By Jim Servin
Three generations of women in this family have shared one obsession—natural skin care that works—passed down and still going strong. June and Rochelle Jacobs are the mother-daughter team carrying it forward, the duo behind the thoughtfully formulated Naturally Serious Skincare. The line’s 17 products are nontoxic, made with raw ingredients rather than synthetic ones. Their flagship brand, June Jacobs Skincare, delivers high-end botanical extracts and soothing active ingredients in attractively packaged products to spas, luxury hotels and retailers worldwide. June Jacobs co-founded the clinically driven Peter Thomas Roth with Peter Thomas Roth in 1993.
Their products are sustainable and cruelty-free—designations that are nearly a given now, but not so when June Jacobs, single mother of Rochelle, based in Queens and then the Upper East Side, set out in the 1990s to change the beauty landscape, and in the process launched her own lab and manufacturing facility (one that is FDA-approved and Procter & Gamble-approved) in New Jersey.
“Skin care has always been a passion,” says June Jacobs, ensconced at Wildflower Farms in the Hudson Valley, and about to enjoy a rejuvenating treatment. “It started with my own mother, who was way ahead of her time.”
“My grandmother grew up in Iran, where women made the products themselves, using tea leaves, goji berries, all these different antioxidants,” adds Rochelle Jacobs, co-founder of Naturally Serious Skincare, calling in from Manhattan en route to Italy. “She grew up seeing all that before there was a Sephora.”
Launched in 2018, Naturally Serious Skincare is built around such essentials as Supercharge Anti-Oxidant Moisture Serum for daily hydration, and Major Moisture Gentle Cream Cleanser, with coconut oil and pomegranate enzyme for exfoliation. “Our goal was to make sure we were the first to market with clean beauty,” says Rochelle. “It’s a super-tight line, easy to navigate, and it allows the customer to incorporate a product or two, or a full routine. Either way, the goal is to make effective skin care simpler, without compromising performance.”
A resident of Wainscott (where June frequently visits her two grandsons, Jake and Luke), Rochelle takes a sensible approach to coastal living. “I spend as much time as I can outside,”she says, “but the key is to enjoy it responsibly,” Their sunscreen of choice: Naturally Serious Mineral Sun Defense Moisturizer Broad Spectrum, SPF 30. Rochelle loves all the Hamptons have to offer, including dinners at Bistro Été, Tutto il Giorno, Le Bilboquet and Rosie’s in Amagansett, and wellness offerings like sound baths at Shou Sugi Ban House and energy sessions with Lauren Aiyana.
That same respect for the body—care without excess—runs through everything the Jacobs family has built. In 2013, June’s breast cancer diagnosis and reaction to radiation inspired one of the company’s most innovative products, Rapid Repair Healing Cream, also perfect for elbows and dry patches, and as a balm for sunburn. “My mother,” says Rochelle, “just steps in and gets things done.” naturallyseriousskin.com, junejacobs.com
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