How Bobbi Brown built Jones Road Beauty on the back of Miracle Balm

This week Jones Road Beauty, the multi-tasking range from legendary make-up artist Bobbi Brown, has added another shade of its signature Miracle Balm to its line-up. Pinky Bronze – as the name suggests it's a pink/brown tint with a gentle shimmer – appeared as a miniature in a Jones Road kit last year and is now available in full size due to demand from its highly engaged customer base. 

Miracle Balm is a bold name for a product. It needs to be good if you're going to call it that and, happily, it is. While the Jones Road Beauty range is now quite broard, offering products for eyes, face, lips and cheeks, as well as skincare and fragrance, its success was built on its range of tinted balms that rather defy categorisation.

These balms can be used as a blush, a highlighter, an all-over tint, a lip balm... I've been known to dab it on my forehead, neck and collarbone. Whatever colour you use, no matter your skin tone, it adds life (and moisture) to the skin. And, yet, its production was an accident. Brown wanted to create a lipstick and sent instructions to her lab to create one, what she got back wasn't what she was expecting at all, but when she tried it she knew she was on to something.

So excited was she with the happy accident, she decided to get back into business and launch a whole new brand. Her original brand, that bears her name, was sold to The Estée Lauder Companies in 1995 and, as part of the deal, she was precluded from launching another brand for 25 years. Brown stayed with Lauder until 2016 and in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, she took the plunge and created Jones Road Beauty, a make-up meets skincare brand for women of all ages and skin tones.

In year one, industry sources reported that Jones Road achieved $20 million in revenue. In 2022, revenues are said to have tripled and then doubled again in 2023. Primarily available via its digital channels, it now also has several standalone stores in the US and a counter in London's Liberty.

Bobbi Brown and the Senior Director of Brand Marketing Payal Patel Plofker tell TheIndustry.beauty about the story so far and hint at what's next for one of the beauty industry's most successful brand launches of the 2020s.

Miracle Balm in Pinky Beige

Bobbi Brown

Miracle Balm, I understand, was something of an accident in the beginning. Can you please tell us how this product came into being?

BB: Miracle Balm was definitely a happy accident. I had asked the lab to prepare a product I had in my head and somehow it got lost in translation. When the product arrived, I looked at it and realized it was not at all what I asked for but being the curious makeup artist I am I dug my hands in, put it on my face, and said "wow this is amazing".

I don’t leave the house without one Miracle Balm in my bag anymore, just what is it that has made it so essential and how are your customers using it?

BB: The amazing thing about Miracle Balm is the second you put it on you just look so much better. Miracle Balm makes you look awake, fresh, and beautiful. It adds moisture and depending on the shade gives you a tint, a blush, or a highlight.

Can you give us some insight into how the product is made?

BB: The product is what we call "a pour". It starts with a blend of the most beautiful oils, which are then mixed with pigments in shades of pink, peach, silver, and more. After it’s mixed it cools and hardens into a balm. When you break the balm’s seal with your finger it releases the product’s color that looks so great on the skin. We have so many videos of the process and it’s quite something to watch.

Payal Patel Plofker

You’ve released new formats of the Miracle Balm, such as the minis and the palettes, I imagine these have been hugely successful. Were they too released in response to customer feedback?

PPP: We really appreciate how vocal our Jones Road loyalists are. We watch for trends in what they are enjoying, as well as what they feel would heighten their experience. Both the Mini Miracle Balms and the Miracle Balm Palettes were created in response to customers wanting to try more shades without committing to full sizes from the start. We are excited to continue these innovations.

Speaking of customer feedback, your latest shade has been introduced by popular request, having been part of a kit, what is it that customers loved so much about Pinky Bronze? 

PPP: We were stunned by just how much our customers loved Miracle Balm in Pinky Bronze. What they seem to love most about Pinky Bronze is the versatility. It is the first shade to ever provide 4 uses simultaneously: it is a blush, bronzer, all over tint, and provides a moisturizing glow. It also works for an incredibly diverse range of skin tones, making it appeal to the masses.

The Miracle Balm range

Apart from this shade, which are the others in the line-up that are the most popular? And how do you land on shades to introduce?

PPP: They do all seem universally flattering. One shade that surprised us was Miracle Balm in Au Naturel. This particular shade has no color, but its main benefit is to provide a colorless glow and moisture to the skin - leaning further into skincare rather than makeup. Au Naturel has consistently been in the top three best-selling shades ever since it launched in the original line up.

We use a two part approach to launching new shades. First, we weigh heavily on customer feedback. And second, we look to Bobbi when it comes to the nuances when building these shades. Things like color theory, shimmer content and type, pigment level and overall usability play heavily into the final shade. In the beginning we aimed to launch universal shades. However over time, we've started to fill in gaps for those who have specific needs.

The Jones Road brand growth has been phenomenal, how much has this been driven by Miracle Balm? 

PPP: Thank you. We have so many wonderful factors on our side. Miracle Balm is certainly one of them. Balms didn't really exist as a makeup category before the invention of Miracle Balm. Jones Road was able to lead the creation of this category. It is the most ideal product to have in your makeup bag if you love a moisturizing, dewy glow.

Jones Road Lip Pencils

Outside of Miracle Balm, which are the products that are most popular among your customer base? What The Foundation has been a huge hit too, I understand. 

PPP: What The Foundation is another product that was born from Bobbi's artistry expertise and has become very popular. Bobbi spent years trying to create a foundation she liked - most she felt were powdery, cakey or drying on the skin. She found a formula that was closer to a thick Tinted Moisturizer but actually still provided the level of coverage she was looking for. The result isn't quite a tinted moisturizer, nor a traditional foundation, but more a hybrid. Two other products that are consistently ranked in our top five are the Jones Road Face Pencils and The Mascara.

Jones Road The Lip Tint

Can you tell us a bit about your customer base? You have such a loyal and engaged community for such a young brand. How do you engage with them and how important is their feedback? 

PPP: Our customers are truly generations of women, spanning from mid 20's through 90's. We love to see them get excited about new products and kit launches. We communicate with them regularly on social media, email, and through our private facebookgroup called JRB Roadies. This group has now reached over 54,000 participants. I will often post in the group to ask questions that help me better understand what their likes and values are. We have something very exciting launching in our Holiday 2024 collection that was born from the results of one of these polls.

Bobbi Brown launching at Liberty in 2022 with artwork from contemporary artist Endless

Can I ask about the UK specifically, what has the reception to the brand been like here? 

PPP: Bobbi personally has been a fan of the UK her entire life. She spends a great deal of time there, and the culture has inevitably influenced her in ways that translate to the Jones Road brand. International demand for the brand has grown considerably since we first launched in the UK, and I think that is a testament to how strong and loyal our UK followers are.

You chose Liberty for your first physical presence here, how has that gone down, and do you have plans for any more? 

PPP: It has been wonderful partnering with Liberty for our first UK endeavor. Bobbi grew up idolizing the window displays and the atmosphere within the department store, especially during the holidays. We are looking to open our own brick and mortar store in London, however we don't have a guaranteed timeline just yet. To be continued...

Aside from the financial growth of the brand, the range has grown so much since launch, how do you approach NPD and are there are any particular areas of focus for newness moving forward? 

PPP: Now that we've developed a robust core lineup for our brand, we have the luxury to play a little more with new products. Bobbi and the Product Development team have been having a fun time exploring new, innovative formulations that aren't widely present on the market. While I can't give away specifics, I will say we have some really exciting things in the works for 2025.

Jones Road Beauty is available at Liberty London and at jonesroadbeauty.com.