Cheryl Kelly opens Lifestyle & Beauty LAB
By Lynn Colburn
Photos/Lynn Colburn
A passion for clean living, years of research, and the encouragement of family and friends have led Cheryl Kelly to the Saturday, March 28 grand opening of Lifestyle & Beauty LAB by Cheryl Kelly & Co., located at 45 S. Central Park Plz. in downtown Jacksonville.
The 10 a.m.-4 p.m. celebration will include a morning visit from City of Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard, refreshments, live music by Jeff Newman from noon-2 p.m., plus special offers and giveaways.
The new storefront features Kelly’s organic, vegan beauty line alongside thoughtfully curated clean lifestyle goods, and serves as a creative space for workshops, small events and learning opportunities.
“Clean. Simple. Beauty. That’s the umbrella for everything I do,” Kelly says. “It’s about living intentionally through the choices we make for our bodies and our homes.”
Many people in the Jacksonville area first knew Kelly through Cheryl Kelly Photography, where she photographed high school seniors, families and weddings. But even then, her true passion was quietly growing in the background.
Kelly says, “My underlying interest has always been health, nutrition, exercise and clean living.”
Kelly eventually stepped away from photography to spend more time with her family while her children were young. She returned to teaching—her original field of study—but a new chapter began in 2020.
“I was dissatisfied with my skin and thought I needed to up my moisturizer game,” Kelly explains. “I had just turned 50, and I didn’t know if it was age or environment. Probably a little of both.”
Standing in a store aisle scanning skin product ingredient labels with phone apps, Kelly grew frustrated with the long lists of chemicals she couldn’t pronounce.
“I had a true stomping-my-foot moment,” she laughs. “I think I even said it out loud: ‘Oh, I’m just going to make my own!’ … That is my personality.”
A DEEP DIVE INTO CLEAN INGREDIENTS
A self-described lifelong learner, Kelly went home and began researching.
“I started a deep dive,” she explains. “First, I made a list of everything I wanted a product to help with—fine lines, wrinkles, sun spots, acne, rosacea, eczema and large pores. Then, I made spreadsheets.”
Those, over the next year and a half, turned into oodles and oodles of spreadsheets.
She researched non-pore-clogging ingredients, compared organic and vegan ingredient sources, and evaluated suppliers for ethical, vegan, organic and cruelty-free certifications.
Kelly said, “I wasn’t doing any of this for anyone else at the time. I was just learning, and I really fell in love with the process!”
Kelly focused on pure plant oils and botanicals, choosing formulations without fillers. As part of her process, she says, “I timed how quickly each oil absorbed. I recorded scent, thickness, viscosity—everything … and plotted all that on my spreadsheet.”
Eventually, she narrowed the list to about ten ingredients and began experimenting with blends that met her personal specifications.
A MOMENT IN THE KITCHEN
When Kelly finally created her first blend of beauty oil, she knew it was promising after a few days of using it—but she wanted another opinion. So, she handed a bottle to her mother, Dianna Carter.
“I said, ‘Mom, try this tonight and tell me what you think,’” Kelly says. “And I explained how to put drops of the beauty oil on her face, rub it around and use a wet washcloth to cleanse it off. Then how she should reapply drops and leave it on to moisturize.”
Her mother had used the same face lotion for nearly 60 years and had always resisted any suggested changes.
The next morning, Kelly’s phone rang.
“My mom said, ‘Cheryl, you need to patent this,’” Kelly recalls. “And that’s not something my mom would ever say. And then she said, ‘No, I’m serious,’ because I think she could hear the doubt in my voice, ‘I’m getting rid of my other products. Don’t keep this to yourself, others need it, too.’”
“That’s when I thought, ‘Oh … she’s serious,’” Kelly says.
Kelly let a couple of friends try the product next and they quickly asked how they could get more. “I just listened and ran with it,” she says, her face beaming with the joy she feels.
Kelly’s beauty oil quickly became the foundation of the Cheryl Kelly & Co. line. “The Beauty Oil,” as she has now marketed it, is a cleanser, moisturizer and face serum all in one. “It replaces so many products,” Kelly says.
She later added her Hydr8 Mists; Botanical Body Oil; Lavish Lip Balm; Triple Tint colors for lips, cheeks and eyelids; phthalate-free perfumes and even a beard oil to her line.
Today, the Cheryl Kelly & Co. website, cherylkelly.co, features raving customer reviews—and orders are arriving from across the country daily.
“I’m seeing orders from states where I’ve never been—New York, New Jersey, even Hawaii,” she exclaims. “I love watching new states pop up and wondering how they heard about my brand.”
Her products are sold online via her website and on social media, at product markets across the country, through wholesale to other shops that request to sell her products … and now in the new storefront. She is proud the business, much like her products, has grown organically.
DESIGNING THE LAB
Kelly spent two years designing and building out the Lifestyle & Beauty LAB space herself.
The front half of the building serves as retail space, while the back houses manufacturing, shipping, storage, office space, a break room, photography and content
studio, and room for growth. “I wanted the space to evolve and grow,” she says.
Future workshops held there will include everything from skincare education to the benefits of teas and even DIY projects like making natural laundry detergent. “There are endless possibilities,” she says.
Customers will also be able to experiment with hydrosols—distilled plant waters—at a special Hydrosol Wall where they can test scents and learn about their benefits. Kelly also plans to offer custom blends that customers can help create.
“My dad always told me your name is everything,” she shares. “That’s why I chose Cheryl Kelly & Co.” Notedly, the “& Co.” is especially meaningful.
“My family has truly embraced this dream,” Kelly explains with a loving smile. “My husband, Patrick, and our kids help at markets and know the products inside and out.”
Their three children—McKenna Flagler, Lauren Flagler and Kieran Kelly—are also part of the company’s future. “I made a conscious decision that I wanted this to be a legacy company,” Kelly says. “It can be continued by them, if they choose.”
DREAMS AT ANY AGE
Kelly says the journey proves it’s never too late to start something new. “I started researching this when I was 50,” she says.
After watching a masterclass with Martha Stewart, she discovered the business icon built her empire starting at age 50 as well. “That inspired me,” Kelly says. “You can always follow your dreams.”
Her daughter, McKenna Flagler, recently reminded her why the timing was right.
Kelly says, “She told me, ‘Mom, it couldn’t have happened earlier. You needed all your skills, life experience, and mature skin for all of this to come together.’”
And Kelly agrees. “All of my passions—teaching, photography, research, health—have come together in this one space,” she says.
A PLACE TO GATHER
Kelly hopes Lifestyle & Beauty LAB becomes more than a store. “I want it to feel like a place people can hang out and spend time,” she explains. The space will also feature a monthly artist showcase and events highlighting other clean-living brands and ideas.
“Life is ever-evolving,” Kelly notes. “And LAB is going to be ever-evolving because I embrace change.”
From a moment of frustration in a store aisle to a growing national brand, Kelly’s journey has been built on curiosity, persistence and faith.
“It started with nothing,” she says. “But if you’re willing to learn, research and keep going, you can build something amazing.”
