Jasmine Tookes on Mood, Motherhood and Staying Grounded

When supermodel Jasmine Tookes introduced her Brunel body-care line earlier this summer, it marked more than just the debut of a new beauty brand—it was a heartfelt expression of her lifelong passion for skin care, self-care and staying centered. With Brunel, Tookes has created more than just products, crafting a personal love letter to the world that helped shape her career and also to herself—honoring the journey, personal evolution and intentional rituals that sustain her sense of balance both on and beyond the runway.

What made you decide “I’m going to do this” with Brunel?

“I’ve been in the modeling industry for 15-plus years, and beauty has always been my biggest passion. There’s been so many times over the span of my career where people have approached me to start a beauty brand—whether it’s makeup, hair care, body care…but it just never felt like the right time. The situation also never felt right because it was mainly me being approached by incubators—projects where I wouldn’t really own much of the company, but they’d use my name and likeness and everything. Basically, brands where I would make very small decisions.

When thinking of starting a brand, I always wanted to do it with the right person at the right time and with the right product. I truly feel like a brand is never only about a person—it has to have a purpose to the consumer. I think finding our purpose and the right timing with Brunel with everything. My co-founder and I met about two years ago and we both shared such a love for beauty, but also a love for wellness. Being able to merge the two, to turn everyday rituals into something really meaningful and deeper, was something that we were really excited about. That’s sort of how it all came to life.”

Was there anything during the process that was particularly difficult? Any challenges you would have never thought of to get the brand to market?

“Tons of things! Timelines have been our biggest enemy since we launched. We started with body oils—specifically, a golden glow oil—which kind of makes the most sense in the summer. We really had to hit our summer timeline, which meant jumping through all the hoops of packaging and which caps fit our bottles and the formulations working on every skin tone. Those were a lot of things that we had to go through, but I feel like all of those great challenges make for better products. So we accepted them all and were able to overcome them.”

There’s a lot out there, but in a sentence or two, what do you feel is different for this line from what is available right now?

“Yes, there is. We’re really focused on enhancing your mood, while also taking care of your skin. It’s a mind thing. With most body oils, you get those long-term benefits where it’s firming or brightening and toning of the skin, which we do have, but we also have these quicker benefits of mood-enhancing, which I love. Our Awakening Oil ($48) gives you a boost of energy in the day, and our Renewal Oil ($48) gives you a very calm state of mind in the evening. We also have these amazing actives that most body oils do not have. It all makes us really stand out.”

And wellness is a big part of your life. How has it changed since you had your daughter?

“It’s definitely changed a lot! My days now consist of me waking up and just going! Typically, my daughter wakes up around the same time every day. I try to wake up at least an hour before her so I get my ‘me time.’ That’s when I have time to do my skin care and my body care and the rituals that I like to do. I try to make everything very intentional with the time. It doesn’t always work out that way, but I try to just be good about navigating time and finding the little moments where you can.”

How has your beauty routine changed since motherhood? Is it simpler now?

“I’ve sort of kept it the same. As much as I love beauty, I’ve always been pretty simple when it comes to my skin care and makeup. In the every day, I’m not putting on a full face, unless I’m on set. Outside of that, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I was really paying attention to the ingredients that are in products and making sure that I was using really clean formulations of whatever I was putting on my skin. All of that has seeped into my life now—I really make sure everything I use is not toxic on my body, because I don’t want to expose my daughter to that. Plus, I want to keep myself as healthy as possible.”

Are there any brands out there besides your own that you really love or respect for doing a good job with that?

“KORA Organics is a brand that I really love. I’m also really good friends with Miranda Kerr, and she’s so passionate about wellness and beauty. I always look to her and ask her, ‘What sunscreen should we be using?’ She’s very knowledgeable in that space. I know that I can trust her products—they are good enough to use on my daughter. She has amazing products and product recommendations.”

Your own mother is a big part of your life—she’s your link to being discovered and she was your stylist for our shoot. How has she played a role in your career, and with raising your daughter?

“My mom has been my number-one cheerleader throughout my whole career. Until I was around 20 years old, she would travel around with me to Europe doing all the fashion shows. She would sit backstage with me for hours and hours and hours and was the biggest support system. I think, honestly, with the industry that I’m in, there’s so many ups and downs, and you have to have a really strong backbone and a good support system. I’m not sure what I would have done without that.

Always having her there really kept me grounded, kept me sane, kept my head held high. In modeling, you hear lots of nos and lots of yeses, and all of it is a lot. You have to be really confident in yourself to navigate an industry like the one that I’m in. She’s been just a huge rock and supporter. Even now, with my daughter, my mom is only 20 minutes away from me, so she’s a quick call. She comes over and gives me help when I need it, and advice when I want it. And I want it with this little one! I’m very fortunate that I have my mom by my side. She’s just been a complete angel.”

I’ve only emailed her a few times, but you can tell she’s good people over the computer. My last question: What are you excited for this summer? Will you take some time off?

“Yes, hopefully. Brunel is keeping me very busy. We’re a small team of two, and then outside of that, we have our chemists and people that obviously ship our products and stuff, but myself and Sabrina, we’re running the whole thing. I’m really busy with that, but we’ll try to take vacation when I can.

Right now, I’m in the process of trying to plan a trip in August, hopefully, with my family. I’m hoping to go somewhere in Europe; I love Italy, so hopefully we will get a little time to go to there and enjoy the delicious food. We’re also going to the Galapagos. My husband is from Ecuador, so we’ll be going there with some friends soon. It’s a beautiful place. My daughter is just going to be enthralled by the animals and the sea life. I’m very excited.”