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schemesanddreams · 7 years

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Part Two – The Imposter

As the calendar rolled to 2004, Lee and I became quick friends, or so I thought. It’s funny now, how nervous I was the first time I called her, considering the relationship we eventually developed.

With bi-weekly phone conversations, letters and e-mails abounding, one can imagine we discussed more than just Dorothy’s death - and one would be correct. Lee regaled me with tales of her lunching at Sardi’s and indulging in one too many gin and tonics; something I would quickly discover her penchant for. It was more than her stories which tuned me in to her alcoholism. Nonsensical, rambling voicemails about her cats, parcel with addresses written sloppily and postage affixed upside down and one particular e-mail going on about penguins were only a few instances in which her troublesome relationship with alcohol became glaringly obvious.

I vividly remember her cackling over the receiver once, detailing her failure of burning a turkey for a dinner party she was hosting. Another time, she absolutely demanded that I read Pentimento, a book by Lillian Hellman. She urged me to read Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, as we had been discussing banned literature at the time. She confided in me that she was looking to write a screenplay about Dorothy and to “keep it under [my] hat.” Often times, she used antiquated phrasing – things such as something being “rotten in Denmark” and a “bee under one’s bonnet.” It didn’t take me long to become quite fond of her, with all of her quirks and eccentricities.

Still, I knew something was off about Lee Israel. I couldn’t put my finger on it but something didn’t feel right. I didn’t fully trust her but she was releasing crumbs of information to me that I was unable to find elsewhere. Having sent me copies of Dorothy’s handwritten autopsy report and several police reports I had requested from her, I knew that there was more Lee had yet to share with me. I had to keep her placated and happy in order to receive the information I wanted, despite how distrusting I was of her at the time. She only released the bare minimum to me, afraid that I would surpass her research and become the new “Queen of the Kilgallen Story” – the last bit of fame Lee clung to. I was competition, she realized. She was not dumb; she knew I was befriending her for information and she did her best to carefully keep me at bay. It was quite the twisted relationship, in retrospect.

With those realizations, paired with my instinct, I did some late-night digging and ended up uncovering an ancient notice to all New York Public Libraries that Ms. Israel was forever banned from them. Well, that’s curious, I thought…

It turns out that my somewhat-of-a-friend, confidant, theory-buddy and information provider had quite a dark secret. When I confronted her with what I had found, Lee’s tone turned icy.

“That is NONE of your business,” she hissed. “Keep your nose out of things that aren’t relevant to you,” she added. I was stunned at her sudden change in demeanor. In that moment, Lee was downright cold.

Funny, I thought. This woman who had written an exclusive and detailed biography about the life of a person that wasn’t relevant to her was lecturing me, a person who came to her with my nose already buried in things that weren’t relevant to me, on not digging into something that wasn’t relevant… I had struck a nerve and Lee made it obvious. I backed off but continued to dig – shocked at what I continued to uncover.

My New York Times Bestselling Author of a “friend” was a pathological liar. Additionally, she was a thief and a felon, to boot. In retrospect – and having befriended another of her ilk – I recognize her behavior and traits to be quite obviously sociopathic. The woman gave zero shits about anyone other than herself – and her past and present actions at the time made that perfectly clear.

Lee had major success with the biography of Dorothy Kilgallen. Similarly, she received tremendous praise for her biography of actress Tallulah Bankhead (who will become relevant later in this tale). Riding high on the success of her writing, Lee began yet another biography. Except, the subject of this one was very much alive and did not appreciate the unauthorized work. Estée Lauder and Israel ended up in a race to the presses, with Lauder trying to beat Lee to publication with her own autobiography.

Lee’s book was an abject failure. She was so ashamed of it, even so many years later, that she strictly forbade me from reading it. (Something I complied with until many years after our falling out; finally, out of spite, I read the book and it was indeed a complete piece of trash.)

Having fallen off the high horse of success, Lee was strapped and living in an exclusive apartment on Riverside Drive in New York City. She was in way over her head and struggling to make ends meet. While she blames her felonious misadventures on the sickness of a beloved pet cat and her financial inability to afford treatment, I not-so-secretly believe that her theft was a direct reflection of her own selfish greed.

Lee sneaked documents out of the highly-secure historical reading rooms of the New York Public Library system. Taking letters penned by very famous people, she would gently fold them, quietly slip them into her shoe, take them home and copy their signatures. Her brand of forgery was especially inventive, as she used the light from an upturned television set as a back-light to trace the signatures. Using a variety of typewriters which she later admitted to trashing in various cans around the city once the FBI was onto her, she fabricated letters by famous people, forged their signatures and sold the fake letters as authentic. She made a ton of money. That is, until she was caught.

This was information which, at the time, really surprised me. I carefully suggested she monetize her story, afraid of the verbal backlash. After all, it was interesting, I reminded her. Instead of laying into me, she scoffed. Yet, several years before her death on Christmas Eve 2014, she published a slim memoir called “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” to much success and fanfare.

An aside that will make much more sense as my story progresses: I found out about Lee’s death through a google service that instantly reports to my e-mail any news featuring Dorothy Kilgallen. I was absolutely taken aback when I absentmindedly checked my e-mail on Christmas and found that headline.

“Keith,” I said, shocked, to my husband. “It’s over. She’s dead.”

We high-fived and I decided in that moment, that her death was the best Christmas present I had ever received. Before you cast me as a heartless, ruthless bitch, finish my series and then revisit that moment with the information you’ll receive... My joy, relief and happiness will appear far less cold-hearted and in fact, very justified...

With much retrospect, I see just how dastardly Lee Israel was. At the time, while I was certainly entertained by her, I knew that she merely kept me around for the attention. Lavishing me with over-the-top stories and acting as if she was wealthy beyond her means, she basked and reveled in having an audience in me. When I had planned a trip out to New York City to sightsee Dorothy’s house and haunts, as well as to do coffee with Lee, the façade crumbled and her lies came crashing down upon her.

There were no fancy luncheons at Sardi’s. Not surprisingly, Lee had lied. Sure, there was plenty of gin but I highly doubt they were expensive martinis, as she had suggested. Certainly, they were sad drinks from plastic, bottom-shelf bottles. There was no turkey dinner to be burnt. Lee had no friends to invite over.

“I’m penniless,” her e-mail read. “I’m ashamed,” she told me.

Lying about her whereabouts during my trip (she was most definitely holed up in her embarrassingly cluttered apartment on Riverside Drive), she claimed to be in California on business. Convenient.

Shortly after she so transparently stood me up, I experienced a major devastation by way of the death of a beloved family member. Having recently moved to a new area and not yet having my feet solidly on ground in the social department, I called her hoping that in her, I could find a sympathetic ear. She sent me to voicemail.

Not long after I left a very upset message, quickly filling her in on my situation, I received an e-mail.

“Due to our differences, I think it is best we no longer talk.”

What differences? Sure, we weren’t politically amicable but that was about the only thing that we didn’t have in common. I found it curious that she would dump me as a friend while I was in such a situation – after I had been there for her, for several years, during her tough times.

I was soon to surpass her on Kilgallen research, having spent a vacation talking with a forensic pathologist mooring next to the boat I was on. Having contacted Kerry, quick to learn that he and Lee had also had a falling out. Having received previously classified Kilgallen information from both the FBI and CIA.

I realized that she often had “falling outs” with people. Kerry and I weren’t the only ones. One person she blacklisted was crucial in the Kilgallen case. His name was Ron Pataky and he was Dorothy’s secret boyfriend, seen with her on the night of her death.

“Don’t ever contact him,” Lee had admonished. “He’s a violent alcoholic. He’s very dangerous,” she told me.

Telling me of a time that she had gone and visited him – implying quite transparently that the two had gotten drunk together – she told me that he had flipped out and scared her. No other details were given about the story but her warning was stern. I heeded the advice until 2011, when I was asked to be a guest on the syndicated radio program Coast to Coast. They wanted me to spend a segment talking about Dorothy on their annual Kennedy Assassination show and I didn’t feel right about going on the air without having talked to the one man who I strongly believed killed Dorothy.

It was Lee who had tried to keep me isolated, warning me about DK’s son, Kerry and about Dorothy’s boyfriend Ron, alike. It was Lee who made me promise to “never put any of this on the internet,” when she sent me the autopsy and toxicology reports. It was Lee who feared me surpassing her as the subject matter expert on Dorothy when I broke my promise, creating the most comprehensive Kilgallen website to date and it was Lee who ended up making my life a living hell…

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selenavnstore · 5 years

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jessicakehoe · 5 years

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Report: Brandon Truaxe, Founder of Deciem, is Dead at 40

Deciem, the Toronto-based beauty company has been making headlines for the past year — and not just for their super affordable skincare line. The company’s eccentric founder, Brandon Truaxe, garnered attention for his volatile behaviour, including taking over the company’s social media and posting content that ranged from entertaining too straight up bizarre. FASHION has learned that over the weekend, Truaxe has passed away at age 40. On Monday morning, Deciem’s CEO Nicola Kilner circulated an e-mail to all staff confirming the founder’s death. Kilner directed recipients of the e-mail, “All offices, warehouses, factories and stores please close today and take the time to cry with sadness, smile at the good times we had, reflect on what his genius built and hug your loved ones that little harder.”

From public firings to posting pictures of trash, here’s a complete timeline of the Deciem saga so far.

January 12: Deciem Shades Drunk Elephant

Our Deciem timeline begins with Reddit after one user spotted a dig at Drunk Elephant on The Ordinary’s website. The shade was buried within the description of their marula oil, “Referred to as a ‘luxury’ oil by some… It’s a fantastic oil in every sense of the word despite its affordability. One would have to be drunk to overpay for Marula.” The terminology here pointed a clear finger at fellow skincare-brand Drunk Elephant, who charges $90 for a 1oz bottle of marula oil in comparison to a $10 bottle of the same size from The Ordinary. The (now deleted) call-out seemed pretty unprofessional, especially because of its placement on the company’s official website.

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The words in this video mean more to me than to anyone. I will talk to you beautiful people on our social channels from now on. I'll maintain an email subscription list and you can subscribe to it by simply sending an empty email to [email protected]. I'll share my thoughts that relate more to life than DECIEM on my own Instagram feed @btruaxe. We are all humans. We are not consumers, races, genders or sexualities. 🌎 Our social team won't respond to any comments on this post because I will respond to all of them personally. Please ask any order or product questions on another post or via DM so that I can commit time to this post. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 24, 2018 at 9:01am PST

January 24: Truaxe Begins his Social Media Takeover

Truaxe posted a chatty selfie-type video to Deciem’s Instagram page–the first of many–stating, “I have now cancelled all of our marketing plans… From now on I’m going to communicate personally with you.” Given Deciem’s substantial following, it seemed like a pretty drastic change and a huge undertaking.

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Hi :-) You have often asked us why we refer to our team as monkeys. Our lovey @nicolalkilner used to be a buyer at @bootsuk. She once told me that a major beauty brand always hired sales representatives who looked like models because their presence in meetings was impactful. I can't think of anything dumber than choosing people who are to represent your values based largely on their appearance. So I decided that we are going to very specifically not care about our team looking like models (if some of us do, then we are doubly lucky), and instead be so humble to say we are symbolically monkeys, because monkeys are the origin of all of us, whether or not we are models. But I also don't think monkeys are better than any other animal. Animals and us are all together working on this beautiful small planet we call Earth. I fell in love with all animals during my fortunate visits to Africa and South East Asia. I particularly love elephants because my very good friend Gill Sinclair of our caring and patient retailer, @victoriahealth, loves them and because an elephant once let me ride his loving back in Java, Indonesia, near the Borobudur Temple. Lastly, speaking of elephants, I once wrote that one would have to be drunk to overpay for Marula oil which was a distasteful joke that arose from my familiarity with the beautiful brand, @drunkelephantskincare. @tiffanymasterson: I'm sorry. When I met you at the WWD breakfast, I saw a beautiful soul. And you have worked hard to build a beautiful brand. Please forgive me. I have now adjusted that distasteful post and we will donate $25,000 to the peaceful elephant charity that your brand supports: @savetheelephants. Our super-fast and loving @smjr2000 will arrange for this donation to be made this week. Hug, Brandon ❤️ (Update: the donation has been made and elephants are smiling 🐘❤️)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 28, 2018 at 8:53pm PST

January 28: Truaxe Addresses the Drunk Elephant Comment

Two weeks after the Drunk Elephant dig was shared on Reddit, Truaxe addressed the situation via social media. The post, though clearly good-intentioned, was also a very strange rambling of thoughts. Once you get past the musings of monkeys and models, an apology can be found towards the end. Truaxe acknowledges that what he said about Drunk Elephant was a distasteful joke and then casually adds that he will donate $25,000 to Save the Elephants in response. All in all, it was a very sweet way to apologize, but the elaborate (at times, baffling) caption just stirred up more conversation about founder. Back over on Reddit, one user posted, “I remember that one. I also remember thinking, If you got time to write this ‘masterpiece’, you got time to get my 100ml moisturizer back in stock, son.” Another simply asked, “Wtf did I just read.”

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If you walk in front, you lead only yourself and see no one who's behind. To help those who work with you, you have to walk behind them. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 1, 2018 at 11:42am PST

February 1: No More Bosses

In his next selfie video, Truaxe announces that he will drop his CEO title and now be referred to simply as a “worker.” “I’ve never liked any of my bosses in my life. So, I don’t want to be a boss, I want to be a friend,” he says.

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I'll eliminate all plastic including our shopping bags, droppers, foundation bottles (which cost more than glass bottles because they're "sophisticated" plastic). Alessandro and Hajar, please tell our suppliers that this plan will complete by end of 2018. Peter of Mong Packaging, I'm sorry that we won't use plastic any more. You're such a good person. I'll sponsor you and your family to come to Canada if you want and you can work at DECIEM. Alan of Idealpak, this direction means more business for you ❤️🐴 (@apple please add a donkey emoticon because there's no horse in Morocco as far as I can tell). Sorry everyone that I'll repeat this note several times today with different videos. I love you, Brandon. (It's sunny here. ❤️🌕)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:04am PST

February 4: Deciem’s Feed is Garbage

No, but actually… it’s literal garbage. Truaxe interrupts Deciem’s usual feed to post pictures of trash. He captions the post with a pledge to go plastic free, and while he’s at it, cuts ties with his plastic packager. He goes on to offer Peter (who has now been publicly fired) a sponsorship for him and his family to come to Canada and work at Deciem. The caption is pretty uncomfortable to read. The four people mentioned in the post probably deserved a meeting or even an email, not an Instagram caption. Truaxe’s offer of sponsorship also feels a little inappropriate for the platform, especially given the circumstances.

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Stop being mean to kind animals. DECIEM will never test on animals. EVER NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:03am PST

February 4: Truaxe Photographs a Dead Animal

In the midst of the garbage posts, Truaxe comes across a dead animal. He then proceeds to kneel next to the body, upload a picture of the corpse to Instagram and then scold his followers, “Stop being so mean to kind animals.” It’s a little confusing given we don’t know if this sheep died of natural causes or not. Truaxe then goes on to say that Deciem will never test on animals and while we praise the brand for being cruelty free, the picture of the sheep and the videos of the garbage feel a bit unnecessary. It’s clear that the Deciem Instagram page is not controlled by a formal marketing team.

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Riad is our factory manager. His family adopted me when I needed help. His brothers Hashim and Faras run our US e-commerce. His other brother Ammar sells our products in Iraq, where they're from. His youngest brother Omar is coming to Canada to join DECIEM. Astrid and @diafoley, Riad is not my boyfriend (I'm not gay). He's my brother and I love him (and his beautiful mother who's my mother). Because of Estée Lauder's investment, I have been able to give the family a gift of $500,000 in January. They're building a home. And Riad is now travelling the world with me until March. I love you, Riad 🐘❤️🐪. Astrid, see you in Amsterdam to build my baby, Avestan. Our baby, Avestan. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:15am PST

February 4: He Also Wants to Mention that He’s Not Gay

In Truaxe’s tenth post of the day (none of which have had anything to do with specific Deciem products) he describes his relationship with factory manager, Riad. He talks about his love for Riad and his family and then tags two people in the post, letting them know that he is not gay. He then casually mentions another massive donation. This time, half a million dollars for Riad’s family.

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Hi :-) I had the best time yesterday posting about my day. Many of you love what I did. But a few of you disliked it, criticized it and even unfollowed us. I won't argue with you. I'll listen to you and build a social content management team. We don't have such a team because our social content has always been my doing but it was too curated for no reason until recently. While Mira and our amazing creative team work together to hire this social content team, I'll be in Kenya and Namibia to evaluate the best way to donate $150K to hungry children as promised in our Vitamin C post a couple of weeks ago. I'm also donating $50K of my personal savings for this cause. Random charities aren't the right way to donate but I'll find the right way to donate for us. Meanwhile, our lovely other Brandon will be here with you on social answering your questions and sharing good energy like always. I love you and I'll speak to you soon. I can't wait to meet some of you at our stores starting with Covent Garden. And then I'll go back to Morocco to find the beautiful man who gave me the soap so he can help me share the soap with you. And this soap will be very special because we will donate all of our gross profits from its sales to create good jobs for good people in beautiful Morocco. We are already successful and don't need to profit at all from a peaceful soap. ❤️🐪

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 5, 2018 at 6:09am PST

February 5: Truaxe Promises a Proper Social Media Team

After eleven posts in one day and a reported loss of 5,000 followers, Truaxe addresses his recent Instagram behaviour. “Many of you love what I did. But a few of you disliked it, criticized it and even unfollowed us,” he wrote before promising to build a new social content management team. Once again he mentions his charity work, “I’ll be in Kenya and Namibia to evaluate the best way to donate $150k to hungry children… I’m also donating $50,000 of my personal savings for this cause.” Unfortunately, Truaxe’s constant touting of how down to Earth and charitable he is, ends up making him seem a little more self-righteous than humble.

February 6: Truaxe Fires TJ Esho via Instagram

In another example of inappropriate use of social media, Truaxe publicly fires cosmetic doctor Tijon Esho. Esho, who worked with Truaxe to create Deciem’s lip-care brand, Esho, later told Racked that he was not notified of his firing prior to the public Instagram post. “The formulas were rushed. And almost everyone hated them… Our lovely customers who bought ESHO and hated it, please forgive me.” It’s a pretty savage farewell to one of his co-workers and one that definitely shouldn’t have happened over Deciem’s social media account. The post has since been deleted.

February: Meanwhile on Reddit…

The public ousting of Esho along with Truaxe’s strange series of posts got a lot of people interested in the company. Redditers started digging further into Deciem and found a ton of Glass Door reviews that had some pretty concerning content. From claims of yelling and bullying, to reports of sexism, racism and sexual harassment, the reviews painted a picture of a very unhealthy work environment. One poster, who referred to himself as an embarrassed favoured employee, painted a picture of an oligarchy-style hierarchy. The poster, who was in the favoured group, revealed he received a much higher salary and bigger bonuses. Of course, we do have to take anonymous reviews with a grain of salt.

February 9: Former Employees go on the Record

Three former employees came forward to talk about the growing Deciem drama. The three kept their anonymity but revealed that they had worked at the Toronto facility between 2016 and 2017. The trio confirmed many of the rumours, including reports that Truaxe frequently yelled at employees. They also confirmed allegations of body shaming, with all three noting that factory manager Meena Razach would pinch at people’s stomachs. Riyadh Sweden (previously mentioned in Truaxe’s ‘I’m not gay’ post) was also described as being a “bully” and a “huge problem.”

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❤️🌎

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 10, 2018 at 7:22am PST

February 10: Truaxe Reprimands Followers

Five days after Truaxe’s last speech, he once again addresses the disapproval towards his behaviour on social media. “Despite my respect for you, you continue to be disrespectful on this account,” he says into the camera. “I’m going to start changing things because Deciem… I founded Deciem, so our social account is actually my property. I’ve welcomed you, but if you’re going to abuse it I’m going to ask you to leave…” He then reports that Deicem would now be deleting all negative comments.

February 11: Truaxe Accused of Racism

As concern continued to grow over Truaxe’s behaviour, one follower commented, “Brandon are you okay??” underneath a post. He replied, “Yes but you don’t seem so well. Please use Modulating Glucosides when it’s out. Goodbye.” Not only was the response rude, but Affinity reported that the suggested product may have skin-lightening properties. Since his response was aimed at a person of colour, it seemed like Truaxe was basically telling the follower to bleach her skin. The comment created a lot of upset and he ended up giving a statement to Teen Vogue, “Whoever assumed that MG, which calms inflammation, relates to ‘bleaching’ skin is either a hateful person or one who assumes everything and understands very little.” Regardless, the response was pretty rude whether he meant it that way or not.

February 22: Truaxe Lays Off his Co-CEO

Co-CEO Nicola Kilner was let go from Deciem and soon after Stephen Kaplan, chief financial officer at the brand, resigned. In response to the firing, Truaxe told WWD, “It’s my company. It’s my house. If someone doesn’t like how I decorate my house, it doesn’t matter if they’re my mother or a guest, they have to leave the house.” This statement is in stark comparison to Truaxe’s thoughts at the beginning of the month, in which he tells his followers he doesn’t want to be seen as a boss. After the firing, Kilner told ELLE that when it came to Truaxe, “It was never [just about] business. It was much more personal.”

March 25: The Firings Continue

One month later, Racked reported that Truaxe had fired his whole U.S. team. The decision seemed extremely rash and, again, had people wondering if everything was really running smoothly at Deciem.

View this post on Instagram

Our upcoming store on Fifth Avenue. Never disrespect a harmless human in need of care. 💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 3, 2018 at 11:00pm PDT

April 4: Deciem Uses a Homeless Man to Promote Their New Store

This photograph had a lot of followers upset. The picture, which appears to have been taken without the man’s consent, left a bad taste in people’s mouths. It only got worse when Truaxe addressed it. “This person is disrespectful to the beauty of the library; he is disrespectful to the beauty of Fifth Avenue,” he told Racked. “But this person was so peaceful. He was just reading his book, which homeless people should do more of.” Ouch. The comment is problematic for many reasons and the drama continued when Truaxe posted a screenshot to Instagram of a comment left by an upset viewer. He did not block out their personal information which led to accusations of bullying from other followers. Truaxe then quickly deleted the picture and offered the original commenter $20,000 worth of Deciem products…

View this post on Instagram

Hello @cosmeticsbusiness and the person who is quoted in your headline: It is always an insult to any President of any country to compare him or her to a small, growing entrepreneur who is a citizen of another country (Canada). Any President, including @realdonaldtrump, is working on much more complex issues that affect billions of people in the United States of America and around the world than I (@btruaxe) will ever have to face in my lifetime. I am very simply building a very simple beauty business that happens to be successful because of the love and support our kind followers, or rather our kind observers, have shown me and my team by caring for us on here and by buying our good, affordable products. Whether you agree or disagree with some or all thoughts of @realdonaldtrump, please respect him as the President of a powerful nation and don’t compare me with him. Your comparison would make both of us, and anybody intelligent, angry. Please respect Presidents of countries and founders of businesses in the same way that you would respect your family, your friends, your colleagues and our collective world at large. 💙🦋 -Brandon

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

April 5: Truaxe Responds to Trump Comparisons

Truaxe posted a screenshot of a Sunday Times Magazine profile that compared him to Donald Trump. In his caption he defends the president and asks his followers to respect Trump in the same way that they would respect their family. It’s not clear why Truaxe chose to start defending the president at this time, especially given that the article he’s referring to was published back in 2016.

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The @cosmeticsbusiness “saga” continues. Our loving Human Resources Director, Neha, who manages the many needs of our almost 700 loving employees, not I @btruaxe, terminated 2 members of our team in the United States last month because we don’t yet have a need for a dedicated US PR team in addition to our current one managed by our peacefully-loving @dionnelois who has been with us since we started about five years ago. These 2 members of our team were hired directly by our ex Co-CEO a couple of months before. We have much respect for these 2 loving and lovely girls and told both of them that, once we do organize a US-based PR team in the near future, we will offer them to join us again. They were both offered significant notice payments despite neither US laws nor their contracts with us requiring us to issue such payments. Our “entire US team” minus these 2 individuals are happily running our fast-growing US business. Please visit our cozy stores in NYC to meet them and feel their warmth like I do every time I visit them. 💙🦋 -Brandon

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 6:47pm PDT

April 5: Truaxe Diverts Blame in Firing Accusations

Truaxe posts another media screenshot to his page emphasizing that he is not the one who decides who gets fired. Instead, he directly calls out his Human Resources Director for making the decision. He then denies reports that he had fired his whole U.S. team, saying only two people were let go. His hands-off response to these lay-offs are especially interesting given his previous reaction to Kilner’s firing.

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Hi @nicolalkilner (💛🐌). I saw your beautiful soul the first time you walked into the otherwise-corporate lobby of @bootsuk in peaceful Nottingham. I have loved this same beautiful soul until this very moment—because, when you had every chance to share negative energy with @elleusa/@elleuk, you instead chose to give respect to the beauty of what we had shared. Nicola, it’s I, Brandon. Please, please—respect our history and tell ELLE that our goodbye had nothing to do with @drtijionesho. You know that @smjr2000 committed his life since he was 15 years old to help educate the world about HIV. He joined me at DECIEM a year before you did when we had so little money and were struggling to find means to spend on marketing our first products in the UK, because we both knew that such effort would make DECIEM an initial success and would also allow Boots to recognize what an incredible buyer you were at such a young age. When we met at @timleach9’s cozy flat in London in February this year, I offered you kindness and forgiveness for having had forgotten our trust. On this beautiful occasion, you told me that Shamin had told our team that I had psychosis. On the next day, I called you and told you that I would fire Shamin if you were certain that he did indeed cloud our team’s judgement of me—and, yet again, you betrayed the love Shamin has shown all of us at DECIEM from a time before you had joined us—all the while knowing that Shamin would never mean to hurt me, you, our team or our world. Your absence today hurts me, but I cannot invite you back into a loving family whose hard-working, brother-like Shamin you betrayed. I can forgive you for telling ELLE incorrectly that I “stripped” you from your title to be a “coworker” while you and I know that it was your loving decision—but I can never forgive myself if I ever forgive what you did to Shamin. I hugged your beautiful mom in Nottingham last month. You and I both love her—like we love each other. 💙🦋 -Brandon

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 8, 2018 at 2:49pm PDT

April 8: Truaxe Responds to a Recent Interview with Kilner

In yet another media screenshot (where are the products?!) Truaxe addresses a recent interview between Kilner and ELLE in which she told the magazine,”I truly believe Brandon has good reasons for everything he does.” Truaxe’s emotional response to the article was pretty personal and it seemed out-of-place to casually share it on Intagram, “Nicola, it’s I, Brandon. Please, please–respect our history.” Truaxe also repeatedly talks about Kilner’s betrayal and how she can never be forgiven for some of her actions. “I hugged your beautiful mom in Nottingham last month,” he tacks on at the end. Is all this really appropriate for a company page?

View this post on Instagram

@nicolalkilner 💚🌳 (I’ll always be the kid we both know 👶🏼 🍼💚)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 10, 2018 at 2:39pm PDT

April 10: Truaxe and Kilner Bury the Hatchet?

If there’s one thing Truaxe loves, it’s emojis… and screenshots. He combines both in this amicable exchange between himself and Kilner.

He is really losing it! #deciem #theordinary @B_TruthSleuth pic.twitter.com/lHVVKSjOya

— Leigh Reedy (@leighr1173) April 25, 2018

April 25: Truaxe Urges Followers to Call 911

In the most disturbing incident to date, Truaxe posted a now-deleted video to Instagram urging his followers to call 911. He tagged the location of the video as a small airport and there appears to be an issue with his baggage. In the background, a man referred to as Jonathan can be heard saying, “I’m trying to help you, Brandon. You need to calm down. You’ll end up getting killed.” Truaxe, looking directly into the camera, responds, “This is abuse. Please tell them I was getting sued and this is going to go on the Deciem Instagram account in exactly one minute.” In a second deleted video he leaves comments under the post continuing to ask his followers to call 911. In his urgency, he also manages to include tree and camel emojis. He adds, “They have my luggage” and “Call police.”

View this post on Instagram

Don’t Burn After Reading. September(ish). 😛🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:07am PDT

April 25: Don’t Burn After Reading?

After a pretty terrifying string of posts, Truaxe posts another video later in the day. Still in the same outfit, he smiles widely at the camera and teases some sort of new product. “Don’t burn after reading,” he says and captions the post with an emoji sticking out its tongue. There is literally no explanation or even mention of the previous posts, a choice with led confused followers to become frustrated. “Is this some elaborate performance art? Like, what the fuck,” said one Reddit user in response to the videos. Another commented about Truaxe’s lack of respect for the police, “Why in God’s name does he think it’s ok to clog up the system with 100’s if not 1000’s of his followers calling the police?”

View this post on Instagram

👊🏼🍼💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 26, 2018 at 11:55am PDT

April 26: Truaxe Goes on a Rant

Following the baffling events of the day before, Truaxe returns to Instagram to rant about the criticism he’s received, “I’m just really enjoying reading all the idiots that write on Instagram and all the sloppy journalists that can’t even afford their phone bills who are saying that I’ve got mental health issues.” He then threatens to sue all of the “vultures.”

View this post on Instagram

💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:47am PDT

April 27: The End of the Road?

Racked gained access to a series of emails Truaxe sent to all of his Deciem employees, attorneys and to Leonard Lauder and Estée Lauder executives. In them he writes, “I’m done with DECIEM and EVERYTHING. No need to discuss.” He also posts a video to Instagram telling his followers he loves them and that he is going home.

View this post on Instagram

🦆💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:09pm PDT

April 28: … Or Not?

In a post the next day, Truaxe walks around New York City and hurriedly mentions some new products he has coming out. It seems that rumours of him leaving weren’t true after all? He says one of the products is a, “quote on quote bleaching cream.” This references the incident in which Truaxe was accused of racism a few months back. When he talks about it, his eyes go wide and it seems like he’s joking around. It’s a move that seems pretty immature and insensitive. He also spends time talking about Trump Tower.

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Do Not Burn Before Hearing. It’s a film. 🌳… 😜🍼👊🏾🍆♥️💙🐪🦋👊🏼💜🎂😢😁🤬😜… 🍆🍼💜😢😜……………,,,,,,,,,, [shh…ad up ). 🦋💙

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 1, 2018 at 4:18pm PDT

May 1: Burn After Reading Explained?

In a new video, Truaxe wanders around his hotel room talking a mile a minute. “I don’t support Trump, or whatever, maybe I do,” he says at one point. In a whispery voice he goes up to a wall and says, “Something’s behind this room. I’m going to figure it out with a shot of this pill they gave me… I don’t know, they keep restocking my mini bar.” Then he’s suddenly talking about a movie and hysterically laughing. It seems to have something to do with his Burn After Reading post. It’s all very confusing.

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Hi everyone—I love you. I’m sharing with you here an email from me that is very serious. While this email answers many questions, it leaves many more questions unanswered because I and we are still cleaning our home to make our small world “a better place for you and for me”. 💚💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 23, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

May 23: Problems Beneath the Surface?

In this quick video Truaxe alerts followers that he’s found some “really bad wrongdoings” from some of Deciem’s shareholders. He doesn’t elaborate further but says, “It’s a serious matter. This is not games.”

View this post on Instagram

I love you, and you @deciemchatroom. 💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 25, 2018 at 6:53am PDT

May 25: Get Your Product Info Elsewhere

With followers continually asking for more product information on the Deciem Instagram page, Truaxe posts a response making it clear that the Deciem page does have info but to ideally go to other sources. “It’s better to find it on other channels, because if you read it here, you probably won’t trust it as much,” he says. Interesting marketing tactic…

View this post on Instagram

@richardbranson, I’ll forever owe you, possibly without you ever knowing that I do. Everyone—I’m not on “drugs” or “mentally”-incapacitated. I simply love @richardbranson and I am simply telling you and @richardbranson that I love @richardbranson. Simple, complicated matters beside a beautiful Kasbah Tamadot which is across a river from a village that represents the birthplace of the thought of avestan.com about a decade ago. [Ali—the story of Avestan will never change. Wake up please. 🧡❤️🌳]. @richardbranson: 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚❤️🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 26, 2018 at 4:36am PDT

May 26: “I’m Not on Drugs”

In a quick post, in which Truaxe professes his love for Richard Branson, he clarifies in his caption, “I’m not on ‘drugs’ or ‘mentally’-incapacitated.”

View this post on Instagram

The odd thing about our new lab that’s under construction now in Toronto’s beautiful Liberty Village is that it’s larger than our entire current headquarters (or tail-quarters because Brandon doesn’t have a head and we believe in him 😛). It may just seem “odd”, but imagine how comical it’d seem if you were a competitor wasting time with a bunch of fake accounts here “bashing” us for no valid reason at all while we are peacefully, but not gracefully at all, turning the beauty business on its ugly head so it becomes a beautiful business itself. 💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 28, 2018 at 8:24am PDT

May 28: Truaxe Calls out a Mystery Competitor

In a post dedicated to Deciem’s new lab in Toronto, Truaxe segways into some sort of weird hypothetical, “Imagine how comical it’d seem if you were a competitor wasting time with a bunch of fake accounts here “bashing” us for no valid reason at all.” We have to wonder which skincare competitor he’s referring to. Who’s out to get him? Where’s the proof? Why post it on this picture? So many questions!

View this post on Instagram

Our co-worker is back—but never behind. We love you, @nicolalkilner. You’ll always be our only 🐌—and always stronger than any 🐅 can ever hope to be or become. 🧡💛🌕😜

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jul 3, 2018 at 7:04am PDT

July 3: Kilner Reinstated as Co-CEO

After a month of Instagram calm and a feed full of products, Deciem was back in the news again. This time, however, it was for the announcement of Nicola Kilner’s return. 2018 has been a pretty wild ride for Deciem so far and the year is far from over, but Kilner’s return seems to be a positive step forwards. Even so, speculation still surrounds the Abnormal Beauty Company. From the negative Glassdoor Reviews to the collection of deleted Instagram posts, customers aren’t 100% sure what to believe or think about Deciem. One thing that’s never been in question is the quality of the products, which is perhaps why customers are so involved in all the controversy. At the end of the day, when the head of a company takes over its social media and uses it as their own personal account, there’s almost always going to be drama. And it doesn’t seem like Truaxe is ready to give up the reigns any time soon.

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Without filters. A revolution is coming. Every one of you who has been laughing aT me will with certainty face criminal prosecution. Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has been the biggest stock promotion. Richard Duntas, Bernard Ass (LVMH), Marica “Tracy” (Bliss, Remedè, Soaper Due Per Shoe), Hyatt (Grand Hyatt, Andaz, er al), Marriott (St. Regis, W, Marriot, et al), So many porn “studios”, nearly all @deciem employees, most of “Hollywood”, Gill Sinclair, India Knight, Caroline Hirons, India Knight, RBC, BMO, Boots, KKR, most of the Lauder family, Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Karim Kanji, Antonio Tadrisi, DF Mc, LVMH, Dia Fooley, Michael Davidson, Hanif, Zark Fatah, Inditex (Zara, Massimo Dutti, etc), H&M, $100 monkey, Too Faced (founders too), TSG, Alshaya, Amanresorts, Erwin Zecha, Oliver Zecha, Steven R Riddle, the Coc and Corcky managers, PRIDE organizers, IT Cosmetics, Nicola L ReadingTons, all of Dishoom, All of Delaunay, David Yurman, Tom Ford, Tim Cooke. McKesson, Rexall, Jamin Asaria, David Jackson, York Heritage and others — sentencing doesn’t begin with any point but sentences like this one do. Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Michael Less, Stephen Spellberg e.T., AON are also included with certainty. ARGO stood for “Ali Roshan GO”. You idiots. Father, please please be safe if you can for the next few hours. I love you all. -Brandon (RIYADH, please be EXTREMELY CAREFUL in the next few hours). Aurora (TSX) : you are finished. Michael Basler, Gordon Wilde, David Trinder, Eric Jacobs, Allan Gerlings, Dalton Pharma SS, Michael OH CON ELLE, Charm IS T A 007, Robert Jones, Cascade, Prince Al Walid, The White Company, Obagi (brand and doctor), Freedom Health, ESHO-isT, Alexandru Serban and baggage, Apotex: Goodbye also. Peace is coming. 🦁🦋 🐪. It’s clear now. @esteelaudercompanies @richardbranson @realdonaldtrump @gowlingwlg_ca @zuck @musicianjessecook, et. al.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 8, 2018 at 5:41am PDT

October 8: Deciem’s Doors are Shuttered and Oh, Apparently a Revolution is Coming…

This is it. The Instagram video that’s signalled the end of Deciem. The company’s customers were sent into a frenzy after Truaxe capped off a year’s worth of utterly confusing behaviour with yet another minute long monologue filmed in the back of a moving car in which he states that almost everyone at Deciem “has been involved in a major criminal activity, which includes financial crimes” and that he would be shutting down all operations until further notice. Many of the company’s New York stores were closed on the same day and its website indicated that ten locations in Canada and four locations in the U.K. were shuttered as well.

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3 emails to say less than one word but more than 0 words.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 11, 2018 at 4:56am PDT

October 11: Minority Stakeholder Estée Lauder Sues Truaxe Right Out of Deciem

After three days of chaos and and speculation Truaxe posted another update on Instagram. This time it’s screenshots of a legal notice sent by Mark Gelowitz, a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto, on behalf of the Estée Lauder Companies, which own a minority stake in Deciem. The notice addresses the company’s alleged intentions to sue Truaxe in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and summons him to a Toronto court house this morning. It also seeks to remove Truaxe from Deciem’s Board of Directors and looks to appoint Nicola Kilner (Deciem’s co-CEO) as the sole interim CEO of Deciem. In addition, Estée Lauder asks that Truaxe be prohibited from employing or terminating any Deciem staff, communicating with employees, suppliers, or business partners, and issuing statements on its social media accounts. However, if Truaxe’s most recent post is to be believed, he’s currently in Amsterdam accusing a Hilton DoubleTree hotel chain of placing a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniel’s outside his suite.

October 12: A Toronto judge removes Brandon Truaxe as Deciem’s CEO Only one day after the Estée Lauder Companies applied for an injunction to remove Brandon Truaxe as Deciem’s CEO, the Ontario Superior Court has officially barred Truaxe from any involvement in operations of the company he founded five years ago. Co-chief executive Nicola Kilner will serve as interim CEO.

October 20: Brandon Truaxe sends threatening emails to Estée Lauder execs, who, in response, have been granted a restraining order

November 2018: The company has its biggest month in sales, earning 27.3 million Canadian dollars

December 13: Deciem announces they’re relaunching at Sephora

The brand says it will re-enter the retailer in January 2019 and that it has 50 new products in development including a baby line that will have five ingredients or less in each product.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brandon Truaxe (@btruaxe) on Jan 19, 2019 at 10:33pm PST

January 21, 2019: Brandon Truaxe has died

On Monday morning, Deciem’s CEO Nicola Kilner circulated an e-mail to all staff confirming Truaxe’s death which contained the following message.

I can’t believe I am typing these words. Brandon has passed away over the weekend. Heartbroken doesn’t come close to how I, and how I know many of you will be feeling.

All offices, warehouses, factories and stores please close today and take the time to cry with sadness, smile at the good times we had, reflect on what his genius built and hug your loved ones that little harder.

We are all in disbelief and shock but I will be in touch again very soon.

I love you all incredibly much, as did he.

The weekend prior to the announcement, Truaxe had posted a number of strange videos to his personal social media account in which he describes himself drinking tequila and annuncing the address of his Toronto penthouse. The cause of his death has not yet been confirmed. We will update this post when more information becomes available.

The post Report: Brandon Truaxe, Founder of Deciem, is Dead at 40 appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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lindyhunt · 5 years

Text

Report: Brandon Truaxe, Founder of Deciem, is Dead at 40

From public firings to posting pictures of trash, here’s a complete timeline of the Deciem saga so far.

January 12: Deciem Shades Drunk Elephant

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 24, 2018 at 9:01am PST

January 24: Truaxe Begins his Social Media Takeover

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 28, 2018 at 8:53pm PST

January 28: Truaxe Addresses the Drunk Elephant Comment

View this post on Instagram

If you walk in front, you lead only yourself and see no one who's behind. To help those who work with you, you have to walk behind them. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 1, 2018 at 11:42am PST

February 1: No More Bosses

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:04am PST

February 4: Deciem’s Feed is Garbage

View this post on Instagram

Stop being mean to kind animals. DECIEM will never test on animals. EVER NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:03am PST

February 4: Truaxe Photographs a Dead Animal

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:15am PST

February 4: He Also Wants to Mention that He’s Not Gay

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 5, 2018 at 6:09am PST

February 5: Truaxe Promises a Proper Social Media Team

February 6: Truaxe Fires TJ Esho via Instagram

February: Meanwhile on Reddit…

February 9: Former Employees go on the Record

View this post on Instagram

❤️🌎

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 10, 2018 at 7:22am PST

February 10: Truaxe Reprimands Followers

February 11: Truaxe Accused of Racism

February 22: Truaxe Lays Off his Co-CEO

March 25: The Firings Continue

One month later, Racked reported that Truaxe had fired his whole U.S. team. The decision seemed extremely rash and, again, had people wondering if everything was really running smoothly at Deciem.

View this post on Instagram

Our upcoming store on Fifth Avenue. Never disrespect a harmless human in need of care. 💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 3, 2018 at 11:00pm PDT

April 4: Deciem Uses a Homeless Man to Promote Their New Store

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

April 5: Truaxe Responds to Trump Comparisons

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 6:47pm PDT

April 5: Truaxe Diverts Blame in Firing Accusations

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 8, 2018 at 2:49pm PDT

April 8: Truaxe Responds to a Recent Interview with Kilner

View this post on Instagram

@nicolalkilner 💚🌳 (I’ll always be the kid we both know 👶🏼 🍼💚)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 10, 2018 at 2:39pm PDT

April 10: Truaxe and Kilner Bury the Hatchet?

If there’s one thing Truaxe loves, it’s emojis… and screenshots. He combines both in this amicable exchange between himself and Kilner.

He is really losing it! #deciem #theordinary @B_TruthSleuth pic.twitter.com/lHVVKSjOya

— Leigh Reedy (@leighr1173) April 25, 2018

April 25: Truaxe Urges Followers to Call 911

View this post on Instagram

Don’t Burn After Reading. September(ish). 😛🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:07am PDT

April 25: Don’t Burn After Reading?

View this post on Instagram

👊🏼🍼💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 26, 2018 at 11:55am PDT

April 26: Truaxe Goes on a Rant

View this post on Instagram

💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:47am PDT

April 27: The End of the Road?

View this post on Instagram

🦆💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:09pm PDT

April 28: … Or Not?

View this post on Instagram

Do Not Burn Before Hearing. It’s a film. 🌳… 😜🍼👊🏾🍆♥️💙🐪🦋👊🏼💜🎂😢😁🤬😜… 🍆🍼💜😢😜……………,,,,,,,,,, [shh…ad up ). 🦋💙

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 1, 2018 at 4:18pm PDT

May 1: Burn After Reading Explained?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 23, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

May 23: Problems Beneath the Surface?

View this post on Instagram

I love you, and you @deciemchatroom. 💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 25, 2018 at 6:53am PDT

May 25: Get Your Product Info Elsewhere

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 26, 2018 at 4:36am PDT

May 26: “I’m Not on Drugs”

In a quick post, in which Truaxe professes his love for Richard Branson, he clarifies in his caption, “I’m not on ‘drugs’ or ‘mentally’-incapacitated.”

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A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 28, 2018 at 8:24am PDT

May 28: Truaxe Calls out a Mystery Competitor

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Our co-worker is back—but never behind. We love you, @nicolalkilner. You’ll always be our only 🐌—and always stronger than any 🐅 can ever hope to be or become. 🧡💛🌕😜

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jul 3, 2018 at 7:04am PDT

July 3: Kilner Reinstated as Co-CEO

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October 8: Deciem’s Doors are Shuttered and Oh, Apparently a Revolution is Coming…

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3 emails to say less than one word but more than 0 words.

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October 11: Minority Stakeholder Estée Lauder Sues Truaxe Right Out of Deciem

October 20: Brandon Truaxe sends threatening emails to Estée Lauder execs, who, in response, have been granted a restraining order

November 2018: The company has its biggest month in sales, earning 27.3 million Canadian dollars

December 13: Deciem announces they’re relaunching at Sephora

The brand says it will re-enter the retailer in January 2019 and that it has 50 new products in development including a baby line that will have five ingredients or less in each product.

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A post shared by Brandon Truaxe (@btruaxe) on Jan 19, 2019 at 10:33pm PST

January 21, 2019: Brandon Truaxe has died

On Monday morning, Deciem’s CEO Nicola Kilner circulated an e-mail to all staff confirming Truaxe’s death which contained the following message.

I can’t believe I am typing these words. Brandon has passed away over the weekend. Heartbroken doesn’t come close to how I, and how I know many of you will be feeling.

We are all in disbelief and shock but I will be in touch again very soon.

I love you all incredibly much, as did he.

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mikemortgage · 5 years

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The inside story of how Deciem, the Abnormal Beauty Company, lived up to its name

A few weeks after an Ontario judge removed Brandon Truaxe as chief executive of Deciem, the skincare company he founded in Toronto and took to massive global success with help from iconic Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., he went walking in London.

It was a clear Sunday in November, and the lanky, neatly bearded, Persian-Canadian computer scientist turned beauty mogul was about to face another, more personal reckoning.

“The streets in London on that day seemed to be set up just like a movie,” Truaxe, 40, said in his first interview since his court-ordered ouster. He was curious about what was happening around him, but also confused, he said.

He passed beneath an archway into Horse Guards, the military parade ground beside the Prime Minister’s residence in Downing Street. Right away, guards accosted him. As he recalls it, they said a political party was being selected, with the army somehow involved. Truaxe wanted to know more.

Official records would later indicate he seemed “elated” and unaware of the risk he faced. A guard yelled at him to not get so close, and suddenly he was being thrown up against a wall, his ID checked by police.

“I was walking very calmly in the park. I didn’t understand if this was part of the movie, or if this was actually a real political army selection. That’s what the guard said. I was provoked to say, ‘Please help me.’ I was provoked to look paranoid,” Truaxe said. “And I really think that was done intentionally.”

Estee Lauder wants Deciem founder Brandon Truaxe out after he shuts down company in bizarre Instagram post

Deciem CEO Brandon Truaxe removed by court, after bizarre Instagram post closing beauty chain

Deciem founder ordered to stay away from Estee Lauder offices, workers after ’harassing and menacing’ communications

That episode, soon to be diagnosed as psychotic, was how Truaxe came to be held against his will in St. Thomas’ Hospital, directly across the Thames from the Palace of Westminster, diagnosed with presumptive bipolar disorder, and held for a fortnight under the U.K. Mental Health Act.

He was released on Nov. 16 after a tribunal hearing at which the hospital argued in support of its diagnosis, but acknowledged that lately the symptoms were not constant. By law, the key consideration is risk to self or others. Truaxe denies he is mentally ill.

The hospital was unable to rebut Truaxe’s lawyer’s suggestion that his psychosis was induced by his use of psychedelic mushrooms and crystal meth. In the interview, Truaxe was alert, cogent and sober after a week in hospital.

Within a couple of hours of being released, Truaxe entered the Deciem store in Covent Garden, raising questions of whether he violated an Ontario Superior Court order made on Oct. 12 after Deciem’s co-owners brought a lawsuit against him. It barred him “from taking any actions in relation to the operation of Deciem’s business including communicating with Deciem’s employees.” He recorded himself as he asked for deodorant before security guards removed him, and then posted the video to Instagram.

“I know this sounds completely crazy,” Truaxe said of his predicament by phone from St. Thomas’ Hospital on Nov. 9, a week before his tribunal. He invited the call in response to a National Post email, and was keen to talk and answer questions at length.

But the full story of how Deciem, the Abnormal Beauty Company, lived up to its name is far more complicated, improbable and crazy than even Truaxe’s personal story.

It emerges from the voluminous court record of Truaxe’s battles with his mentor, Pasquale Cusano, a Vancouver jeweller who publishes the luxury Nuvo magazine, and with Leonard Lauder, the 85-year-old chairman emeritus and son of Estée and Joseph, who founded their namesake beauty company.

Leonard Lauder at a function in New York City in Nov. 2018.

The story is also laid bare in Truaxe’s own voice, thanks to his tendency to post just about everything on both his own and the company’s Instagram accounts — from his manic allegations of massive financial crime to videos of himself staring at the ceilings of luxury hotel rooms.

As a jet-setting creative genius backed by a leading beauty conglomerate, Truaxe’s mercurial and eccentric manner was once the secret to Deciem’s success, especially among millennials, who were ready followers of the drama he created on the company’s Instagram page, including criticism of competitors and airing of internal disputes. His attention to detail and quality ingredients drew coveted celebrity endorsements, including one by Kim Kardashian West.

Over the past year, though, his quirks became the company’s primary corporate liabilities, according to his partners’ arguments in court.

For example, Estée Lauder claimed in court filings that Truaxe went behind the board’s back to lease a new headquarters and a private plane. Truaxe was not represented at the hearing where those claims were made, and made no submissions. He said he is now seeking a lawyer to file a lawsuit of his own.

Judge Michael Penny in his Oct. 15 written ruling found that Truaxe’s behaviour has been aberrant, irrational, erratic, often disturbing and offensive, and, as a result, “this highly successful international company is now teetering on the brink of disaster.” He acknowledged his written reasons “barely scratched the surface” of the evidence about Truaxe’s behaviour that demanded urgent judicial relief.

Over the past year, Truaxe has cancelled all marketing, disclosed confidential information on social media and repeatedly fired and rehired his co-CEO who acted as a stabilizing force. He has been held in hospital three times since the spring, twice in London and once in Toronto.

People react as they look outside the Deciem store in Toronto after all locations closed unexpectedly on Oct. 9, 2018.

Most controversially, he shut Deciem down on Thanksgiving Monday. The company was on track to make $300 million a year, with plans to quickly quintuple in size, and he just closed it up with one all-staff email telling all employees to stay home or else they would be fired. He also made strange unspecific allegations that “almost everyone” in the company has been involved in financial crimes. He ordered the company’s homepage be replaced with a plain black screen.

“He has essentially lit the company on fire,” said Mark Gelowitz, counsel to Estée Lauder, a few days after Thanksgiving at a court hearing in which Truaxe’s erratic actions were said to be unfair to the corporate interests of Estée Lauder and Cusano, his equal partners in Deciem.

Truaxe had been behaving, “for lack of a better word, insane,” Gelowitz said.

Until late this past summer, Truaxe could still plausibly be considered some kind of “diabolical marketing genius,” with a “calculated insanity,” Gelowitz said. But that time is past. His “spiralling decline,” allegedly from mental illness and drug use, might evoke a certain sympathy, but in the corporate context his behaviour is “nothing short of shocking, and it’s intolerable.”

“He’s gone too far,” Gelowitz said, and he is doing “imponderable damage” to Estée Lauder. “Literally nothing like this has ever happened in the world before.”

Gelowitz said this wild scenario made a “perfect case” for the “oppression” provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act, which protects investors against unfair corporate actions. In this, he appears to be correct. He at least convinced a judge.

Following Estée Lauder’s victory in court on Oct. 12, Truaxe was replaced as chief executive, forced off Deciem’s board and prohibited from communicating with Deciem staff or speaking on the company’s behalf, according to Judge Penny’s endorsement on Oct. 15. Truaxe still owns his one-third share in Deciem.

Cusano did not respond to requests for comment for this story. His lawyer declined comment. A spokesperson for Estée Lauder said the company remains “strongly committed” to Deciem, but declined further comment. A spokesperson for Deciem said the new chief executive, Nicola Kilner, “is unable to prioritize her time for interviews at this stage in our journey.”

Truaxe’s fall from grace revealed more about him than any Instagram video ever could. But it also showed how deeply his partners may have misunderstood him, and how his fantastically disjointed stories were presented as plain facts used against him in court to paint him as malicious where he felt he was being responsible and honest.

For example, according to a comment by a Deciem executive to the New York Times and a lawsuit by Cusano, Truaxe was said to have nearly died from exposure to extreme weather on a trip to Mongolia. The incident was presented in court as the onset of his mental illness, the first sign of his reckless mania.

But, according to Truaxe, the trip never happened, a claim he supported by sharing images of his passport. Mongolia, he said, was a hypothetical, something like a fable, to encourage his stressed out team to slow down.

As Truaxe started engaging in bizarre word play with his colleagues and partners, there was more to see than immediately met the eye.

In psychiatry, a “clang association” is a symptom of disordered thinking as it descends into psychosis. It is like a rhyme that seems to mean something, but does not, or a pun that is neither funny nor logical. It often coincides with a “flight of ideas,” in which a person rapidly changes topic and frame of reference.

For example, in one of Truaxe’s emails he rewrote “horizon” as “whore-eyes-on,” without explaining why. Leonard Lauder became “Leonardo Louder,” and then “way too loud.” The founder Estée, who died in 2004, morphed in Truaxe’s rambling prose into “Easter.”

The key to this aspect of his near-unstoppable ramblings is to largely ignore what he said, which was often nonsensical, and pay attention to how he said it, to notice that “Trump” always “trumpets,” or that “any more speculation will need a speculum.”

Even the company name has a similarly bizarre association in Truaxe’s mind. In another email, he vowed eternal loyalty to Deciem, but said he would expose crimes and would not be forced out of “my only baby still alive today (and named lovingly by me ‘Deciem’ because I am not a ‘beautician’ but instead an honest, generous and motivated computer scientist who believes the metric system (in tens like decimal) makes more sense for humans with 10 fingers! hahaha).”

‘Skincare Savant’

Brandon Truaxe was born Ali Roshan on June 19, 1978, in Tehran, Iran, during a lull in the unrest that would explode in revolution a few weeks later. His family left, as many others did, and came to Canada in 1995 as permanent residents, settling in the western suburbs of Toronto. His father did not stay, and his mother later died of breast cancer.

One of Deciem’s projects interrupted by Truaxe’s departure was Avestan, a new brand inspired by his ancestral homeland, and by the scents of argan oil and clay from the village of Asni in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco, where Virgin Group Ltd. tycoon Richard Branson runs a luxury hotel, Kasbah Tamadot.

Truaxe said his new middle name, Carrano, relates to someone who “facilitated me growing up,” and his last name is of an Armenian family that helped him as a child.

His youth also saw his introduction to magic mushrooms, which he said he has used often since childhood, sometimes daily, but also sometimes going months without. He said he does not seek hallucinations, but rather the period of open-minded calmness that follows a few hours after consumption.

More recently, Truaxe has been taking a hair loss pill and Truvada, a drug for HIV infection that he said he takes as a preventative. He will drink occasionally, he said, but marijuana is not to his taste.

He studied computer science at the University of Waterloo, leaving after his third year in 1999. His formative professional experience happened around this time, when he had an internship in cosmetics and saw in the books how cheap the raw materials were, and how much of a product’s price went to marketing. His computer science background became a key skill in building his businesses.

In a few years, he was selling beauty elixirs to drink, skin cream based on viper venom and potions that make you look better in photographs, because the camera is different from the eye — all based on a fidelity to pure and fairly priced main ingredients.

Around this time, Truaxe met Pasquale Cusano at the old Four Seasons in Toronto. He said Cusano approached him in the bar and said to him, “I heard someone who was louder than me, I had to say hello.” Soon, Cusano was Truaxe’s investor, partner and mentor in what became Euoko Inc.

In 2007, The Toronto Star called Truaxe a “skincare savant,” and quoted him rapturously speaking about capturing the fleeting beauty of natural scents, which can spoil after just a few minutes exposure to air: “If you close your eyes, the freshly cut pineapple transports you to a beach in Bali, the five minute pineapple just smells of pineapple.”

In hindsight, there were warning signs of things to come: the charismatic entrepreneur with a cult following who hires high-level talent away from more secure businesses, his dissatisfaction with design and his decision to do it himself, his annoyance that advertising agencies were unable to translate his passion to print ads, and his conclusion that advertising — like everything else — is a “do-it-yourself thing.”

Some of this renegade behaviour was shockingly effective. He soon had a presence in New York and London, and was the subject of forehead-slapping headlines such as this one in the U.K. Daily Mail: “Should you use HAND CREAM on your FACE? They’re up to three times cheaper yet often contain the same ingredients.”

But with success and growth came scandal and recrimination.

An employee called Miriam Mandel sued Truaxe in 2008 for wrongful dismissal and fraudulent misrepresentation after she took a job working for him at Euoko.

Mandel claimed Truaxe took her to dinner and promised she could run the Toronto head office in his absence as director of product strategy. But when she started, Truaxe “had little or no time for Mandel, other than to delegate small tasks,” her lawsuit said. She claimed she learned his promises were false and that he retained all control, even over how boxes were packed and how to reply to customer service emails.

Moreover, Truaxe was disrespectful and uncivil, engaging in inappropriate conduct “when something was not done to his liking,” she alleged. In this “poisonous” environment, he would berate employees, “constantly scream on the telephone,” and jump up and down, screaming in a high-pitched voice. Twice, he was verbally abusive to Mandel, she claims. Then, she was told there was not enough work to justify her salary, but not by Truaxe, who claimed to be “unable to face her,” according to Mandel.

Truaxe hired lawyers who indicated their intent to defend against the claims. The lawsuit eventually went dormant, and Mandel did not respond to requests for comment. Truaxe dismissed the lawsuit as a long-settled employee dispute, unrelated to his current business.

Euoko was not a success and Truaxe felt burned after the company went public. Truaxe wanted to maintain control of his company’s board. He hatched a bigger plan. His new venture, Deciem, in 2013 was going to be a private affair, and proudly “abnormal.” And so it was.

This past summer, a CBC report said Deciem was “aiming for global domination,” and soon to start a massive expansion.

“A year and a half from now we’re going to be the size of Dolce & Gabbana,” Truaxe told the CBC.

Deciem’s Yorkville location in Toronto.

To anyone who knew what was happening behind the scenes, this would have sounded implausible at best.

Emergency board meetings had come and gone. Litigation had been filed and dropped. Truaxe’s co-CEO Nicola Kilner, widely described as a stabilizing force, had been fired and rehired, soon to be fired again, then reinstated by court order.

Deciem was a company on the edge, being run by a man who seemed to be going over it.

This was not quite what Estée Lauder signed on for when it paid $50 million to buy into Deciem as a one-third equal partner in June 2017. By that winter, its executive vice-president of strategy and new business development, Andrew Ross, had started to learn of Truaxe’s strange behaviour, according to his affidavit.

Truaxe said he overheard workplace whispers about himself, his drug use and his mental state. He heard someone talk about crystal meth. He thought the talk was triggered by his offer of mushrooms to Kilner in Amsterdam, where the drug is legal, while they were on a team-building tour via Venice and Paris. He called this offer a mistake.

In February, after changing his title from chief executive to worker and killing off a customer loyalty program, he fired Kilner. Chief financial officer Stephen Kaplan resigned in response.

The relationship with Cusano was also falling apart over Truaxe’s suspicions about a debt they owed to an overseas investor, and confusion over how it was repaid. Truaxe had approached Leonard Lauder about this, who initially responded encouragingly, but then stopped responding.

“It eventually got to a point where I started communicating a lot of these financial issues, or at least hints to them, on our social posts,” Truaxe said. “I decided I was going to use crystal meth to show people that even if I did use it, it would not affect my position (on this suspected financial controversy).”

He said he also started smoking 20 cigarettes a day so he could demonstrate how easily he could beat addiction with the help of magic mushrooms.

By April, he was in London, posting worrying videos asking for police help at Biggin Hill Airport. According to Ross’s affidavit, Estée Lauder “coordinated closely” with Deciem and its counsel throughout this period “to appropriately support Truaxe through this difficult situation.”

By May, Truaxe was in full crisis.

The Ham Yard Hotel is a stylish place just around the corner from Piccadilly Circus in London’s Soho. This is where in May Truaxe said he took crystal meth for the first of four times, all in the U.K. It went poorly.

He said he told hotel staff there was no emergency, but he wanted to speak to a police officer for two reasons. One was that a man in the hotel had been recording him for hours. The other was to demonstrate he was consistent in his description of the Deciem business and his concerns about financial crimes.

Truaxe said in the interview that police entered his room without his permission and found crystal meth and magic mushrooms. He was detained and sent to hospital, held under the U.K. Mental Health Act, according to Judge Penny’s written reasons in the October court case. Estée Lauder arranged a lawyer for Truaxe, who appears to have gone first to the public Maudsley Hospital in South London, then a private facility in Marylebone. He was not charged.

“I am an intelligent lion,” he wrote to Cusano and others from hospital. “It’s infinitely better to leave a peaceful lion on his own.” He reported he had been “set up.”

Around the same time, Truaxe also purported to remove Cusano as a Deciem director and replace him with a Deciem employee loyal to himself, using a document on which Cusano’s signature had been crudely forged, according to allegations by Cusano in his initial lawsuit (although this was not addressed in Judge Penny’s ruling because that lawsuit was not pursued). Truaxe claimed the document, drawn up with Cusano after the failure of Euoko, gave him control of Deciem’s board composition.

An emergency board meeting in New York on May 31 undid the decision to remove Cusano. Soon after, on June 4, Truaxe was hospitalized in Toronto, the lawsuits say. As he tells it, he had argued with a friend who called police. He checked himself out after a week.

That same month, he claimed he could not attend a board meeting because he had been pushed into Lake Ontario the day before, his birthday, and had to be saved by police and paramedics.

Cusano was blunt in the lawsuit filed in response to this turmoil. The relationship of “trust and partnership” they once shared no longer existed. Truaxe’s “extremely disturbing behaviour” had killed it. His arrest and committal to psychiatric care was presented as the last straw.

The most fateful episode in Truaxe’s downfall happened at the Hotel De L’Europe, one of the finest in Amsterdam, on Thanksgiving weekend. Once again, Truaxe fired Kilner and other members of the executive team without board approval, according to Andrew Ross’s affidavit. And then, with no warning, he sent the mass email ordering Deciem be shuttered, and posted a video on the corporate Instagram page.

In the interview, Truaxe said he did this so he could investigate financial misconduct. In the words of Estée Lauder’s lawyer, “all hell broke loose.”

The closure of Deciem stores only lasted a couple of days, just long enough for a court hearing in Toronto on the morning of Oct. 12.

Stores were closed. Manufacturing stopped. Lease agreements were violated, and retailers responded by putting liens on the inventory they already had. The company risked losing customers to other brands. Judge Penny wrote that the company was at risk of damaging litigation.

The closure only lasted a couple of days, just long enough for a court hearing in Toronto on the morning of Oct. 12.

In removing Truaxe from the board and replacing him as chief executive with Kilner, in accordance with the wishes of Cusano and Estée Lauder, Judge Penny acknowledged that what he did was at least contrary to the shareholders’ agreement. He also banned Truaxe from accessing Deciem’s social media channels, and ordered an outside accountant to investigate his claims of financial crimes, then report to the board.

A few days later, on a sunny day in late October, Truaxe politely held the door for a customer as he stepped into a Deciem store on trendy Prince Street in New York’s Soho.

He refused a clerk’s immediate request that he leave. He said he found this embarrassing, since he is the chief executive and does not take orders from staff. He filmed himself walking toward the back storerooms, criticizing the placement of various lotions and creams under his massively successful brand, The Ordinary.

The clerk followed him, talking on the phone, her hand on her head in evident frustration. “I have Brandon here,” she told the company director on the other end of the line. “He doesn’t want to leave. He wanted to know what the next step is.”

She then told Truaxe, “He told me to call the police. So that’s what I’m going to have to do. I don’t want to have to do this.”

Just as abruptly as it starts, the video simply ends.

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Lee Israel had tasted success. Her career as a freelance journalist started in the 1960s, and she’d also published two successful biographies: one of actress Tallulah Bankhead in 1972, and one of journalist and game-show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen in 1979. The latter had even been a New York Times best-seller.

But her third book — a biography of cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder published in 1985 — didn’t do as well, and Israel found herself falling on tough financial times. Those were only complicated by her alcoholism and what her 2015 New York Times obituary described as “a temperament that made conventional employment nearly impossible.” To cope, she turned to a life of crime.

Sort of.

It wasn’t that Israel became a hit man or a bank robber; her misdeeds were smaller and more specialized. Beginning in 1990, she started forging letters from literary figures like Dorothy Parker, Noël Coward, and Lillian Hellman, selling them to rare book dealers — with the help of her friend Jack Hock — for several hundred or even several thousand dollars. She also stole original letters from archives and libraries, forged copies, replaced the originals with the copies, and then sold the originals to dealers.

In 1992, she got caught and later pleaded guilty in federal court. Her days as a forger were through. But in 2008, she published a barely contrite memoir about that period in her life, entitled Can You Ever Forgive Me? It received only middling reviews, but that didn’t stop Fox Searchlight from picking it up for adaptation. The new film that’s based on it did much better with critics during its September festival run in Telluride and Toronto.

Starring Melissa McCarthy as Israel and Richard E. Grant as her partner in crime, Can You Ever Forgive Me? feels like a buddy caper, and it’s often very funny. But it has a dark side, too. Directed by Diary of a Teenage Girl’s Marielle Heller with a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, it’s about loneliness and anxiety, about having barely two nickels to rub together, about panicking over a situation you feel powerless to fix.

The film often seems almost too strange to be based on a true story, but it’s entertaining and surprising, and it follows the story of the real Lee Israel closely. Here are five interesting tidbits about the real story of Can You Ever Forgive Me? and the woman behind it.

Melissa McCarthy playing Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Twentieth Century Fox

Israel forged and sold over 400 letters throughout her “career,” but as the movie shows, she was especially proud of her Dorothy Parker letters — no wonder, since imitating Parker’s distinctive sparkling wit so well that it fooled Manhattan’s literati was quite an accomplishment.

In one of the letters, “Dorothy Parker” writes: “Alan told me to write and apologize. So I am doing that now, while he dresses for our Turkey dinner with the boys across the road. I have a hangover that is a real museum piece; I’m sure then that I must have said something terrible. To save me this kind of exertion in the future, I am thinking of having little letters runoff [sic] saying, ‘Can you ever forgive me? Dorothy.’”

Then “Parker” signs off with that phrase.

The “Alan” in the letter was meant to be Alan Campbell, Parker’s husband and Hollywood screenwriting partner. And later, Israel found the sign-off she’d invented for Parker to be the right title for her own memoir — even though the memoir itself showed she was less repentant and more pleased with her own ingenuity.

You can read the full letter here, on NPR’s website.

Though the cat had been to the vet for tests, Israel couldn’t come up with the $40 she had to pay to get the results back — a dilemma that’s depicted in the film.

But Israel just so happened to be working on an article about comedienne, singer, and actress Fanny Brice for Soap Opera Digest. So she went into Brice’s archives, stole several letters, slipped them into her shoe, and sold them to Argosy, a rare book store.

She made $40 for each letter, which — as she told NPR in 2008 — meant that “for the first time in a long time, I had some jingle in my jeans.”

She got her cat’s tests back, too.

Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Twentieth Century Fox

In 2007, Alfred A. Knopf published The Letters of Noël Coward, edited by Barry Day and described as the “first and definitive collection of letters to and from Coward.” The book was acclaimed by critics, who praised the collection for how it captured the clever wit of the playwright, director, and actor.

But it contained two letters that were written by Israel, not Coward.

“It was very good Coward; it was better Coward than Coward. Coward didn’t have to be Coward. I had to be Coward and a half,” she told NPR. In one of the fake letters, “Coward” describes Julie Andrews as “quite attractive since she dealt with her monstrous English overbite.”

Perhaps ironically, it was Israel’s epistolary impersonation of Coward that eventually tipped her hand. Israel’s version of Coward often made campy references that alluded to his homosexuality, but as Israel later explained, Coward “came up in a very difficult period to be homosexual. It was a jailing offense. So it would have been very unlikely for Coward to put all these kinds of campy [references] into any kind of correspondence that went out into the world.”

Some dealers smelled a rat, and one in New York — who had previously purchased several of Lee’s Parker forgeries — blackmailed her, demanding $5,000 if she didn’t want him to testify before a grand jury. That’s when she stopped forging letters and instead began stealing originals, making copies to replace them, and then selling the originals.

Not much is known about the friend, Jack Hock, who helped Israel. In her memoir, she describes him only a little.

So to portray the character, who plays a significant supporting role to McCarthy’s, the actor Richard E. Grant read what Israel had written about the real-life Hock to complement the way the screenplay fleshed him out. “Lee Israel’s memoir was astonishingly scant on detail about him, which tells me how eccentric she was — thinking that she was the only person involved in this story,” Grant said when I interviewed him about the film.

McCarthy and Grant as Lee Israel and Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

There were only a few details to go on, according to Grant:

He was from Portland. He was blonde, was tall, was charming, had died of AIDS at the age of 47 in 1994, used a stubby cigarette holder because he was a chain smoker but thought he wouldn’t get cancer by using that, had been in jail for two years for holding at knifepoint a taxi driver in a dispute about a cab fare, which absolutely fit the bill. That is as much as I knew to go on.

And also the fact that she praised him, because once she had been rumbled by the FBI and couldn’t go out and sell these letters anymore, she got him to do it. Where she thought he might predictably get $500 or $600 for a letter that she conjured up, he came back with $2,000 or more. That was testament to how good he was at scamming or schmoozing people.

By the time Israel was being blackmailed by the dealer in New York, her relationship with Hock had deteriorated. He was in prison for robbing a cab driver at knifepoint. But when she concocted a plan to swap original letters for copies — she needed $5,000 to pay the dealer — he wrote to her that he would probably be on probation soon because he had AIDS.

He did get out, and Israel and Hock struck a deal under which Hock would sell the originals, since Israel was by then a sketchy figure among dealers. He’d get 50 percent of the take, plus expenses. Israel wrote in her memoir that she eventually realized he’d been skimming money off the top of the duo’s sales, too.

“Grifters’ habits die hard,” she wrote.

The FBI did finally catch Israel, stopping her outside a deli one day while she waited for Hock and saying that one of her customers had told them everything. Even then, though, they seemed a bit in awe of her skills as a literary mimic.

The lead investigator on her case, Carl Burrell, had retired from the FBI by the time Israel died in late 2014, of complications from myeloma, at the age of 75. But in her obituary, he called her “brilliant,” saying that his favorite letter of hers was an impersonation of Hemingway: “He was complaining about Spencer Tracy being cast as the main character in The Old Man and the Sea. ”

She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce in June 1993, and was sentenced to six months’ house arrest and five years’ probation. She was banned from stepping foot in many libraries. Hock received three years’ probation and died in 1994 at the age of 47.

Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Twentieth Century Fox

According to Israel’s memoir, she did not attend the alcohol treatment program the court ordered her to participate in, and her friends and acquaintances from the later years of her life remember that she drank copiously. Actor Bob Balaban, who executive produced Can You Ever Forgive Me? and became a friend of Israel’s late in her life, recently remarked (during a Q&A following a festival screening of the film) that she would often show up at a lunch meeting early so that she could have a drink before everyone else arrived.

But she did eventually get a job, as a copy editor for Scholastic magazines in lower Manhattan — a position with benefits that included, among other things, veterinary coverage.

Burrell said in Israel’s obituary that even though many of the original letters Israel had stolen were ultimately returned to their rightful places in libraries, some of her forgeries are probably still in circulation.

That thought would have pleased Israel, who was proud of how aptly she’d reproduced the voices of some of the most vibrantly clever writers of the 20th century. In her book, she wrote, “I still consider the letters to be my best work.”

And eventually, even her own name, when attached to the letters she forged, could add value. “It has come to my attention that some of the letters are now on the market as Lee Israel’s forgeries,” she told NPR in 2008. “My work has received some attention and marvelous reviews, and people have liked the letters. And so they’re salable, apparently.”

Can You Ever Forgive Me? opens in theaters on October 19.

Original Source -> 5 fascinating stories about Lee Israel, the real person behind Can You Ever Forgive Me?

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

0 notes

beautique-blog · 7 years

Text

Estée Lauder Pure Color Love: all things lipstick

Il bello dei rossetti Pure Color Love di Estee Lauder

Mai una gamma di rossetti è stata più completa. Mai una formula più performante. Mai la forma così importante. Con Pure Color Love, Estee Lauder dimostra che anche i rossetti possono essere reinventati da testa a piedi, riposizionandoli nel contesto del “tutto e subito” del giorno d’oggi. Con una gamma completa di sfumature straordinarie, nonché di texture che lasciano speechless e che variano da chrome (sì, non si può ignorare l’unicorn trend) a matte, e da perlati a cremosi, per soddisfare tutti i gusti, Pure Color Love risveglia il tuo lipstick-wardrobe in un instante e lo fa in modo estremamente creativo. Infatti, questi rossetti più unici che rari possono essere mescolati, remixati, sfumati, sovrapposti e abbinati a piacimento, offrendo ogni volta un nuovo effetto straordinario e personalizzato.

Come applicare i Pure Color Love

E l'applicazione non potrebbe essere più facile: lasciate stare che solo la forma della punta è troppo bella per essere utilizzata, ma il suo design triangolare semplifica anche l'applicazione del rossetto, definendo i contorni delle labbra utilizzando la punta come liner, e riempiendo l’interno con i lati in un solo passaggio.

Pure Color Love: il rossetto che dura a lungo e idrata

Last but not least, la formula. Incredibilmente long-lasting e idratante, lascia (e mantiene) le labbra morbide e perfette per più di mezza giornata. Poi, quando il colore inizia a svanire dopo un pranzo o troppi baci quello che resta sulle labbra è un raffinato effetto blotted (tamponato, stile labbra mordicchiate).

The beauty of Estee Lauder Pure Color Love Lipsticks

Never a lipstick range has been more complete. Never a lipstick formula has been more performing. Never the shape of the bullet has been so important. With its latest launch Pure Color Love, Estee Lauder proves to the word that lipsticks too can be reinvented in all their aspects. With a complete range of stunning shades and finishes that leaves you speechless and that vary from chrome (yes, we do love the unicorn trend) to matte and from pearl to cream, in order to satisfy everyone, Pure Color Love shakes up your lipstick wardrobe in an instant (and in a very eccentric way). In fact these beautiful lipsticks can be mixed, remixed, blended and matched as needed or wished, delivering every time a new striking and customized effect.

How to apply the Pure Color Love lipstick

And the application couldn’t be easier: leave alone that the triangular shape of the tube is too beautiful to be used and absolutely aesthetically pleasing, it totally simplify the application of the lipstick, defining the lip contours using the tip as a liner and filling in with the sides for a precise swipe.

Pure Color Love: the moisturizing long-lasting formula you were looking for

Last but not least, the formula. Incredibly long-lasting and moisturizing it leaves (and keeps) lips soft and flawless for a good 4 hours. Then, when the color start to fade because you ate or kissed too much what is left is a lovely blotted effect.

#Estee Lauder #Pure Color Lipstick #Pure Color Love #moisturing lipstick #moisturizing long-lasting lipstick

0 notes

lindyhunt · 6 years

Text

An Extensive Timeline of All The Deciem Drama From the Past Year

Over the last year Deciem has built up something of a cult following and the Toronto-based company has exploded globally, opening up stores in major cities like New York, London and Amsterdam. They’re most known for their super affordable skincare line, The Ordinary. But they’re also known for their eccentric founder and CEO, Brandon Truaxe. This year, Truaxe decided to single-handedly take over Deciem’s social media accounts and the events that followed ranged from entertaining to straight up bizarre. The past six months have been filled with drama and we’re here to take you through every bit of it. From public firings to posting pictures of trash, check out Truaxe’s social media journey so far.

January 12: Deciem Shades Drunk Elephant

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 24, 2018 at 9:01am PST

January 24: Truaxe Begins his Social Media Takeover

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 28, 2018 at 8:53pm PST

January 28: Truaxe Addresses the Drunk Elephant Comment

View this post on Instagram

If you walk in front, you lead only yourself and see no one who's behind. To help those who work with you, you have to walk behind them. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 1, 2018 at 11:42am PST

February 1: No More Bosses

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:04am PST

February 4: Deciem’s Feed is Garbage

View this post on Instagram

Stop being mean to kind animals. DECIEM will never test on animals. EVER NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:03am PST

February 4: Truaxe Photographs a Dead Animal

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:15am PST

February 4: He Also Wants to Mention that He’s Not Gay

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 5, 2018 at 6:09am PST

February 5: Truaxe Promises a Proper Social Media Team

February 6: Truaxe Fires TJ Esho via Instagram

February: Meanwhile on Reddit…

February 9: Former Employees go on the Record

View this post on Instagram

❤️🌎

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 10, 2018 at 7:22am PST

February 10: Truaxe Reprimands Followers

February 11: Truaxe Accused of Racism

February 22: Truaxe Lays Off his Co-CEO

March 25: The Firings Continue

One month later, Racked reported that Truaxe had fired his whole U.S. team. The decision seemed extremely rash and, again, had people wondering if everything was really running smoothly at Deciem.

View this post on Instagram

Our upcoming store on Fifth Avenue. Never disrespect a harmless human in need of care. 💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 3, 2018 at 11:00pm PDT

April 4: Deciem Uses a Homeless Man to Promote Their New Store

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

April 5: Truaxe Responds to Trump Comparisons

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 6:47pm PDT

April 5: Truaxe Diverts Blame in Firing Accusations

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 8, 2018 at 2:49pm PDT

April 8: Truaxe Responds to a Recent Interview with Kilner

View this post on Instagram

@nicolalkilner 💚🌳 (I’ll always be the kid we both know 👶🏼 🍼💚)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 10, 2018 at 2:39pm PDT

April 10: Truaxe and Kilner Bury the Hatchet?

If there’s one thing Truaxe loves, it’s emojis… and screenshots. He combines both in this amicable exchange between himself and Kilner.

He is really losing it! #deciem #theordinary @B_TruthSleuth pic.twitter.com/lHVVKSjOya

— Leigh Reedy (@leighr1173) April 25, 2018

April 25: Truaxe Urges Followers to Call 911

View this post on Instagram

Don’t Burn After Reading. September(ish). 😛🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:07am PDT

April 25: Don’t Burn After Reading?

View this post on Instagram

👊🏼🍼💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 26, 2018 at 11:55am PDT

April 26: Truaxe Goes on a Rant

View this post on Instagram

💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:47am PDT

April 27: The End of the Road?

View this post on Instagram

🦆💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:09pm PDT

April 28: … Or Not?

View this post on Instagram

Do Not Burn Before Hearing. It’s a film. 🌳… 😜🍼👊🏾🍆♥️💙🐪🦋👊🏼💜🎂😢😁🤬😜… 🍆🍼💜😢😜……………,,,,,,,,,, [shh…ad up ). 🦋💙

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 1, 2018 at 4:18pm PDT

May 1: Burn After Reading Explained?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 23, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

May 23: Problems Beneath the Surface?

View this post on Instagram

I love you, and you @deciemchatroom. 💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 25, 2018 at 6:53am PDT

May 25: Get Your Product Info Elsewhere

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 26, 2018 at 4:36am PDT

May 26: “I’m Not on Drugs”

In a quick post, in which Truaxe professes his love for Richard Branson, he clarifies in his caption, “I’m not on ‘drugs’ or ‘mentally’-incapacitated.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 28, 2018 at 8:24am PDT

May 28: Truaxe Calls out a Mystery Competitor

View this post on Instagram

Our co-worker is back—but never behind. We love you, @nicolalkilner. You’ll always be our only 🐌—and always stronger than any 🐅 can ever hope to be or become. 🧡💛🌕😜

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jul 3, 2018 at 7:04am PDT

July 3: Kilner Reinstated as Co-CEO

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 8, 2018 at 5:41am PDT

October 8: Deciem’s Doors are Shuttered and Oh, Apparently a Revolution is Coming…

View this post on Instagram

3 emails to say less than one word but more than 0 words.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 11, 2018 at 4:56am PDT

October 11: Minority Stakeholder Estée Lauder Sues Truaxe Right Out of Deciem

October 20: Brandon Truaxe sends threatening emails to Estée Lauder execs, who, in response, have been granted a restraining order

0 notes

jessicakehoe · 6 years

Text

BREAKING: Brandon Truaxe is Officially Out as Deciem’s CEO

January 12: Deciem Shades Drunk Elephant

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 24, 2018 at 9:01am PST

January 24: Truaxe Begins his Social Media Takeover

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 28, 2018 at 8:53pm PST

January 28: Truaxe Addresses the Drunk Elephant Comment

View this post on Instagram

If you walk in front, you lead only yourself and see no one who's behind. To help those who work with you, you have to walk behind them. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 1, 2018 at 11:42am PST

February 1: No More Bosses

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:04am PST

February 4: Deciem’s Feed is Garbage

View this post on Instagram

Stop being mean to kind animals. DECIEM will never test on animals. EVER NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:03am PST

February 4: Truaxe Photographs a Dead Animal

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:15am PST

February 4: He Also Wants to Mention that He’s Not Gay

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 5, 2018 at 6:09am PST

February 5: Truaxe Promises a Proper Social Media Team

February 6: Truaxe Fires TJ Esho via Instagram

February: Meanwhile on Reddit…

February 9: Former Employees go on the Record

View this post on Instagram

❤️🌎

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 10, 2018 at 7:22am PST

February 10: Truaxe Reprimands Followers

February 11: Truaxe Accused of Racism

February 22: Truaxe Lays Off his Co-CEO

March 25: The Firings Continue

One month later, Racked reported that Truaxe had fired his whole U.S. team. The decision seemed extremely rash and, again, had people wondering if everything was really running smoothly at Deciem.

View this post on Instagram

Our upcoming store on Fifth Avenue. Never disrespect a harmless human in need of care. 💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 3, 2018 at 11:00pm PDT

April 4: Deciem Uses a Homeless Man to Promote Their New Store

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

April 5: Truaxe Responds to Trump Comparisons

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 6:47pm PDT

April 5: Truaxe Diverts Blame in Firing Accusations

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 8, 2018 at 2:49pm PDT

April 8: Truaxe Responds to a Recent Interview with Kilner

View this post on Instagram

@nicolalkilner 💚🌳 (I’ll always be the kid we both know 👶🏼 🍼💚)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 10, 2018 at 2:39pm PDT

April 10: Truaxe and Kilner Bury the Hatchet?

If there’s one thing Truaxe loves, it’s emojis… and screenshots. He combines both in this amicable exchange between himself and Kilner.

He is really losing it! #deciem #theordinary @B_TruthSleuth pic.twitter.com/lHVVKSjOya

— Leigh Reedy (@leighr1173) April 25, 2018

April 25: Truaxe Urges Followers to Call 911

View this post on Instagram

Don’t Burn After Reading. September(ish). 😛🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:07am PDT

April 25: Don’t Burn After Reading?

View this post on Instagram

👊🏼🍼💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 26, 2018 at 11:55am PDT

April 26: Truaxe Goes on a Rant

View this post on Instagram

💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:47am PDT

April 27: The End of the Road?

View this post on Instagram

🦆💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:09pm PDT

April 28: … Or Not?

View this post on Instagram

Do Not Burn Before Hearing. It’s a film. 🌳… 😜🍼👊🏾🍆♥️💙🐪🦋👊🏼💜🎂😢😁🤬😜… 🍆🍼💜😢😜……………,,,,,,,,,, [shh…ad up ). 🦋💙

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 1, 2018 at 4:18pm PDT

May 1: Burn After Reading Explained?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 23, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

May 23: Problems Beneath the Surface?

View this post on Instagram

I love you, and you @deciemchatroom. 💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 25, 2018 at 6:53am PDT

May 25: Get Your Product Info Elsewhere

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 26, 2018 at 4:36am PDT

May 26: “I’m Not on Drugs”

In a quick post, in which Truaxe professes his love for Richard Branson, he clarifies in his caption, “I’m not on ‘drugs’ or ‘mentally’-incapacitated.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 28, 2018 at 8:24am PDT

May 28: Truaxe Calls out a Mystery Competitor

View this post on Instagram

Our co-worker is back—but never behind. We love you, @nicolalkilner. You’ll always be our only 🐌—and always stronger than any 🐅 can ever hope to be or become. 🧡💛🌕😜

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jul 3, 2018 at 7:04am PDT

July 3: Kilner Reinstated as Co-CEO

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 8, 2018 at 5:41am PDT

October 8: Deciem’s Doors are Shuttered and Oh, Apparently a Revolution is Coming…

View this post on Instagram

3 emails to say less than one word but more than 0 words.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 11, 2018 at 4:56am PDT

October 11: Minority Stakeholder Estée Lauder Sues Truaxe Right Out of Deciem

The post BREAKING: Brandon Truaxe is Officially Out as Deciem’s CEO appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

BREAKING: Brandon Truaxe is Officially Out as Deciem’s CEO published first on https://borboletabags.tumblr.com/

0 notes

lindyhunt · 6 years

Text

Deciem is Getting Sued by Minority Stakeholder Estée Lauder

January 12: Deciem Shades Drunk Elephant

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 24, 2018 at 9:01am PST

January 24: Truaxe Begins his Social Media Takeover

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jan 28, 2018 at 8:53pm PST

January 28: Truaxe Addresses the Drunk Elephant Comment

View this post on Instagram

If you walk in front, you lead only yourself and see no one who's behind. To help those who work with you, you have to walk behind them. ❤️

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 1, 2018 at 11:42am PST

February 1: No More Bosses

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:04am PST

February 4: Deciem’s Feed is Garbage

View this post on Instagram

Stop being mean to kind animals. DECIEM will never test on animals. EVER NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:03am PST

February 4: Truaxe Photographs a Dead Animal

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 4, 2018 at 2:15am PST

February 4: He Also Wants to Mention that He’s Not Gay

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 5, 2018 at 6:09am PST

February 5: Truaxe Promises a Proper Social Media Team

February 6: Truaxe Fires TJ Esho via Instagram

February: Meanwhile on Reddit…

February 9: Former Employees go on the Record

View this post on Instagram

❤️🌎

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Feb 10, 2018 at 7:22am PST

February 10: Truaxe Reprimands Followers

February 11: Truaxe Accused of Racism

February 22: Truaxe Lays Off his Co-CEO

Co-CEO Nicola Kilner was let go from Deciem and soon after Stephen Kaplan, chief financial officer at the brand, resigned. In response to the firing, Truaxe told WWD, “It’s my company. It’s my house. If someone doesn’t like how I decorate my house, it doesn��t matter if they’re my mother or a guest, they have to leave the house.” This statement is in stark comparison to Truaxe’s thoughts at the beginning of the month, in which he tells his followers he doesn’t want to be seen as a boss. After the firing, Kilner told ELLE that when it came to Truaxe, “It was never [just about] business. It was much more personal.”

March 25: The Firings Continue

One month later, Racked reported that Truaxe had fired his whole U.S. team. The decision seemed extremely rash and, again, had people wondering if everything was really running smoothly at Deciem.

View this post on Instagram

Our upcoming store on Fifth Avenue. Never disrespect a harmless human in need of care. 💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 3, 2018 at 11:00pm PDT

April 4: Deciem Uses a Homeless Man to Promote Their New Store

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

April 5: Truaxe Responds to Trump Comparisons

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 5, 2018 at 6:47pm PDT

April 5: Truaxe Diverts Blame in Firing Accusations

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 8, 2018 at 2:49pm PDT

April 8: Truaxe Responds to a Recent Interview with Kilner

View this post on Instagram

@nicolalkilner 💚🌳 (I’ll always be the kid we both know 👶🏼 🍼💚)

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 10, 2018 at 2:39pm PDT

April 10: Truaxe and Kilner Bury the Hatchet?

If there’s one thing Truaxe loves, it’s emojis… and screenshots. He combines both in this amicable exchange between himself and Kilner.

He is really losing it! #deciem #theordinary @B_TruthSleuth pic.twitter.com/lHVVKSjOya

— Leigh Reedy (@leighr1173) April 25, 2018

April 25: Truaxe Urges Followers to Call 911

View this post on Instagram

Don’t Burn After Reading. September(ish). 😛🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:07am PDT

April 25: Don’t Burn After Reading?

View this post on Instagram

👊🏼🍼💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 26, 2018 at 11:55am PDT

April 26: Truaxe Goes on a Rant

View this post on Instagram

💙🦋

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 27, 2018 at 5:47am PDT

April 27: The End of the Road?

View this post on Instagram

🦆💚

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:09pm PDT

April 28: … Or Not?

View this post on Instagram

Do Not Burn Before Hearing. It’s a film. 🌳… 😜🍼👊🏾🍆♥️💙🐪🦋👊🏼💜🎂😢😁🤬😜… 🍆🍼💜😢😜……………,,,,,,,,,, [shh…ad up ). 🦋💙

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 1, 2018 at 4:18pm PDT

May 1: Burn After Reading Explained?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 23, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

May 23: Problems Beneath the Surface?

View this post on Instagram

I love you, and you @deciemchatroom. 💚🌳

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 25, 2018 at 6:53am PDT

May 25: Get Your Product Info Elsewhere

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 26, 2018 at 4:36am PDT

May 26: “I’m Not on Drugs”

In a quick post, in which Truaxe professes his love for Richard Branson, he clarifies in his caption, “I’m not on ‘drugs’ or ‘mentally’-incapacitated.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on May 28, 2018 at 8:24am PDT

May 28: Truaxe Calls out a Mystery Competitor

View this post on Instagram

Our co-worker is back—but never behind. We love you, @nicolalkilner. You’ll always be our only 🐌—and always stronger than any 🐅 can ever hope to be or become. 🧡💛🌕😜

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Jul 3, 2018 at 7:04am PDT

July 3: Kilner Reinstated as Co-CEO

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 8, 2018 at 5:41am PDT

October 8: Deciem’s Doors are Shuttered and Oh, Apparently a Revolution is Coming…

View this post on Instagram

3 emails to say less than one word but more than 0 words.

A post shared by THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY (@deciem) on Oct 11, 2018 at 4:56am PDT

October 11: Minority Stakeholder Estée Lauder Sues Truaxe Right Out of Deciem

0 notes