Aussie mum-of three Rosie Jane Johnston went from high school dropout to celebrity makeup artist — and now she is the founder of a multi-million dollar clean fragrance company, By Rosie Jane.
Rosie, originally from Sydney but now based in Los Angeles, started her career as a celebrity makeup artist at 19, having dropped out of high school.
“I moved to London and worked in a video store while doing makeup on the side,” Rosie tells Best Picks.
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The fragrance founder says her life changed when she “begged her dad to pay for a ticket” to go to see her sister, who is the actress Poppy Montgomery, in America, for her 21st birthday.
“I met my husband in Los Angeles on that trip, on my 21st birthday, and moved to the US,” she says.
Rosie was doing long days on set as a makeup artist when she decided to launch her own product.
The female founder was before her time, and launched a cheek and lip product in 2003 under the name Rosie Jane Cosmetics.
She got her product into a few boutiques but would cold call bigger retailers such as Henri Bendel to try to get them to stock her cosmetics.
It wasn’t until 2008 that she made the move into fragrance.
“I used to make my own fragrances and wear them. I would mix essential oils as I liked to have my own personal scent, that was distinctly me,” Rosie says.
“I had a friend who asked me if I could stock my personal fragrance in her boutique and that was the beginning of By Rosie Jane.”
Rosie says she had no money at the time to put into it, so she would mix essential oils and bottle it by hand, naming it Leila Lou after her daughter.
“I had a newborn when I started my fragrance company and that caused me to become very aware of what I was using on my body and what the ingredients in my beauty products were,” she says.
The fragrance expert says there aren’t ingredient lists for most fragrances; she wanted to understand why there were preservatives in them and exactly what all the ingredients were.
“It was like a whole new education for me,” Rosie says.
In 2018, her biggest professional milestone occurred.
“Sephora US came knocking and wanting to stock By Rosie Jane. I still have the letter,” Rosie says.
Sephora had great success with stocking ‘clean beauty’ ranges and was ahead of the game.
By Rosie Jane was one of the first six clean beauty brands Sephora US ever stocked, and Rosie credits the company with being “a great education piece, in the world of clean beauty”.
At the time, Rosie was juggling her business, being a mum to three and was still working as a celebrity makeup artist.
It was in 2019 that she left makeup artistry behind to focus on her business, full time, and, in 2020, she launched the body care range of By Rosie Jane.
Last year, Sephora Australia started stocking By Rosie Jane, starting with her body care line and then also stocking her line of fragrances.
Like any small business owner, Rosie has had challenges along the way.
“You are underestimated, especially when doing it alone,” she says.
“But while it can set you back, it can also become your biggest driver for success. It propels me forward.
“You are constantly trying to prove yourself and there is no off button when you have your own business.”
Rosie is still the perfumer but works with a fragrance house to make sure all her products are clean.
“By Rosie Jane is like a journal entry for me, it encompasses exactly who I am, it’s my lifestyle and all my recipes,” she says.
“I create the formula and then send it to a fragrance house to stay within the clean standards.”
The company has released eight perfumes over a 14-year period.
The latest fragrance, Missy, is an ode to sentimentality and to Australia, Rosie says.
“I am very nostalgic and sentimental and I wanted this perfume to be reminiscent of all the moments in between,” she says.
Rosie likes to describe herself as “solar-powered”, saying she loves warm weather, and she wanted Missy to “encapsulate warmth and happiness”.
The perfume has notes of frangipani, pineapple and coconut, and Rosie describes it as “sophisticated but youthful”.
Missy is the company’s first “functional fragrance”, which means its formulation was created using technology based in science and how certain molecules affect our moods.
Rosie has a passion for researching the “incredible science” behind functional fragrances and wanted to include it in her development of Missy.
“There are actual molecules that exist in the air in certain locations that scientists can then recreate and add into your fragrance, which adds intention and affects your mood,” Rosie explains.
Missy has a mood that invokes clarity and joy that Rosie describes as akin to “butterfly kisses and sex on the beach”.
“I love fragrances that lift me up and that have a memory behind it, it’s so impactful,” Rosie says.
In terms of future plans, Rosie wants to continue to grow her company with a strong focus on her line of body care.
“I use essential oils in all of my body care products and they have completely different scents to my fragrances and are clean too,” she says.
Her advice for other women wanting to start their own business is to “make sure whatever product or service you are offering, it is the best it can be”.
“What I always say is, have something to say and make sure you have a great product,” she says.
“Your branding may grab them but the product has to be great for them to keep coming back.”
To shop By Rosie Jane at Sephora, head here now.