In today’s article, I’m sharing my detailed and honest Jones Road Beauty review after one year of testing their makeup. Sadly, this is a mostly negative review of Jones Road with the exception of a couple products I really liked. I tested Jones Road foundation, Miracle Balm, Face Pencil, Brow Pencil and Brow Gel. If you’re wondering which Jones Road products are worth it and which aren’t, I got you! As always, I’m sharing my brutally honest thoughts in this Jones Road Beauty review.
Is Jones Road Beauty Clean Beauty?
Jones Road Beauty is pretty low on the spectrum of clean beauty in terms of “clean.” They do add synthetics and artificial colorants like many other similar clean makeup brands.
Where to buy Jones Road Beauty: Products are sold via their website only.
Jones Road Beauty Miracle Balm
I tested the Jones Road Miracle Balm in two different shades and don’t think it’s worth the hype. I found the Miracle Balm to be a bit too waxy with a somewhat off-putting herbal scent. For $38 the Miracle Balm is an expensive product that I don’t think is worth buying.
The Miracle Balm is a highlighter balm with a natural “lit from within” type finish. The concept is identical to rms Living Luminizer, except Jones Road Beauty Miracle Balm comes in a huge container. Seeing as rms Living Luminizer is one of my least favorite rms products, I’m not surprised that I didn’t really care for Jones Road Beauty’s Miracle Balm either. It feels more like a waxy balm than it does a true highlighter.
Jones Road Beauty Miracle Balm is basically a castor oil-beeswax balm that includes mica for a shimmer effect and a mix of colorants for the shade. It doesn’t feel all that greasy or oily to me which is a plus. But I can’t see myself finding much use for this product as I use my skincare to moisturize underneath already, and if I want a highlighter effect I’d prefer to go for a true highlighter than something in-between.
One last thing to note is it has a strong herbal scent from essential oils.
Here is what OBL reader Sue says about Jones Road Miracle Balm:
I tried and hated the Miracle Balm. It felt greasy and smelled awful. Tried a few other products from the company and they were all a big “no” for me. Age just over 60.
This is what reader Eve had to say about Miracle Balm:
It just looks like very oily skin, the product is too heavy for my skin, looks untidy. messy and ugly. Wasted money
Jones Road What The Foundation Review
I have mixed feelings about Jones Road’s What The Foundation and feel like this is a love it or hate it type of product. Jones Road Beauty foundation is described as “a tinted moisture balm meets traditional foundation.” This is a light coverage foundation that gives my dry skin a natural satin finish and feels very hydrating. I do think the finish is beautiful, but the product itself has some major faults.
I don’t know if it was a production issue with my batch, but there were little beads dispersed throughout the foundation. And not just a few beads, but evenly throughout. I’m more than halfway done with the product and still encounter beads with every use.
Another reader who wrote in had the same issue with her product, so it may be more common than I thought.
I’m not a big fan of the pot packaging as it’s not very sanitary sticking my fingers into the product everytime. I understand when budget brands do this, but for a rather expensive foundation I prefer pump packaging.
I do like the somewhat thick (yet hydrating) consistency of the formula, but wish the lightest shade was a bit brighter. Porcelain, which is the lightest shade offered, is still not quite the perfect match for my face, which is paler than the rest of my body.
Here’s what reader Joanna says about What The Foundation:
I have been using WTF for a few months and really love it. It actually feels good on the skin. I find the trick is to use a tiny bit which I scoop out with a plastic spatula I received with another product. I dab it on after using sunscreen. It looks great! I use a bit of powder bronzer with it and look so natural. I have the lightest colour which matches me perfectly. I have ordered the Miracle Balm and can’t wait to try it. I used Powder foundation for years, but I find they are too drying now. This is the best foundation I have found.
And here’s what Cynthia says:
I was disappointed in the products I ordered. The foundation is oily and doesnt go on very smoothly. I did wear it when it got very cold to help with the dryness. The blush wasn’t wonderful either. It didnt give me much color and had a hard film that made it difficult to use a brush. The mascara was thick but a bit clumpy. I need to clean the brush after I use it. All in all, the things I purchased were just not the quality I would have expected fron this line.
I’m not sure I find the $44 price to be reasonable for What The Foundation as it’s on the steep end for the pretty average ingredients list it offers. There are similar quality products for cheaper and better formulated products for a similar price.
I can’t picture myself re-purchasing the Miracle Balm for nearly $40 as I didn’t find much use for it nor was I particularly impressed. But don’t worry, it gets better.
What is the difference between Bobbi Brown and Jones Road?
Bobbi Brown sold her eponymous makeup line to Estee Lauder decades ago, but had signed a non-compete clause barring her from creating another makeup company until October 26, 2020. That very day, she launched Jones Road Beauty, a brand that embraces a minimalistic “less is more” approach to makeup. Jones Road Beauty offers a trim range products, some of which are multi-functional.
Jones Road Beauty is Bobbi Brown’s second foray in the makeup world. This is a contemporary line of versatile products that embrace a less-is-more approach to beauty. It’s the embodiment of Bobbi Brown’s beauty philosophy.
Jones Road Beauty Controversy
Jones Road Beauty received backlash surrounding their TikTok controversy of encouraging customers to post reviews (including negative) for viral views in exchange for payment. Meredith Duxbury and Mikayla Nogueira who are popular beauty creators were some of the first influencers who went viral for posting negative reviews of Jones Road Beauty What The Foundation. It’s unclear whether these were authentic reviews or paid for.
For full transparency, I purchased the Jones Road What The Foundation and Miracle Balm to see if the hype was worth it, and Jones Road sent some other products from the line.
Jones Road The Brow Gel
The Jones Road Brow Gel is one of the products I actually liked.
Jones Road Brow Gel comes as a spool and is a gel based product that fills in, shapes and defines brows. I’m really enjoying this product and find that the Brunette shade works very well for my black eyebrows. Jones Road brow gel comes in 5 shades including clear.
I don’t like using super dark shades on my brows because they’re already so black. I find a lot of brow products either don’t show up at all or overpower my brows, and the Jones Road brow gel is somewhere nicely in the middle. It doesn’t over darken my brows, yet the color still shows up to help fill in and shape them.
Above is a swatch of the Jones Road brow gel in Brunette. It’s quite cool toned which gives my brows a more natural look.
Jones Road The Face Pencil
The Jones Road Face Pencil is basically a concealer stick for spot covering redness, dark spots, discoloration and dark circles. It’s advertised as being creamy, but I found it to be anything but.
The Face Pencil is dry and tough to work with both on bare skin and over makeup. Product does not transfer as easily as you want it to. I think the beauty in a small stick like this is that it’s compact and easily fits in your purse for touch ups on the go. But it fails at achieving that, so the Jones Road Face Pencil is a miss for me.
Jones Road The Brow Pencil
The Brow Pencil is supposed to create tiny, hairlike fibers to add dimension and fullness, but I didn’t experience this ?? For me it’s an okay brow pencil that seems to do the job well, but I wasn’t wowed by any magical featherlike brush strokes. I wondered how it could. claim to do that when it looks like any other jumbo pencil, and there is nylon-66 in the ingredients list. Nylon-66 is commonly used in textile and plastic industries. I’m not sure how comfortable I am using the same material that’s placed in carpet fibers.
Andrea is a clean beauty expert from Los Angeles, California with 10 years of experience in natural skincare and organic living. She writes for Organic Beauty Lover using her expertise to guide readers in choosing the best clean products. Andrea graduated from the University of Southern California in 2012 and has worked at multiple skincare companies, big and small. Connect with her @organicbeautylover.
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