How Skincare Brand Flora Mirabilis Wound Up Operating Out Of Headquarters Built By Charlie Chaplin

While on a walk with her personal and professional partner Christopher Cuseo in earl 2021, Flora Mirabilis founder Jordan LaFragola stumbled onto the perfect headquarters for her skincare brand. The Los Angeles property has two bungalows and a main house built by Charlie Chaplin in 1923. 

The front bungalows are private residences originally occupied by Judy Garland and Douglas Fairbanks. The main house, where Chaplin lived, is LaFragola’s and Cuseo’s home. The couple renovated the downstairs into a studio, which is part skincare treatment face and part production facility. LaFragola, an aesthetician, performs six to eight facials a week in the studio, up from three to four per week a year ago. Sixty-minute facials are $300 to $350. She also handcrafts, packages and ships Flora Mirabilis’s products directly from the home.

LaFragola instantly fell in love with space. “It has such great artistic energy, it’s palpable the moment you enter the courtyard,” she says. “It perfectly matches the whimsical vibe we created for our brand. The space is very private, and feels like a little oasis in the middle of Hollywood, tucked behind a couple of 100-year-old fig trees.”

Among the products LaFragola is handcrafting in the space is Flora Mirabilis’s newest, Cleansing Clay. Priced at $60 for a 3-oz. tube and launching Aug. 22 on the brand’s website, it’s formulated to deliver a deep clean without drying out the skin. It has linoleic acid to support healthy skin barrier function, decrease moisture loss and nourish the skin; anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and detoxifying essential oils rich in terpenes; kaolin, a mild clay to gently remove surface impurities; and apple cider vinegar powder to balance the pH of the formula to suit the skin. 

LaFragola expects Cleansing Clay to boost Flora Mirabilis’s revenues by 30%. This year, she forecasts sales will reach nearly $500,000. “A cleanser is the next logical step in building the perfect skincare routine,” says LaFragola.  “I have been using this cleansing product in my facials for a couple of years now, and people love it. They love the feeling of…its smooth, balmy texture, how it almost foams up and the soft, silky texture of their skin afterward…People have been asking to purchase it for quite some time.” Along with the texture, her clients rave about the Cleansing Clay’s woody resin scent, although there’s no added fragrance in the product. 

LaFragola launched Flora Mirabilis, Latin for the wondrous flower, with a single stockkeeping unit, Face Oil, in 2016. The plant-based oil is designed to brighten, moisturize, soften and restore skin with ingredients like phytonutrients and fatty acids. Face Oil was initially priced at $195 for a 30-ml. size. Today, it rings in at $120 following a packaging redesign. An artist, Cuseo designed the packaging for both versions of the product. 

“When we launched, we had designed a very unique, artisanal packaging concept that included a hand sewn linen dust bag, a wooden box and hand-cut paper elements,” explains LaFragola. “When the economy began to change around 2020, we decided to pare down the packaging as much as possible. Reducing materials and labor allowed us to lower the price, making the product more accessible.” Flora Mirabilis offers a Refill Kit customers can purchase for $90 to replenish the brand’s glass bottles. 

Flora Mirabilis’s Face Oil has limited wholesale distribution, and about 25% of sales come from wholesale transactions. It’s available at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Well Dermatology, County Line Florals, People of The Valley, VAVRA New York and The Natives Co. LaFragola hopes to eventually expand the brand into prestige and clean beauty retailers, notably Goop, Violet Grey, The Detox Market, Credo and Bluemercury.

Beginning her career in beauty in 2011, LaFragola cut her teeth at top Manhattan spas, including Completely Bare Spa, founded by former “Real Housewife of New York” Cindy Barshop, currently owner  VSpot Medispa. LaFragola worked with Beverly Hills plastic surgeons and in five-star hotel spas such as the spas at The Beverly Hills Hotel and Shutters on the Beach, too.

While administering sometimes harsh products and laser treatments, she began researching and developing her own holistic blends. “In general, people who treat their skin with fewer products and more natural ingredients tend to have healthier skin in the long run,” says LaFragola. “After that realization, I studied natural ingredients in depth, reading every study or research paper I could find.” 

She spent almost three years testing the formula for Face Oil and collecting clients feedback on it before completing its recipe. To go with it, Flora Mirabilis sells a medical-grade stainless steel Beauty Tool for lymphatic drainage and muscle massage.