Milk Bar x Bath & Body Works: Top 3 Holiday Flavors

*Note: This post was not sponsored or endorsed by Milk Bar, Bath & Body Works, Dove, or Aveeno - it’s simply a post to share good products:)

Me and my little sister love this Milk Bar and Bath & Body Works team-up to bring a new line of food-themed scents! We smelled all five scents and grabbed a couple different lotions, hand sanitizers, body washes, and perfumes for the Holiday Season (plus, these make wonderful gifts!). But this post focuses on the top three holiday-scented flavor offerings specifically in the Body Cream form—because what’s better than yummy holiday food scents in the ultimate hydration cream packed with Shea Butter + Hyaluronic Acid? Ah, nothing!

What Are the Milk Bar x Bath & Body Works Scents?

Like I said, the Milk Bar scents come in five flavor offerings. The bolded ones below are the three we’ll talk about more and rank to help you decide if you need one—and which flavor might be the best fit for you or someone you want to share this with:

• Cereal Milk Soft Serve

• Milk Bar Birthday Cake

• Raspberry Holiday Pie Bar

• Peppermint Bark Truffle

• Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Cookie

A Little About Milk Bar

Milk Bar is a small business whose first location opened in the East Village in New York City in 2008 by James Beard Award–winning pastry chef Christina Tosi. Fast-forwarding to 2025, Milk Bar now has 10 locations in major cities across the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas.

Each one offers the famous cookies, pies, truffles, soft-serve ice creams, and of course the bare layered cakes. Everything is sweet and has Christina’s unique spin—creating a different kind of bakery that has gained popularity nationwide through her cookbooks, shippable goodies, the Netflix series Bake Squad, and now… a Bath & Body Works body-care, food-themed line collaboration!

What Makes These Milk Bar x Bath & Body Works Scents Unique

If you’ve been to Bath & Body Works, you know they have their signature branding, familiar scent patterns, and sometimes their new scents smell like past ones with a new label. There’s nothing wrong with that—it’s comforting and part of what makes Bath & Body Works so popular.

But this Milk Bar collab introduces all-new scents that are sweeter, richer, and more decadent than their usual lineup.

The Milk Bar flavors have notes of caramel, brown sugar, vanilla buttercream, peppermint, dark chocolate, custard, ice cream, browned butter, honey, raspberry jam, and more—each unique to the five offerings. They come in body mists, diamond shimmer mists, lotions, body washes, mini sanitizers, candles, hand soaps, lip gloss, fragrance boosters, and even a lip mask. Here are all the offerings.

This makes the line a complete across-the-board collection—which isn’t always the case for every scent line at Bath & Body Works. So it’s a great all-around gift, a fun product line to explore, and something that just makes the holiday season smell a little sweeter in so many different aspect of your life.

Why Get the Lotion?

I love a good perfume, candle, body wash—really anything—but lately, Shea Butter lotions have become something I really love because they work miracles on the skin. I have eczema and keratosis pilaris, so my skin naturally gets rough, dry, and bumpy. These lotions, mixed with a thick eczema cream, have become a winning combination for smoother, softer, less-dry skin for me!

It might not work the same for everyone, but I love the addition of Hyaluronic Acid. It helps moisturize the skin, promote healing by binding to water molecules, and increase water content within the skin when used regularly.

Overall, the lotions smell wonderfully like sweet holiday treats AND help decrease dryness, scaliness, and itchiness. Winter is already harder on the skin with the cold, dry air, so this lotion is the perfect option to keep your skin boosted, smooth, and soft (who doesn’t want that?). Plus, it makes a great gift for anyone who needs a little extra love and care this Holiday Season!

The Official Tester / Scent Reveal

This test was so much fun! Me and my little sister used the lotions together, smelled each one, compared our thoughts, and came up with our ranking of the Top 3 Holiday Milk Bar Lotion Flavors—the ones that really add to the season with their scent, benefits, and delicious little touches.

Here’s our ranking from least favorite to most favorite (though honestly, we like them all). We hope this helps you find the one you want to gift, use, or enjoy through all your magical Holiday moments this year!

3. Peppermint Bark Truffle

Coming in at number three is Milk Bar’s Peppermint Bark Truffle Lotion. This is one of the stronger scents and truly smells like dark chocolate, freshly crushed candy canes, and a warm drizzle of white chocolate. It’s rich, chocolatey, and definitely pepperminty.

Instead of fruity or floral notes, this scent gives you straight-up peppermint bark—the kind people open a fresh scent bag of and love to snack on during this time of year.

Me and my sister ranked it number three because we do love it, but it’s strong, and when you put it on, you (and everyone around you) will know. It has warm, deep notes of chocolate nuttiness that truly last all day, but it’s definitely not for everyone. But, coming from me - I sure have loved mixing it in with all the other flavors throughout the season so far!

This scent—whether in lotion or any other form—is perfect for people who want something bold, minty, and something they can ware with confidence.

2. Cereal Milk Soft Serve

Coming in at number two is Milk Bar’s Cereal Milk Soft Serve Lotion. It’s inspired by Milk Bar’s soft-serve ice cream collection, and you can smell the custard, vanilla bean, and cream in every note.

This is probably the most neutral option and pairs really nicely with other body washes, perfumes, or body care products. It works great for mixing and matching while still giving Holiday vibes all season long!

This lotion basically smells like you're wearing a mouth watering vanilla bean ice cream and honestly could be worn all year long—it’s that good.

Me and my sister love this one! We pair it with Dove’s new holiday-scented body washes (this one and this one) and it makes the perfect top-layer to seal in moisture and give you that warm, refreshing Christmas feel all day.

It’s ideal for people who want a sweet, natural base that plays well with other scents—whether you like to keep things simple or you love to mix and match for a more creative take on you routine.

1. Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Cookie

Coming in at number one is Milk Bar’s Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Cookie Lotion. This scent is sweet, but it also has beautiful savory notes rippled throughout. You’ll smell brown sugar, salty pretzel bits, browned butter, freshly ground cinnamon, and warm chocolate chip cookie tones.

Everything about it feels cozy and home-y—like baking cookies with the Christmas tree lit and the fire going. The scent strength is moderate: not too mellow, not too strong. It smells like those roasted nut stands they have at the mall during the holidays mixed with your mom’s freshly baked cookies straight from the oven.

We both agreed this one is the best holiday option out there. It smells like holiday baking (sweet + savory) in one festive lotion that moisturizes and softens the skin and lasts all day. Perfect for people who love baked-good scents that aren’t too sugary and have a touch of salty coziness. And yes—this also makes an amazing holiday gift for just about anyone you can thick of!

The Two Scents We Didn’t Rank

• Milk Bar Birthday Cake – This one is self-explanatory: it smells like sweet birthday cake and is perfect for all year long, not just the holidays. It would make a super cute and yummy smelling birthday gift!

• Raspberry Holiday Pie Bar – Fruity, sweet, and buttery all in one. Delicious, but not as holiday-forward, which is why we didn’t include it in the top 3. Still a great year-round scent and perfect for gifting.

Also this is the cutest Milk Bar Mini Fine Fragrance Mist Sampler to try all 5 flavors in the perfume form if you want it all! Overall, I hope this helps—but if not, go to Bath & Body Works, smell all five scents, and grab the one that you love the most.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Shopping / Gifting! 🎄✨