Knockout Beauty, the boutique retail space and bespoke skincare consultancy founded by Cayli Cavaco Reck, was born in the Hamptons in 2016.
“She was born in the Hamptons initially as a pop-up, but she was more successful than I thought she would be,” said Reck.
Reck — the daughter of two editors of American Vogue, Paul Cavaco and Kezia Keeble — spent her entire life visiting the Hamptons, spending summers, and noticed a need for this type of shop and service.
“I originally started Knockout with the thought of just filling a need. I felt like there needed to be a prestige beauty store in the Hamptons,” she said.
Her fascination with skin — and her willingness to spend years researching physiology, ingredients, formulation, and even the way hormones affect our complexions — brought Knockout Beauty to life.
Knockout Beauty now has stores in Bridgehampton, Locust Valley, and Los Angeles as well as a robust e-comm site. Locations stock products hand-picked by Reck across all beauty categories as well as beauty tools and internal wellness supplements.
Reck and her team draw on their vast knowledge of skin concerns and cutting-edge products and their unique “virtual beauty consultations” is provided to develop a protocol and step-by-step skincare routine for each client.
“The consultancy is an interesting piece of the puzzle because there’s really a Knockout Beauty way,” said Reck. “We have our own philosophy that we adhere to and through that there’s a rigorous program that we put our sales team through so that they are able to support our clients.”
While it started long before, this virtual service become extremely popular during the pandemic.
“Because the skin is telling you so much about what’s going on in your body, it can be an intimate experience,” said Reck of the virtual consultations.
It can even be helpful to the team to do consultations virtually, rather than an in-store meeting when someone might be wearing makeup already. “It’s a little bit more of a real representation of what’s going on. And then we chat, we talk about their skin goals,” she said.
A client’s skincare journey will include a dedicated Knockout Beauty team member to help answer any questions that come up along the way. Reck is also passionate about stocking products that are science-based, ethical, and have shown proven results.
In the past year, she said, Knockout Beauty has “elevated our assortment to have even more incredibly effective product lines and we have expanded our offerings. So there’s a lot of newness in the store this summer.”
Reck likes to approach business from a humorous, inclusive, and lighthearted angle, which is evident on her popular Instagram page. Her daughter, Reed, has also started Knockout Beauty Teen, a resource for the younger generation on how to start taking care of your skin from an early age.
“Good habits are clearly, as we know, best made when we are younger,” said Reck.
Having her daughter involved, she said, is a nice way to give a connection with some of the younger clients, to help them on their skincare journey.
“Everything does better when there’s community around it,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what it is.”
