Beauty Icon Bobbi Brown Debuts Jones Road in Austin With a Mission of Empowerment
With her signature “less is more” philosophy, Bobbi Brown continues to make beauty inclusive and effortless
Bobbi Brown didn’t just change the beauty industry — she redefined it. As a makeup artist, author and entrepreneur, she’s built a legacy around authenticity, natural beauty and encouraging women to feel like the best version of themselves. With her signature “less is more” philosophy, Brown rose to international fame, ultimately building one of the most recognizable beauty brands in the world. Today, she continues to shape the industry with her clean, minimalist cosmetics, Jones Road Beauty, and her new Jones Road store on South Congress is already proving to be a local success.
After just two weeks, the Austin store became one of the brand’s top-performing locations.
“It’s in the top three out of ten,” she says. “I’ve always loved Austin,” Brown says. “Even packing for the trip (for the store opening), I thought, ‘I don’t need my fanciest anything. These are my people.’”
Miracle Balms and Minimalism
Brown’s down-to-earth sensibility is central to what Jones Road represents: a beauty line rooted in simplicity.
“The Jones Road aesthetic is very real, very empowering and relaxed,” she says. “It’s the opposite of trying to be fancy.”
“You don’t have to be a makeup artist to use these,” she says of Jones Road’s best-selling, easy-to-use staples. “Start with the Miracle Balm unless you have very oily skin. Or try the Face Pencil.”
The Road to Reinvention
In 1995, Brown sold her namesake brand, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, to Estée Lauder with a 25-year non-compete agreement. When she officially left the company in 2016, she was eager to return to her entrepreneurial roots but still had four years to go. On the very day her non-compete expired in 2020, she launched Jones Road.
Brown’s journey back into beauty after leaving her iconic brand was as intentional as it was instinctive. The name “Jones Road” came to her during a drive when she spotted the street name on Waze.
“We were driving to the Hamptons, and my husband is always the voice of reason. I said, ‘Jones Road Beauty.’ My husband said, ‘I like it.’ And it was available,” she recalls. “It reminded me of a bespoke brand from the U.K. Also, you know, we’re all on a road to somewhere.”
“When I launched Jones Road, I was a nervous wreck,” Brown admits. “I didn’t know if it was going to be a success. I kept thinking, ‘What if people don’t like it?’”
Despite the doubts, she trusted her instincts. “It was exactly what I wanted in makeup — not the over-packaged, fancy stuff. I was over it,” she says. “The whole idea behind Jones Road was about being more authentic. And I’ve realized, the more authentic I am, the better I feel.”
“It’s one of the good things about getting older,” Brown reflects. “You just get tired of doing things the same way. Leaving a big company after so many years really makes you stop and think. And eventually, you realize how much happier you are when you stop pretending and just let yourself be who you are.”
Power in Vulnerability
Brown was recently featured on TIME100, Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2025. She is also a recipient of many prestigious honors, including the Glamour Woman of the Year Award, the Fashion Group International Night of Stars’ Beauty Award and the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s ROBIE Humanitarian Award — accolades that reflect her lasting impact and extend her influence far beyond the makeup counter.
But her legacy isn’t built on fame — it’s built on how she makes people feel.
Brown hosted a Women of Influence weekend at her boutique hotel, The George, in her hometown of Montclair, N.J. in 2023. She invited 31 remarkable women, including Gloria Steinem, Paulina Porizkova and Deborah Roberts, for two days of immersive conversation.
“We ate, we drank, we did hip-hop dancing, manicures, makeup, photography and had conversations,” she recalls. “We talked about body image, about aging, about confidence. And on the last night, it was me and Gloria Steinem sitting on the couch.”
For Brown, it was a significant moment.
“I don’t usually compare myself to Gloria Steinem,” she says. “But she told me, ‘You’ve empowered women all these years and given them permission to be themselves.’ That was an amazing compliment.”
That same sense of purpose fuels her YouTube series, “I Am Me,” supported by JPMorgan Chase, in which she took the ethos of her women’s retreat weekend and expanded it into a series of impactful conversations with powerful women, focusing on topics of empowerment, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
“Thirty-one people had this great experience,” Brown says, referring to her Women of Influence weekend. “So we said, ‘All right, how do we bring this to more people?’ And that’s when we said, ‘We’ve got to do some kind of a talk series.’”
Unfiltered & Unfinished
Brown is the best-selling author of nine beauty and wellness books, but her newest publication takes a different approach. In September, she will release her memoir, “Still Bobbi.”
“It’s my story — from my grandparents coming over to being raised by young parents — a lot of things I’ve never talked about,” she says. “But the message is resilience. Things happen. You go forward.”
“One thing I’ve learned, the older I get, is try to just go with it. Whatever it is, go with it.”
Brown still approaches beauty with humor and humility. “Some days I look in the mirror and think, ‘Damn, you look great for 68,’” she laughs. “Other days I’m like, ‘Oh no, my mother’s face is coming through the mirror.’”
For anyone struggling with self-image, Brown offers this advice when looking in the mirror: “Make sure you’re in good light. That last impression you get of yourself when you walk out the door… you carry that with you.”
Whether she’s creating cult-favorite products or leading meaningful conversations, Brown remains one of beauty’s most influential figures — not just for what she builds but for how she helps others see themselves. Now, with Jones Road in Austin, she’s giving many locals the tools and the permission to show up as they are.