Background and career
Bobbi Brown (born April 14, 1957) is an American professional make-up artist, author, and the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. She created ten natural-shade lipsticks, which, according to Entrepreneur "revolutionized the beauty industry". She has written ten books about beauty and wellness. In 2025, Time magazine listed her as one of the world's 100 most influential people. After leaving Bobbi Brown Cosmetics in 2016, she launched Beauty Evolution, LLC, and became certified as a health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Brown also started a line of beauty-inspired wellness products. and launched a second beauty line, Jones Road, in 2020. Brown curates an editorial website. She and her husband Steven Plofker redesigned The George, a boutique hotel located in Montclair, New Jersey.
Born in Chicago, Illinois to a Jewish family, Joe and Sandra Brown, Brown graduated from New Trier High School and from Emerson College in Boston with a degree in theatrical makeup and photography. In 1980, she moved to New York City to work as a professional makeup artist. Brown became known for a makeup style that included moderate and natural tones, which was a stark contrast to the bright colors used commonly at the time.
In 1990, Brown worked with a chemist to come up with ten natural lipstick shades. In 1991, Brown and her husband partnered with another couple to launch the brand Bobbi Brown Essentials, which debuted at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. She was expecting to sell 100 in a month, but instead sold 100 in a day. The following year, she released yellow-toned foundation sticks. Estée Lauder bought the company in 1995, retaining Brown as an employee of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Brown retained creative control of the makeup line. In 2011, the first freestanding Bobbi Brown Cosmetics retail store opened in Auckland, New Zealand with a makeup school in the back of the building. In 2012, her cosmetics were estimated to represent approximately ten percent of Estée Lauder Companies' total sales. As of January 2014, there were approximately thirty free-standing Bobbi Brown cosmetics stores. In December 2016, it was announced that Brown would step down from the company by the end of the year. Following this, she continued creating new lines and participating in the beauty industry through other projects like beauty podcasts, a makeup MasterClass, and her website JustBobbi.com.
In late October 2020, Bobbi Brown launched her second beauty brand, Jones Road. The launch marked 25 years since she first sold her original line, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, due to a 25-year non-compete agreement she'd signed with Estee Lauder. It has been described as a "clean beauty" brand. According to Yahoo, which reviewed the line, this "approach is evident in the brand offering: a curated edit of makeup and skincare that doesn't overwhelm." Its original offerings included balms, moisturizing cream colors, mascaras, glosses, washes, eye shadow, eye pencils. They were also sold in combination in a start-up kit. In an interview with the Financial Times in September 2024, it was revealed that the brand's revenue in its first year was $20mn, and expected to be over $150mn in the current financial year, with a valuation approaching $1bln.
Brown has a collection of fragrances and a collaboration with In 2013 Safilo Group S.p.A. for an eyewear collection. She is a creative consultant at Lord & Taylor.
In 2019, she founded Evolution_18, a “lifestyle-inspired wellness line”. The products she developed for the line included supplements, collagen, and effervescent tablets, and were sold at outlets including Walmart.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
