The last time I interviewed Bobbi Brown was nearly two decades ago. The makeup artist-turned-beauty mogul was still running the eponymous brand she’d founded in 1991 and sold to Estée Lauder for a reported $75 million. The brand was pushing $1 billion in annual sales. During the 20 minutes I spent with her in a London hotel, pitchers of cucumber-infused water were brought to the table — Brown’s tip for a skin-hydration boost that I repeated at home for a while. Today, Brown, now 67 and a grandmother, sits cross-legged on a banquette in another glamorous hotel sharing her recipe for another cucumber-infused soda that I’ll also try later. “I call it Bobbi Rocks. An extra-large ice cube in a rocks glass, a splash of tequila, cucumber pulp, lime juice and fresh mint. “A splash of American tequila, though,” he emphasizes. “Your splashes are very small here.”
Bobbi is in vogue these days. After leaving what she now calls “The Other Brand” in 2016, she is more relaxed, more, she says, “herself” – somewhat ironically, given that she had to leave her name behind. “That’s not difficult,” she insists cheerfully, “because I’ve been able to reinvent myself.” And so she has. Four years – “not even,” she interjects – since the launch Jones Street BeautyBrown is on her way to creating her second billion-dollar cosmetics brand, this time doing so with full creative control and with members of her close family on the team: husband Steven Plofker, with whom she has three children; her son, Cody Plofker, now chief marketing officer; and his wife, Payal Patel Plofker, senior director of marketing. Apparently, a family business was not the plan. When I tell her that she had assumed it had been the very essence of the plan, she gasps. “Oh my gosh, do you think I ever said, ‘You know, I would really love to leave a corporation of people telling me what to do and start working with my family? ’ No, I didn’t plan this. It just happened.”
At first, she thought she didn’t want to pursue beauty anymore, especially since she still had four years left to fulfill the strict 25-year noncompete agreement she’d signed in 1995. Instead, she studied nutrition and founded a wellness supplement brand, Evolution 18. It didn’t work out. “I tried it and it wasn’t a huge success, and I learned that not everything is going to be successful just because you touch it,” she says. “But I don’t believe in failure. If you’re worried about making mistakes, you’re probably not trying enough things.” The day her noncompete agreement expired, she launched her new beauty brand.
Jones Road Beauty is the second incarnation of the “no makeup makeup” look that made Chicago-born Brown famous in the early 1990s. At a time when full coverage and intense color were the norm, Bobbi Brown He was a minimalist. His sleight of hand enhanced natural beauty for magazine covers and advertising campaigns.
The natural look of the 90s isn’t something she finds particularly nostalgic. “We used to put foundation all over our lips and now we realise we looked a bit dead. The difference today is that now I want gloss or colour.” While Bobbi Brown Essentials launched with a range of 10 versions of the neutral lipstick, Jones Road entered the market in 2020 with four versions of Miracle Balm. The balm, a concealer-skincare hybrid, became a blockbuster flagship product. Company lore says the two-in-one mix was a mistake. “When I first saw it, I was like, ‘This isn’t what I wanted,’” says Brown, “but then I put it on my face and couldn’t believe the improvement. I was like, ‘Look how good my skin looks! It’s a miracle! ’”
Jones’s Way Miracle Balm in Pinky Bronze, £36 for 50g
Jones’s Way Shimmer Facial Oil, £34 for 15ml
In its packaging, Miracle Balm looks menacing, a glossy solid reminiscent of greasy performance makeup. But when applied — Brown applies it, rubbing her fingertips together and patting it into her skin with both hands — it results in the kind of glow so coveted today. But it’s a polarizing issue. “Some people love it, some people don’t like it at all,” Cody Plofker admits. Ruby hammer MBE, a make-up artist, founder of the brand and friend of Brown, is more diplomatic: “I love it, but you have to be very careful with it because it leaves a lot of shine. It’s a very easy product to use in real life to add shine and radiance. But for photography, you have to be a bit careful because it catches the light.” Yet its success is undeniable. It is now available in 13 shades (£36) and currently accounts for around 30 per cent of the brand’s sales, according to Plofker, who estimates they will sell more than a million units this year.
Other categories are taking the lead, notably What The Foundation (£42), a tinted hydrating balm in 16 shades. “We definitely feel better about having two star products than one,” says Plofker. Her concealer and colour-neutralising Face Pencils (£24) and mascara (£24) are also big sellers. A world is building. Jones Road merchandise includes logo-emblazoned jumpers. There are now five stand-alone stores in the US and a sixth, in Brooklyn, is on the way. The retail model eschews wholesale, but Brown loves Liberty in London and has made it the department store’s exclusive stockist.
Jones’s Way What is the Foundation, £42
Jones’s Way Face pencil, £24
Jones’s Way The mascara, £24
Jones’s Way Lipstick and cheek pencil, £34
The brand’s appeal lies in its selection of products; its packaging, which looks like a brown paper bag, plays on simplicity of use. “I’m a solution person,” says Brown. “I literally do my makeup in the car, on the way to work or to dinner with my husband. Sometimes I have two minutes and sometimes seven, but it doesn’t take me longer than that, and that’s the woman Jones Road is aimed at.”
Fiona Harkin, director of foresight at strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory, says the company has been able to adapt to the needs of an underserved Gen X consumer. “Any brand that appeals to the urgent needs of women in this group, as well as their baby boomer counterparts who no longer want products that simply talk about ‘getting older’ but focus on ‘becoming’, will have the wind at its back,” she says.
In its first year, the brand reportedly made $20 million. “Bobbi thought she would make a million. We certainly did that in the first month,” says Plofker, who came on board as a consultant and ended up staying full-time. This year, they expect to make at least $150 million. The $1 billion goal? “We’re not close to revenue yet. That’s going to take a while. But in terms of valuation, we’re pretty close.”
Brown herself is more cautious about the future. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know what I’m not going to do, I’m not going to…” She pauses. “No, I don’t know.” Oh, she finishes the sentence, I say. “Aren’t you going to sell to another big company?” It’s not that. “It would have to be the right partner who really saw my value. And didn’t think they could do it without me. But I’m not looking for an exit. What am I going to do if I leave again? Jones Road is the place to be.”
Despite her long track record with a product that makes a difference, Brown is also a highly successful communicator. In the 1990s and 2000s she published nine books, the first two of which were beauty bibles for Gen Xers and older millennials. Today, like any good direct-to-consumer brand founder, she is prolific on Substack, Instagram (@justbobbidotcom), YouTube and Pinterest. “Brown’s renowned industry expertise and social media posts and tutorials have allowed the brand to authentically communicate with consumers and build trust,” says Rosalia Di Gesu, associate director of beauty and personal care at Mintel.
Jones Road isn’t afraid to pass the mic to its customers. Its Facebook group of 76,000 superfans, according to Payal Patel Plofker, “share their opinion very quickly.” Today’s beauty consumer is very vocal and brutal if they don’t like something. “That can be a challenge,” she adds, “but the brand has been able to evolve significantly based on feedback.” Ready-to-use kits or bundles are a good example. “We try to take into account those people who don’t want to make decisions. They’d rather say, ‘You know what? Bobbi picked this out. Let me wear this look that she designed. ’”
Brown loves conversations, positive or not. “I know what people like and don’t like,” she says. “I see their comments and I know what they want. I know what things they want us to bring up and I can respond to that.” But isn’t it a little exhausting, all that reacting and responding and changing attitude? Brown seems bemused. “Exhausting? It’s fun! What’s so exhausting about it?” I guess when you’re Bobbi Brown in your rock era, absolutely nothing.