Bobbi Brown is still living a life of luxury and lipstick — and it's all on her own terms

Bobbi Brown is standing outside her home in Montclair, New Jersey — a picturesque, artsy suburb less than an hour away from New York. It's Halloween night in 2017, and instead of candy, she's passing out lip glosses to her neighbors.

"Our friend Yogi Berra, the baseball player, used to live in Montclair, and he gave out signed baseball cards on Halloween. Someone else worked for Scholastic and gave out children's books," she told Business Insider.

"So my husband, one Halloween, when girls came to the door, said, 'Do you have any lip glosses?' And I'm like, 'I do.' And he says, 'Go get some.' So I started giving them out," she continued. "It became a thing."

Brown, 66, is intrinsically tied to makeup both personally and professionally. She formed her eponymous brand in 1991, sold the company to Estée Lauder in 1995 for a reported $74.5 million, and worked on the creative side until her departure in 2016.

She also famously signed a noncompete agreement in 1995 that prevented her from creating cosmetics for 25 years — the weight of which truly hit her on that fateful Halloween night.

After years of giving makeup to trick-or-treaters, Brown knew that candy would never cut it again. But without a beauty brand behind her, she panicked. So, in October 2020 — the month her noncompete dissolved — she manufactured a batch of lip glosses and gave away 2,500 during the holiday.

Those freebies became the precursor to Jones Road, her current beauty brand, which offers a full range of simple makeup that helps people emphasize their natural beauty.

And Brown knows how to create something that stands the test of time.

Brands like Becca Cosmetics and Clarisonic have gone out of business, influencers like Jeffree Star and James Charles have fallen from grace, and trends now change quicker than you can try them. But through it all, Bobbi Brown has never budged from her status as a beauty icon.

Early fans might remember visiting Bobbi Brown Cosmetics counters at the mall, flipping through one of her nine books, or watching her beauty segments on TV in the early 2000s.

If you're Gen Z, your introduction to Brown might have been on TikTok, where she often shares tutorials and playfully claps back at influencers who use her products incorrectly.

So, how has Brown weathered the storm of the ever-changing beauty industry? During an hourlong Zoom call with Brown, I learned that whatever her secret is, she makes it look easy.

"I never think: 'I did it.' I think: 'I'm doing it,'" she told BI.

The power of Bobbi Brown

Whereas Bobbi Brown Cosmetics could stand on its own in the '90s and early 2000s, Jones Road was created in an industry overwhelmed with beauty brands from every celebrity, influencer, and makeup artist.

You might recognize its Miracle Balm blush and highlighters from the pages of Allure or its bestseller What the Foundation, which went viral on TikTok in 2022.

"Jones Road, it's not a 'no-makeup' makeup brand. It's hard to describe," Brown told BI, though she notes that "no one" does the "no-makeup" look better than her brand.

A more accurate description might be that Jones Road offers products Brown would use on herself and anyone sitting in her makeup chair. They're easy to use, light on the skin, and always tested by Brown.

"Today, I put on a new eye shadow that we're working on, and I don't like it at all," she said. "Luckily, I get to walk in and say, 'It's too pink. Look at it.'"

Despite Brown's expertise and legacy, was it enough to give Jones Road a leg up? As it turns out, yes.

Brown's son and Jones Road CMO Cody Plofker told BI that it became clear that something was missing from the beauty industry when Brown began posting on TikTok.

"I actually thought we were pretty late to TikTok, and the lighting on my phone was so bad," Plofker said. "The first thing we recorded her saying was, 'I'm here. What questions do you have for me?' And I thought we would get five people asking questions. We got several hundred within the first hour."

And Brown is more than aware of her value. It's one of the reasons Jones Road doesn't solely rely on traditional influencers to promote its products — something she was encouraged to do by former employees but firmly refused.

"We definitely don't do what the other brands do because, No. 1, they have me," she told BI.

And the influencers that Jones Road does work with, she said, aren't your traditional Instagram makeup artists.

"When I saw the content of girls with nails out to here digging their hand in Miracle Balm or doing makeup that was so over the top, I just was like, 'No, no, no, no, no, we can't do this. There's got to be people out there who are on brand.' And we found them."

Those "organic finds," as she told BI, have included a local restaurant hostess, someone she met at a farmers market, and a "white-haired wisdom who started as a fitness influencer."

With that authenticity, it's probably not surprising that Jones Road had a "tremendous year" in 2023, Plofker told BI.

Plofker didn't share specific revenue numbers while speaking with BI. A tiny peek into the brand's popularity comes from the brand's website engagement. According to Similarweb, a software company that analyzes internet traffic, the Jones Road site reached more than 850,000 visits in November 2023.

Industry sources estimate that Jones Road earned $20 million in revenue in 2021, tripled that number in 2022, and came close to doubling the total in 2023. BI couldn't independently confirm that estimate.

The brand exclusively sells its products online, at its three stores across New Jersey and New York, and at one beauty counter in London.

'I figure I'm going to live to 100'

Brown partially credits her success to her morning routine.

It usually starts around 6 a.m. when she's awoken by her husband or dogs. She drinks two "very big" glasses of water with Athletic Greens supplements and a double Nespresso with half and half.

Then, it's time for Brown to relax.

"I go right back upstairs with my iPad and get in bed to read the paper," Brown said. "My business coach says that's a terrible idea, but I can't help it. I really enjoy it."

One thing she doesn't do, maybe surprisingly, is spend much time on her makeup.

"I literally do it in the car," she said. "I do my makeup from my house to my office, which takes me about four minutes."

She's nothing like the influencers all over your TikTok feeds. There's no massive room in Brown's home with Ikea furniture filled to the brim with beauty products.

"I have an empty Hermès shoebox that I throw everything into, and when the box kind of has too much stuff, I just give it away and start all over again," she said.

Another big part of Brown's life is fitness. She either runs or takes a workout class throughout the week — hip-hop dance, to be exact.

"I was in a hip-hop class, and everyone was talking about what year they were born," Brown recalled. "Someone was born in '88, they're 30 something, and I said '57. This lady turned around and said, 'You do not look 57.' I said, 'No, lady. I was born in '57. I'm 66.' And she was like, 'I don't understand how and why you're here.'"

"Sometimes my body asks me the same question, but I don't think about age," Brown added.

Instead, she thinks about getting older in other ways — mostly in terms of gratefulness.

"Two of the best days of my life were my oldest two sons' weddings. Now my Thanksgiving table has each of their in-laws and their families," she told BI. "I feel so rich having that in my life, and certainly a granddaughter. I didn't think I was going to be one of those crazy people, but I totally am."

But even as a grandma, Brown feels — and acts — younger than her years.

"I figure I'm going to live to 100, so I'm in the teenage years of the second half of my life," she said.

So what's her secret? In Brown's case, the answer is simple. The makeup icon has always been — and remains — true to herself. As her Instagram handle states, she's just Bobbi.

"I'm my happiest when I'm comfortable in my skin, comfortable in my clothes, and in a situation where I don't have to worry about anything," she said. "I still do all the New York things, but as soon as I go through that tunnel, my hair's in a little scrunchie, my clogs are on, my makeup is wiped off, and I really feel like myself."