Every longtime beauty editor has their strengths and their weaknesses and here are mine: I could spend the rest of my days discussing the ins and outs of anti-aging skin care, I obsess daily over uncovering the perfect matte-but-not-too-dry lipstick and a magical lengthening mascara that doesn’t flake. I could truly tell you every single thing you need to know about both dry shampoo and the best reef-safe sunscreen. But, when it comes to face makeup, I am a bit of a skeptic and a rube. I prefer a natural/messy French-girl makeup look with bare skin than one that’s polished and heavy with foundation. I don’t highlight or — God forbid — contour, I find nearly every concealer I’ve ever tried to cake and crease on my particular undereyes and, no matter how many how-to articles I read in Glamour Magazine, blush and bronzers have confounded me since I was teen.
Jones Road
All this changed somewhat a few years ago when legendary makeup artist Bobbi Brown launched her makeup brand Jones Road. I was in my late 40s when Brown started the line, the perfect age, as it turns out, for high-quality, easy-to-use makeup designed with the needs of mature skin in mind. With my newly perimenopausal splotchy complexion, dime-sized pores and estrogen-plummeting, Rudolph-reminiscent red nose, I’d just started needing makeup for the first time. Since the Jones Road launch, I’ve become a devoted fan of Brown’s What the Foundation, which is more moisturizing and lighter on the face and, for me, simply better than any other foundation I’ve tried. And I rarely go anywhere without the Jones Road concealer pencil, which is excellent for covering the aforementioned redness along with darkness under my always-kinda-tired eyes (I even named it one of the best products of 2023).
However, as much I’ve loved and recommended many products from Jones Road, I never really understood the appeal of its most famous one, Miracle Balm. Reviewers love it (including our own commerce manager Julia Webb). So do celebrities like Melissa Gilbert. But even as I tried and re-tried multiple shades, I always found the product too sticky, too glittery, somehow off. Then, this week, on a lark, I tested the new Jones Road Miracle Balm shade “pinky bronze” and, well, consider me converted.
Turns out, Pinky Bronze is actually the ideal multitasking product for those who are both face makeup adverse and also lazy like me. It’s the only Miracle Balm shade that works simultaneously as a blush, bronzer and all-over skin tint (including as an in-a-pinch upper eyelid color/shine). Upon opening the container, Pinky Bronze appears as a dark, shimmery brown, but, once on your skin, it refashions into a warm, pink-golden taupe, similar to the best tan you ever had when you were still allowed to tan.
After applying a light coat with my fingers and hastily blending it in, I found the balm instantly transformed my older skin. Gone was any flat, dry sallowness. I looked glowy and refreshed, like I’d spent the summer vacationing by the sea, not by the light of my laptop. The finish was shiny in the best way, akin to the skin of a 27-year-old, fresh from a jog on the beach, naturally dewy and bright. And, while there’s no reporting of a formula change, I found this Miracle Balm decidedly less sticky than others I’ve tested, more hydrating than on-the-surface tacky.
Jones Road
The new Miracle Balm shade “pinky bronze” works as a blush, bronzer and all over skin tint and is among the best products I’ve tried for mature skin.
$38 at Jones Road
The pink and brown balm is made of skin-nourishing ingredients like castor oil and beeswax and has a shimmery quality that reflects light off your face with just a tiny amount, giving it that “luminescent” look that often feels unachievable without slathering a ton of product on your face. The new shade works for anyone with fair through dark skin tones and was specially formulated to be able to color-correct sallowness, which is great for those with yellow undertones.
More from Jones Road
Jones Road
This cleverly-designed face pencil is a surprisingly excellent replacement for traditional liquid concealers — ideal for zeroing in on any place you want coverage (under eyes, redness around the nose) and blends beautifully without any kind of caking or settling into fine lines.
$25 at Jones Road
Jones Road
Jones Road’s lightweight, moisturizing foundation comes in 16 shades so most everyone can find a perfect match. It evens skin tone and smoothes complexions without making you look too “done.”
$44 at Jones Road
