Bobbi Brown was about to drop out of college completely because she didn't know what she wanted to do, and she hated school. She found Emerson, a college in Boston, that allowed her to create her own major of studying makeup that no other school could offer her. She then used her skills to become a freelance makeup artist in New York.

She gained widespread recognition when she was featured in Glamour magazine for her natural makeup approach. She had ads on the cover of Vogue multiple times as well. She began to create more products to add to her line when she partnered with a chemist at Keels where she was doing a photoshoot. For her entire career, she sent him colors to mix and make natural beauty products such as lipsticks, foundations, and eyeshadows. Their partnership was simply sending samples back and forth. They decided to sell the products for just $15 a piece for each of them to get $7.50 in profits.

Estee Lauder Companies acquired Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, allowing her brand to expand globally. This gave her brand more resources that a bigger company had that she didn't and was able to keep owning her brand under the Estee Lauder name. She later began to realize the control over her company was becoming too great and she withdrew from ownership. Now focusing more on her family in 2019 Bobbi Brown founded Evolution_18, a wellness brand focused on beauty from within.

Although cosmetics did not rely much on land for their product Bobbi Brown focused on bringing natural beauty tones into a makeup industry full of the brightest colors possible. She was one of the first brands to incorporate natural oils and minerals into her makeup product. In her brand, she used eco-friendly packaging as well to support her natural brand. Even now in her wellness brand, she uses pure ingredients that contain no artificial things.