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‘I taught myself everything’: How Jo Browne built a luxury Irish skincare brand from scratch
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From solid perfume to global airport shelves, Jo Browne’s journey is one of instinct, resilience and doing things differently. Here, she shares how she built a sustainable, handmade brand and why quality will always come first.
When she launched Jo Browne Ireland in 2016, it wasn’t with a sprawling product line or a big investor behind Joanne Browne, but with a single idea: a solid perfume that felt natural, travel-friendly and entirely different to what was already on the market.
“My company is 10 years old this year”, she says proudly, explaining its beginnings came from wanting a different perfume than what was readily available. “I never wore spray perfume or anything like that. I always found it too overpowering,” she says.
“So in 2016, I launched my hero product… it was a solid perfume in a bamboo tube, so no alcohol, no preservatives… and travel friendly.”
All handmade and poured in Carlow, nearly a decade on, that instinct to do things differently still defines the brand.
From the beginning, Browne has taken a hands-on approach to every element of the business, right down to formulation. “I formulate everything myself. There’s no outdoor chemist. I’ve taught myself everything,” she explains, adding that once she had shelf space in the likes of Kilkenny’s and Meadows & Byrne, it was time to start building the range.
That commitment meant time, trial and error – and a lot of persistence. “Even with the cleansing balms… I would have made over 100 cleansing balms just to get the formula right.”
It’s this level of care that underpins the entire brand, she agrees, adding that many won’t necessarily see the work involved to launch even one product. “People often don’t realise… it could take a good year and a half to launch your product… there’s so much work in just one product, people have no idea.”
All natural
While many brands now lean into “natural” positioning, Browne has been part of that movement from the beginning, but with a clear focus on innovation.
“The main thing about our products is they’re only scented by essential oils. We don’t use synthetic scent,” she explains. “You might smell something and go, ‘Oh my God, that smells fabulous’ [but] if it smells overpowering, it’s usually synthetic.”
Instead, her products, from perfume to serums to soap, rely on carefully blended essential oils, including a signature scent that runs across the range. “There’s a blend of eight different essential oils in our signature scent, our biggest seller.”
But crucially, it’s not just about what’s left out; it’s also about what’s added, both to the product and down to how it’s packaged.
“The whole thing, everything I’ve launched, is bamboo packaging. But also we use ingredients from the bamboo tree… bamboo scrub… bamboo silk… bamboo extract in our serum, for example.”
“Everything I launch is different… we’re not just putting oils together. We try to add in another ingredient that no one else has. Our body oils contain magnesium (designed for joint pain, inflammation, and muscle recovery).”
Built on instinct
Before Jo Browne became a brand, it was an idea built on years of working and observing. “I’ve worked in so many different jobs… I worked in 26 different jobs and worked every day since I was 13,” she says.
That work ethic pushed her towards entrepreneurship. “I could never probably work nine to five, because I always see that things could be done differently.”
That same instinct continues to shape the brand’s direction today. “Our biggest thing… we want to be in every airport in the world. That was always my plan from the start.”
“You might smell something and go, ‘Oh my God, that smells fabulous’, but if it smells overpowering, it’s usually synthetic.”
Made to stand out
In an increasingly crowded beauty space, Browne is clear on what makes a product and a brand succeed.
“When you’re going to sit with so many other brands, you have to have something new,” she says. That thinking has helped the brand grow from its early days into retail, spas and, more recently, travel.
“I had to pitch to Aer Lingus, and they just loved… the scent, the packaging… the story.”
Today, Jo Browne products feature across business-class flights and airport lounges, with a strong sustainability angle thanks to their refillable packaging. “Now we have our hand wash and hand lotion in all business class flights, and now we’re launching hand wash, hand lotion, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel – into New York, so JFK, Heathrow and Dublin lounges.”
Keeping it local
Despite international expansion, production remains firmly rooted in Ireland. “We still produce everything in the garden… everything is handmade, hand-poured, hand-labelled,” she says. “It’s 100% handmade in Ireland.”
For Browne, that’s about more than just process. It’s also about community. “To keep it handmade is keeping people in my area employed.”
And while awards and expansion might mark milestones, it’s the customer response that resonates most. “When you get lovely messages back from people… that’s the biggest thing,” she says.
“I’ve had messages where… ‘my mom was in hospital, and we put her on the bamboo bedding’… or ‘I buy your product because it reminds me of my mother’.”
“It’s those little things that make a difference.”
Even after a decade in business, the work hasn’t slowed down. “Believe me, I’m still working 12 hours a day, every day.
Shop the full range at jobrowne.com.
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