choice for chi chi ladies. Cleopatra famously bathed in asses milk to soften her skin. These days, you can fancy up your own bath by adding fresh or powdered milk, along with a couple of drops of an essential oil for fragrance. The proteins in the milk soften, calm and hydrate the skin. If you like creating a home spa element, then add in a few rose petals for effect, and a heated bathrobe, and throw in a scented candle for fun.

If you’re not into DIY, then there are loads of products that take the essence of what’s great about milk and make it extra special. Elemis skin-nourishing milk bath, €46.75, is one of the better known milk beauty products on the market. You get the effect of a milk bath (ie, a bath that looks milky) with an award-winning formula that’s packed with vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

Greek natural beauty company Korres are well down with the milk vibe; their gentle cream ‘milk proteins’ cleanser, €22.50 (feelunique.com), turns into a foam and feels like it’s getting rid of every trace of dirt and grime, but in a super-delicate way. There are vegetable proteins from amaranth and rice to soothe the skin too. Love it.

That’s not all — their acacia milk conditioner, €11.50, is like a manna for very dry hair and combines milk’s high protein content with acacia’s moisturising elements to great effect. It’s a bestseller.

Part of milk’s appeal is its simplicity, and it works best when it doesn’t get complicated. One of our secret faves is Boot’s Mediterranean maternity nourishing milk, €3.64. No, you don’t have to be pregnant to use this one, although, in my experience, it’s best not to leave it lying around the bathroom without explaining to your partner that you’re not expecting a baby, as otherwise it can cause something of a shock.

It’s perfect for dry skin, and combines olive oil and milk and neroli oil and mandarin oil for a soothing bath experience. Like it.

What’s great about milk products is their gentleness. I now won’t put anything else beside the basin, kitchen sink and bath tub other than L’Occitane’s milk shea butter extra gentle soap, €10 for six small soaps. A million miles away from the hideous, mass-produced, chemically laden soaps in bright turquoise shades, this soap is soft and gentle enough for the family to use. Or, if you can’t get your hands on that, then try Burt’s Bees’ baby bee buttermilk soap, €5.80 — okay, it’s for babies, but that just means it’s incredibly gentle, which is all good.

Proving that simplicity doesn’t have to mean lack of style, get a load of the excellently packaged product from the Au Lait range by The Scottish Fine Soaps Company. I want pretty much everything these guys come up with.

Just get a load of the lovely packaging and great range of products. These are ones for showing off, from the milk-bottle loveliness of the Au Lait body milk, €9.08 (bathandunwind.com) to the milk pale-style bath powder, €16.34.

Don’t just look to old-school milk products such as cow’s and goat’s milk — milk comes in many forms these days, so look out for ingredients such as rice milk, soya milk and plant milks.