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Emma Chamberlain, style influencer and beloved Met Gala red carpet host, knows a thing or two about plant milk. The Chamberlain Coffee co-CEO has a go-to routine at home, and she's made plant milk a central feature of Chamberlain Coffee since the brand launched in 2019.
So it makes sense that when Dove had the idea for a line of plant milk-based body washes, the company came straight to Chamberlain. The result is a new Chamberlain Coffee limited edition signature drink — an Oat Milk Berry Brulee Latte — to celebrate the Dove Plant Milk Cleansing Collection, out today. The body washes come in four flavors: Oat Milk & Berry Brulee, Turmeric Milk & Lemon Drop, Coconut Milk & Sugar Lychee, and Almond Milk & Green Apple.
“I think Dove was my first deodorant, the cucumber flavor deodorant. Yum, by the way. Smells so good,” Chamberlain tells Teen Vogue. “So that was sort of one pillar of this partnership, but also myself and Chamberlain Coffee as a brand, sort of outside of me at this point, both are known for our love of plant milk. I actually make my own plant milk for my coffee at home. I think a lot of the coffee products on the market over the last 10 years have really focused on dairy milk, and we were really excited to, as a brand, explore being more of a plant milk-centric coffee brand.”
Next, Dove and Chamberlain Coffee will take their partnership on the road with a pop-up treat truck headed to various college campuses around Los Angeles. The collection is now available to buy at Walgreens, Amazon, and Target.
Below, Emma Chamberlain talks to Teen Vogue about how Dove x Chamberlain Coffee came together, what it's like running a business, and how she continues to take risks with her personal style.
Emma Chamberlain: I have a little machine, it's called an Almond Cow, and I basically just put water, maple syrup, and then almond and coconut extract into the base, whisk it all together. Then, in this little sort of blender compartment, I put cashews, almonds, and coconut, all raw. I press a button, and next thing you know, I've got milk. It's kind of amazing. I've been doing that for the last few years now. Unless I'm traveling, then I'm not bringing that machine with me.
EC: Actually, it's funny you say that, yes. We were doing night shoots, so I was definitely really caffeinated. For every day at the shoot, I got two drinks. I got one large cold brew or iced Americano. I just wanted black coffee. I didn't even want plant milk. I was like, let's just get this straight into the bloodstream. But then I would also get a large iced matcha latte with almond milk to sort of get me through the rest of the evening. So it was like the first drink was harsh, and then we'd do a little almond milk matcha latte. But it definitely got me through, and it was the perfect recipe. I had the best time, and I was properly caffeinated.
EC: My favorite is the Oat Milk Berry Brulee one. My second favorite runner-up is the Green Apple. But, because the berry oat milk one is my favorite, at the Chamberlain Coffee Cafe, we're going to have a little drink inspired by it, literally like oat milk berry brulee latte, which I've already tried. Our head barista at the cafe is so talented, and every time he brings me a drink to try it... We'll give him ideas and say, okay, now you go do the food science because Emma is not a food scientist. Then he goes and does the food science, and then he brings it to me, and then I try it, and then a small romantic tear falls out of my eye because of how good it is. He killed it. He killed it. So it was fun to take my favorite soap and make it into a drink.
EC: Well, as we know, the Oat Milk Berry, I've said it enough, that is the fave. I've been recently wearing a lot of sunscreen, so I definitely am layering sunscreen on top of that. Because it's summertime now in LA, we're lucky we're starting to get warm over here. And then you know what, sometimes I'm doing a little bit of a body oil. It depends on the day, and I don't think you're actually supposed to put oil over sunscreen, so I try not to do that. But I do love a body oil, something that smells sort of tropical, I love. The Berry mixed with a sort of tropical scent smells like a berry piña colada.
EC: My favorite scent for the last probably six years has been the same favorite scent that everyone has, which is Baccarat Rouge 540. If you look at any interview with anyone in this industry, I feel like everyone in this industry, for some reason, wears Baccarat Rouge 540. But it's just such a good scent that I get it. So that's always going on top of everything.
EC: It's a classic. I need to find a new one, though. I feel I have no sense of identity the second I spray that perfume on. It's like I feel like everyone else, because everyone, all of my peers, wear the same scent. We all walk into a room and smell the exact same, so I have to find a new one. I'll let you know what I find.
EC: I honestly find it so freeing. Anytime you're doing anything that is a bit different than the norm or the trend of the time, it can be a bit uncomfortable. There are moments when you question yourself, wait, am I losing my mind? What am I even doing? Because again, it's like you're entering the unknown in a way. With my hair especially, I wasn't copying anyone else's hairstyle. I was like, I'm going to figure out what this hairstyle is going to be for myself. That meant going in every month and getting a new cut and being like, oh, I don't like that. Going in every month, bleaching my hair, figuring out, oh, maybe I want to tone it like this or that. Figuring out what looks the best on me.
When it comes to fashion, it's like trying things that maybe are a bit weird. At Coachella this past weekend, I was like, you know what? I'm going to put a belt on my tank top. I've never seen anyone do that before, but for some reason it makes sense in my head and I'm just going to do it and see how it looks, and I ended up really liking it. But going out in public like that, it's like, well, I don't know what people are going to think. I don't know if people are going to like it. And sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But at the end of the day, I'm wearing clothes for me. I'm getting my hair cut for me. I'm doing all this stuff for me.
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EC: There is sort of this empowerment that comes with that because I'm not doing it for anybody else's eyes or satisfaction other than my own. Overcoming that fear and truly expressing myself to the best of my ability to the furthest extent that I can, it is incredibly rewarding, and it does build a further sense of self. My confidence has grown as a result. But only because there's been challenges with it as well. I think if it was easy for me it wouldn't result in any sort of personal growth.
But I'm having a great time. And it's really interesting to see how the internet sort of reacts to it. Sometimes they f*cking hate it. Sometimes they love it. They hate it first and then they grow to actually appreciate it. It's very fascinating to see. But again, I'm not doing it for the internet. They're there to watch like flies on the wall. I'm the person wearing the stuff, I'm waking up in the morning and looking in the mirror and seeing my haircut. It's me. I'm the one living with it. So it's fun to share with everyone, but I'm the one that's got to love it. Right?
EC: I really, honestly try to compartmentalize these things so that I'm making these decisions strictly for myself. And again, when I first cut my hair or whatever, in retrospect, I don't like the cut that I got first. I actually hated it. It was not right. It took a few tries to get it right. But I kind of knew deep down that that was going to happen. Anytime you make a big change, it takes a bit to figure out.
Same thing with my personal style. I've spent the last few years trial and erroring, and I look back and I'm like, ew, at a bunch of stuff. But at the end of the da,y though, the only way to create something that is truly uniquely you is to experiment. That means having some misses here and there. It is hard for me, it's hard to want to experiment knowing that you're going to have some misses, knowing that people are watching, it's scary. It's uncomfortable. It makes you not want to experiment. So I have to compartmentalize and remind myself, you know what? I have to make these decisions for me and me only, and for a brief moment forget that anyone's watching.
So I basically have trained myself to sort of put a barrier there and protect myself from that. And yeah, I get my fair share of judgment or whatever, or people being like, wow, Emma, you really missed this one. And I'm like, all good. I knew I was going to. Because that's an integral part of finding a new cool hairstyle, of finding a new cool way to style clothing. You have to have some misses.
EC: For sure. I mean, I think running a business has been one of the most psychologically challenging endeavors of my career thus far because I'm a control freak, and everything else that I do, for the most part, is in my control completely. My podcast, my YouTube videos, I'm in control of all those things, 100%. Every single part of that process is me. I'm involved. I'm touching every single piece.
With something like a business, it actually, you can't do it yourself. You have to outsource. You have to kind of relinquish control a bit. I can't respond to every single customer service email, I'm not packaging every single box. It's impossible. I think you're opening yourself up to scrutiny anytime that you do anything publicly, especially if you sell a product, people have their right to be like, wait, I don't like this or, wait, this was wrong. But moral of the story is I've had to teach myself to be strong and be a strong leader in this sort of business environment, even though I'm not in control... And to not let it get me down, too.
Running a business is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I don't sugarcoat it because, I don't know, I don't think that that's beneficial for those who are aspiring to start a business themselves. I always am honest about how challenging it is. It's also incredibly rewarding, but it requires a level of mental strength and sort of agility to do it. But it's absolutely worth it.
