If you’re a Stranger Things fan, you’ll probably want to try every product from Millie Bobby Brown’s (a.k.a. Mills) skincare and makeup line Florence by Mills (if you haven’t already).
Even if this show isn’t on your Netflix lineup, you may still be on the hunt for a clean beauty brand, and that’s exactly what Mills aimed to create with Florence by Mills.
But how “clean” are Florence by Mills products? And how well do they perform? We’ll answer these questions and more in our Florence by Mills review.
We’ll also give you all the formulation details, including the key ingredients in Florence by Mills skincare products and the research that supports (or doesn’t support) their use in skincare.
And to get a better idea of how well these products perform, we’ll share some Florence by Mills reviews from real customers.
What Are The Top 10 Best Florence by Mills Skincare Products?
The Florence by Mills skincare collection consists of cleansers, moisturizers, toners, masks, and more — all with fun names and bright packaging. Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 best Florence by Mills skincare products.
Florence by Mills Mind Glowing Peel Off Mask
The Mind Glowing Peel Off Mask will definitely appeal to Gen Z with its iridescent purple color, but honestly the formulation is far from impressive.
Polyvinyl alcohol is the synthetic polymer used in this mask that allows it to be peeled off. This ingredient does not offer any skin benefits. In fact, it is known to potentially aggravate the skin.
Furthermore, the formula contains witch hazel to “keep skin cute and happy” and lavender essential oil to “bring the chill vibes by calming skin”. In reality, both of these ingredients have the potential to cause skin irritation.
One decent ingredient in the Mind Glowing Peel Off Mask is charcoal powder, which is known to draw out impurities like excess oil and dirt, thereby helping to minimize the appearance of pores.
Bottom Line: Mind Glowing Peel Off Mask may help to remove excess oil and minimize the appearance of pores, but there’s a few ingredients in the formula that have the potential to cause skin irritation.
Florence by Mills Swimming Under The Eyes Eye Gel Pads
These whale-shaped gel pads “swim” under the eyes to deliver an essence that hydrates, brightens, and de-puffs the delicate skin around the eyes.
We love that these eye gel pads are packed with hydrating ingredients, such as glycerin, carrageenan, sodium hyaluronate, coconut fruit extract, and more. All of these ingredients function like moisture magnets, drawing moisture into the skin in order to hydrate, as well as plump the look of lines and wrinkles.
It’s also great that the formula includes a high concentration of niacinamide, which is one of the best skincare ingredients, in our opinion. And there’s research to back it up.
For example, a publication in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, states that niacinamide can repair the skin barrier and improve skin moisture, as well as reduce inflammation, blotchiness, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkling.
There’s also soothing licorice root extract to help reduce inflammation around the eyes while also brightening dark circles.
Bottom Line: These Under Eye Gel Pads deliver an essence full of hydrating and brightening ingredients.
Florence by Mills Dreamy Dew Oil-Free Moisturizer
The silky texture of this oil-free cream really does feel dreamy as you apply it, and we love that it absorbs quickly without feeling heavy or greasy whatsoever.
That’s because the formula includes a blend of Egyptian and sacred lotus flower extracts that control oil so your skin feels dewy, not greasy.
And the willow bark extract in this moisturizer offers quite a few benefits due to its rich supply of salicin. Salicin provides exceptional anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to reduce the appearance of pores and wrinkles, as well as even out skin tone while increasing skin firmness.
The only thing we don’t love about this Florence by Mills Moisturizer is the inclusion of fragrance ingredients, which have the potential to cause skin sensitivity reactions.
Bottom Line: An oil-free cream that feels weightless and gives skin a dewy, glowing appearance, but the inclusion of fragrance could lead to skin sensitivity.
Florence by Mills Look Alive Eye Balm
On those mornings when coffee just isn’t cutting it, Florence by Mills Eye Balm may be able to wake up tired-looking eyes.
The hydrating eye balm is applied via a cooling metal tip to help instantly depuff the eyes while delivering a blend of emollient plant oils, vitamins, caffeine, peptides, malachite, and snow mushroom extract.
Caffeine is commonly used in eye care products because of its ability to stimulate circulation, thereby firming skin while also reducing the appearance of dark circles. The peptides in this eye balm also help to firm skin by stimulating new collagen production.
Malachite is the pretty green mineral that’s rich in copper, which functions as an essential coenzyme in the production of collagen.
And snow mushroom extract is just one of the many hydrating ingredients in this eye balm. It acts similarly to hyaluronic acid by drawing moisture into the skin.
Bottom Line: Florence by Mills Look Alive Eye Balm is packed with ingredients to hydrate, depuff, and firm the skin around the eyes.
Florence by Mills Tinted Lip Balm
If you want to quickly add some color to your lips while also keeping them smooth and moisturized, Florence by Mills Tinted Lip Balm could be the perfect product for you.
The sheer tinted lip balm is available in clear, nude, coral, and pink — “Just enough color to pop but not too much” as one Florence by Mills review says.
There’s also plenty of ingredients to nourish lips, such as jojoba oil and avocado oil, while shea butter locks in moisture for hours.
Bottom Line: Florence by Mills Tinted Lip Balm is available in four shades, providing sheer coverage while also nourishing and moisturizing lips.
Florence by Mills Clean Magic Face Wash
A dewy and creamy face wash that cleans skin while also controlling excess oil to keep pores clear.
The formula includes four alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) — malic, mandelic, glycolic, and lactic acid — that exfoliate skin by enhancing the breakdown of dead skin cells and increasing the rate of cell turnover. Ultimately, this leads to smoother, brighter skin and a more even complexion.
There’s also plenty of hydrating ingredients, such as glycerin, panthenol, and aloe vera leaf juice, in order to prevent skin dryness.
However, there are quite a few fragrant essential oils in this face wash, which could lead to skin sensitivity reactions.
Bottom Line: Florence by Mills Clean Magic Face Wash cleans and exfoliates skin without stripping or overdrying.
Florence by Mills Feed Your Soul Berry In Love Pore Mask
The ingredient list for this brightening mask sounds more like a smoothie than a skincare product, with key ingredients like blueberry, cranberry, sweet cherry, and watermelon. This blend of antioxidant-rich fruits helps protect against the early visible signs of aging caused by environmental stressors.
There’s also skin-brightening ingredients, such as niacinamide and ginseng root extract, as well as clarifying willow bark extract.
One problem with this Florence by Mills mask is the synthetic fragrance blend, which we were surprised to see on the ingredient list since this brand likes to emphasize their “clean” formulations.
The use of synthetic fragrance ingredients can be a problem because the brand can use a proprietary blend of chemicals to create the fragrance. On average, this consists of 30 to 50 chemicals (but it can have as much as 200 components).
Want to know the worst part? The brand does not have to disclose which chemicals they use on the label. They are allowed to list this blend as “Fragrance (Parfum)” on the ingredient list.
Bottom Line: A wash-off mask infused with a blend of antioxidant-rich fruits and skin-brightening ingredients, but the inclusion of a synthetic fragrance blend prevents us from recommending this product.
Florence by Mills Hit Snooze Lip Mask
This jelly lip mask works overnight to help nourish parched lips and seal in moisture. The brand highlights apricot kernel oil and squalane as key ingredients, but the majority of this formula consists of synthetic emollients like octyldodecanol, ethylhexyl palmitate, and hydrogenated polyisobutene.
These emollients create a luxurious, silky texture while also forming an occlusive barrier on the lips to lock in moisture. The result? Smooth, moisturized lips by morning.
Unfortunately, this is another Florence by Mills product with a synthetic fragrance blend, as well as artificial dyes like Red 28 and Blue 1.
Bottom Line: A jelly lip mask that locks in moisture overnight thanks to a blend of emollients, but we can’t recommend this product due to the fragrance and artificial dyes.
Florence by Mills Zero Chill Face Mist
A botanical, rose-infused spray can be used as a setting spray and also when your skin needs a refresh during the day. The rose extract in this mist is full of antioxidants and also helps soothe skin.
The formula includes a high concentration of bladderwrack seaweed, which is known to attract moisture in order to revive dull, tired skin. Other hydrating ingredients include apple extract and aloe vera.
And while the fragrance in this mist creates a pleasant experience, it has the potential to cause reactions. A few Florence by Mills reviews mention this problem, for example, “It irritated my skin and caused me to break out.”
Bottom Line: Florence by Mills Zero Chill Face Mist contains soothing rose extract and hydrating bladderwrack seaweed, but the inclusion of fragrance could lead to skin irritation.
Florence by Mills Glow Yeah Hydrating Lip Oil
Similar to the Hit Snooze Lip Mask, the Glow Yeah Hydrating Lip Oil primarily consists of synthetic emollients like octyldodecanol and polybutene, but there are also some naturally-derived emollients like jojoba oil, shea butter, and African mango butter.
This lip oil may also help to smooth and firm the lips thanks to paracress flower extract, which has been shown to help to reorganize and tighten collagen fibres by stimulating fibroblasts.
The formula is fragrance-free, but there are two artificial dyes in this lip oil.
Bottom Line: Florence by Mills Glow Yeah Hydrating Lip Oil promotes smooth, moisturized lips thanks to a combination of emollients and paracress extract.
What Are The Key Ingredients in Florence by Mills Skincare Products?
As you probably noticed from our descriptions of the best Florence by Mills skincare products, this brand uses a wide variety of key ingredients to formulate their products, but the main categories include:
- Antioxidants
- Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs)
- Emollients
- Humectants
- Peptides
These are all excellent ingredients that have research to support their skin care benefits.
There’s also quite a few unique plant extracts used throughout the collection, such as paracress flower extract and snow mushroom extract, as well as seaweeds like bladderwrack and minerals like malachite.
The only thing we don’t love about Florence by Mills skincare products is the use of fragrance in nearly all products. We understand that most consumers want their products to smell pleasant, especially since Florence by Mills appeals to the younger generation that wants those fun, fruity scents.
But keep in mind that fragrance is not skincare. All fragrance ingredients (whether natural or synthetic) impart scent through a volatile reaction, and this natural reaction almost always causes a sensitizing reaction on skin.
Even if you don’t have a full blown reaction to the ingredient, the damage may still be occurring every day. Ultimately, this can cause mild problems for your skin in the short term and worse problems in the long term.
How Much Do Florence by Mills Skincare Products Cost?
Florence by Mills skincare products are pretty affordable, with the prices being comparable to higher end drugstore brands such as Olay and Burt’s Bees. For example, the Mind Glowing Peel Off Mask costs $22 USD for 1.7 oz, and the Under Eye Gel Pads cost $34 USD for 30 single use pads.
Where to Buy Florence by Mills Skincare Products?
Florence by Mills skincare products are sold on the brand’s website (florencebymills.com), as well as several third party online retailers, such as Ulta.com, Target.com, and Boots.com.
What is The Florence by Mills Return Policy?
Florence by Mills does not accept returns, exchanges or refunds.
Is Florence by Mills Cruelty Free?
Yes, Florence by Mills skincare products are PETA-certified cruelty free.
Is Florence by Mills Vegan?
Yes, Florence by Mills skincare products are vegan.
Our Verdict
Overall, we think that some Florence by Mills products are better than others, and we’d recommend avoiding the products that contain fragrance.
Pros
- Formulas contain beneficial key ingredients (niacinamide, peptides, AHAs, emollients, etc.)
- Many positive Florence by Mills reviews
- Florence by Mills is cruelty free
Cons
- Some Florence by Mills products contain fragrance and artificial dyes
References:
J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2010 Feb; 3(2): 22–41
