This summer, my best friend from in utero, Cayli Cavaco Reck, launched amazing pop-up shop, Knockout Beauty. And I couldn’t be prouder.
In the mid 1970s and 80s, we were raised by Buddhist, macrobiotic, pioneering fashion stylists and lifelong best friends. We quickly became inseparable too. It was an unusual upbringing: We had Brooke Shields and John Travolta as babysitters and saw the prêt-à-porte shows in Paris as toddlers. Later, we roughed camp hairdo nightmares and 90s clubbing together. As we came of age, I modeled and Cayli worked as an editor. And, most recently, we supported each other as always as I moved into acting and filmmaking and Cayli became a beauty guru, launching her amazing Instagram platform Knocking On Beauty, which inspired her chic Bridgehampton spinoff shop.
I'm so excited to have this opportunity to interview one of my favorite people and hopefully shed some light on our fellow sisters.
Cayli, I love you and I am always right by your side as you are mine. Let’s dive into “knocking ‘em out” with out your Knockout Beauty secrets:
Natane Boudreau: Growing with our parents in fashion, we would always go to the shows in Europe. We saw the best decades of hair and makeup on the runway (70s, 80s, 90s and beyond). What beauty trends have lasted from then to today?
Cayli Cavaco Reck: I think from the 70s we have kept defining our cheekbones, gorgeous as we age. The amazing eyeliner from the 80s is still going strong, and the 90s emphasis on skin is still very current.
NB: You have intimately known some of the world’s greatest hair and makeup artists for over three decades. Can you share some of the secrets they've taught you?
CCR: Harry Josh recently taught me how to get the most out of my blow-dry; his dryer and curling wand are magical! The trick is sealing your style with the cool shot before you unwind the brush! Dick Page taught me about the wonders of cream blush, and Romy Soleimani showed me how to apply it. I was going too close to my under eye and not drawing it back toward my ear to create a flush and shadow. Putting it just on the apples is youthful, but this is more natural and complimentary to one’s natural bone structure.
NB: You have literally transformed my skin and given me a routine, which—believe it or not—I had never had in all my years! You suggesting putting my Revitalash next to my toothpaste, so I wont forget to use it (I now have lashes for days). Thanks to you, I now use Rodan + Fields’ Micro-needling Kit to boost collagen, the entire Sunday Riley line with support from Hannes Dóttir and a genius cellulite mitt created by aerospace engineers. I drink a mixture of Sun Potion’s Tocos, CAP Beauty Coconut Butter and Manuka Honey before sleep, as I lie in bed doing my Rose Quartz Butterfly face sculpting by Georgia Louise and finally lay my head on my Slip anti-aging pillowcase (which is better than a man—no joke). Cayli, you’re with me from from waking to sleeping! Now for the question: What are your morning and evening routines?
CCR: My routine can really vary, so I will share what I always try to do: I always wash my face. You must wash away all of the impurities of the day. I tone and then use my Dermaroller, which I try to do as many evenings as possible because it's that or Botox. I am obsessed with the Odacité serums. They are highly effective and work like a dream—I can't wait to get you hooked on them. I also love the Modern Radiance Concentrate from La Bella Figura. Sunday Riley's Good Genes really helps with my pigment and I always end with a face oil, which I massage in for optimum lymphatic drainage. At the moment, I am obsessed with Vintner’s Daughter and I have been finishing off with LaCremè Beautè’s Bee Venom all over my forehead. It’s nature’s Botox.
NB: Being a daughter, wife, mom of two and full business owner, how do you take time to care for yourself?
CCR: I have been trying to meditate as often as possible. At the Knockout Beauty shop, we have a LightStim machine through our partnership with The Dangene Institute of Skinovation, so I set it for 20 minutes and give myself a treatment while I mediate before I go home at night. Two birds, one stone.
NB: I see Ko40 as a lifestyle. I say this because we all want to move into the store in Bridgehampton! From the decor to the lighting to the flower choices to the curation of each beauty product or accessory, your instinctive Feng Shui just makes one want to live this life. I'm super lucky to have had to you by my side to advise in the decor of my home. So, in advising your followers and fans, how does one curate who they are in a chic way that is true to them?
CCR: I think the first thing is that I try to be myself as often and in as many ways as possible. My houses, the shop, the way I dress; it all has the same vibe. It’s helpful to be inspired by something and to know what you like. You love pink and I am not a pink girl, but, funny enough, there is quite a bit of light pink in the shop. It gave it that feminine feel I was going for. I have a little girl, so I must admit that pink has found a way into my heart and now makes me feel happy. I think it’s important for your space and your style to be an expression of you.
NB: Our parents raised us macrobiotic and Buddhist with a transformational mindset on constantly creating the future as possibility. Like, the possibility of Ko40 is “Beauty in Community” for the world at large. That's what you have done. It's pretty moving. I see Ko40 as a higher purpose, a sharing, a remembering who we are as women, igniting that feminine Goddess we are and the power we really hold as women. What would you like to ignite in women who are approaching 40 and beyond? How do you want to impact women on the planet at large?
CCR: I think it is so important to feel good in your skin. I want that for my children and the women around me, so that is what I am hoping to share. When we have the noise of not feeling good about ourselves, it is very challenging to be impactful, so we live small. I lived small for so long out of insecurity and it was a self imposed prison. I want everyone to experience a sort of jailbreak. When we care for ourselves, we are more able to live freely.
NB: Throughout our lives, I have always seen you so gracefully, constantly and unabashedly be there for others, making girlfriends feel beautiful during breakups, bringing someone’s design line to meet their vision, supporting friends whose well-beings are at stake. I could honestly go on and on. If there's one thing you would ask for yourself from others that could support your own internal beauty, what would that be?
CCR: Be kind and gentle with your words. I move very fast and I may appear quite together, but I am still fragile. I was teased a lot as a young person and well into my teens. Those words are still with me and I am almost 40.
NB: What are the ways in which you "Live the Process" in this movie we call “Life”? Your mom, Kezia, who was my mom’s best friend, did this to the fullest. What has her example taught you?
CCR: She would always say, “The attitude is gratitude.” I am grateful for the process. Life is not a destination. That is death. It is a journey and I am thrilled to be on this journey. My mother’s journey was cut short. People always ask me if my mission is anti-aging. The answer is no. I want to age. I want to get very old and wise. I just want to love the skin I am in while it’s happening.