Brandon Truaxe

Early Life and First Ventures

Brandon Truaxe was born Ali Roshan in Tehran, Iran, on 19 June 1978, during a lull in the unrest that preceded the Iranian Revolution a few weeks later. His family left Iran and arrived in Toronto as refugees in 1995, following the death of his mother from breast cancer when he was young and his estranged father's return to Iran. He studied computer science at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 2001, and a formative professional experience was an internship in New York on analysis software for a major cosmetic manufacturer, where he was reportedly shocked by the industry's high markups. Shortly after graduation, Truaxe founded his first companies, the software development firm Schematte Corporation and the nutritional supplements company Organic Senses Ltd, but both were eventually dissolved in 2008 and 2007 respectively for failure to file annual returns.

Brandon Truaxe entered the skincare industry in 2003 when he co-founded the brand Euoko with partner Julio Torres. This venture was supported by Vancouver jeweller Pasquale Cusano, who served as his mentor and investor. Truaxe resigned from Euoko in 2011. He had founded another skincare brand, Indeed Labs, in 2009 and left that company in 2012 to found DECIEM. These early ventures followed his earlier work founding a software development firm and a nutritional supplements company after his university graduation.

Founding and Building DECIEM

In 2012, Truaxe founded DECIEM The Abnormal Beauty Company in Toronto, establishing it as an umbrella company for multiple brands with a commitment to formulating products free of parabens, sulphates, mineral oil, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, animal oils, coal tar dyes, formaldehyde, mercury and oxybenzone. The company's multi-brand strategy was supported by a vertically integrated structure that included its own laboratory, in-house manufacturing, e-commerce platform, and proprietary marketing infrastructure, a model allowing for greater control over quality, cost, and speed to market. DECIEM debuted its first brand, Inhibitif, in April 2013, quickly followed by others including The Chemistry Brand, Fountain, and Grow Gorgeous, with The Chemistry Brand's anti-aging hand cream becoming an instant bestseller partly because consumers began using it on their faces. This early success demonstrated the market's appetite for effective, multi-use products at a time when Truaxe was still bound by non-compete clauses from previous ventures, and it validated his integrated business model.

The company's growth was steady after its founding in 2012. DECIEM debuted its first brand, Inhibitif, in April 2013. This was followed by the launch of other brands including The Chemistry Brand, Fountain, and Grow Gorgeous. In August 2016, Truaxe co-launched DECIEM's eleventh brand, The Ordinary. The Ordinary was a product line focused on cutting-edge skincare products with moderate prices.

• Inhibitif (April 2013)
• The Chemistry Brand (2013)
• Fountain (2013)
• Grow Gorgeous (2013)

This multi-brand strategy was driven by a vertically integrated structure. The company had its own laboratory, in-house manufacturing, and in-house e-commerce. It also had in-store stores and proprietary marketing infrastructure. This operational model positioned DECIEM for significant growth following the launch of The Ordinary.

The Ordinary and Global Expansion

In August 2016, Truaxe co-launched DECIEM's The Ordinary product line, a skincare brand focused on "cutting-edge" single-ingredient, scientifically backed formulations sold at remarkably accessible price points. The brand first sold exclusively online before expanding into various department stores and eventually opening approximately 30 company-owned stores across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, and the Netherlands as consumer demand surged. The Ordinary's disruptive pricing and clinical transparency resonated powerfully with consumers, creating unprecedented demand that the company struggled to meet, a factor that influenced Truaxe's decision to seek a major investor to help scale operations. The company's explosive success attracted the attention of the Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), a leading global beauty conglomerate, which acquired a 28% ownership stake in DECIEM for $50 million in June 2017, becoming an equal partner with Truaxe publicly praising ELC for embracing the company's margins, pricing strategy, and disruptiveness.

By late 2018, DECIEM was in 42 stores worldwide. The company was selling more than one product every second at that time. Its annual revenue was headed toward $300 million in sales, with plans to quickly quintuple in size in 2019. The Ordinary first sold exclusively online, then in various department stores, and eventually opened about 30 company-owned stores.

• Canada
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Netherlands

Leadership Style and Industry Recognition

Truaxe's leadership was characterized by a bold, unconventional approach that challenged beauty industry norms, as he positioned DECIEM as "The Abnormal Beauty Company," a direct critique of traditional marketing and pricing practices he had witnessed firsthand. His computer science background influenced a data-driven and systems-oriented approach to product development and company structure, a methodology that earned DECIEM and Truaxe significant industry recognition, including the Luxury Briefing Award in the "Innovation in Beauty" category for ideas and excellence across the luxury industry. Under his direction, DECIEM cultivated a distinct corporate culture and direct communication style with consumers, often using social media platforms to announce products and company news, an approach that built a loyal community but would later contribute to public controversies as his behaviour became more erratic. Key elements of Truaxe's business philosophy included a commitment to ingredient transparency, clinical formulations, and maintaining affordable price points despite rapid growth and outside investment from a major conglomerate, principles that resonated with millions of consumers worldwide and disrupted established beauty industry economics.

Controversy and Removal as CEO

In early 2018, concerns arose about Truaxe's behaviour, with reports describing it as erratic and co-founder Nicola Kilner noting that prior to 2018, he barely drank alcohol but had begun ingesting psychedelic mushrooms in front of employees, convinced of their creative and spiritual benefits. According to an interview with the Financial Post, Truaxe also took crystal meth in Britain, leading to an arrest and subsequent treatment, personal struggles that began to impact the company's operations and public image as he became increasingly unpredictable. The situation escalated in October 2018 when Truaxe ordered all of DECIEM's global operations to close immediately, citing alleged "financial crimes" within the company, and he took to social media expressing fears for his and his family's safety and claiming attacks on his reputation via false information. In response, Estée Lauder Companies sought legal action, resulting in the Ontario Superior Court issuing an order ousting Truaxe as CEO and appointing Nicola Kilner as sole CEO, followed by a restraining order after he sent emails to ELC chair emeritus Leonard Lauder and other executives.

In October 2018, Estée Lauder Companies sought legal action after Truaxe ordered all of DECIEM's operations to close. Truaxe was ousted as CEO, and co-founder Nicola Kilner was appointed as the sole CEO. A few days later, a restraining order was issued against Truaxe. The court's injunction also led to the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate the alleged financial crimes.

1. October 2018: Truaxe orders global operations closed, alleging financial crimes.
2. ELC seeks and obtains a court order removing Truaxe as CEO.
3. Nicola Kilner is appointed sole CEO of DECIEM.
4. A restraining order is issued against Truaxe following emails to ELC executives.
5. PricewaterhouseCoopers is appointed to investigate the financial crime allegations.
6. The DECIEM board is reconstituted with Andrew Ross and Pasquale Cusano.

Death and Posthumous Tributes

Brandon Truaxe died on the morning of 20 January 2019 in Toronto at the age of 40, with reports indicating his death resulted from a fall from his condominium in the city's Distillery District, and a source close to DECIEM confirmed he died in Toronto. Estée Lauder Companies released a statement calling Truaxe "a true genius" and acknowledging how his creativity, brilliance and innovation had positively impacted millions of people around the world, while DECIEM's chief operating officer Stephen Kaplan confirmed the death in an email to The Canadian Press. In December 2019, almost a year after his death, DECIEM unveiled a passion project Truaxe had been working on, the fragrance brand Avestan, with a boutique dedicated to a single, unnamed fragrance opening in central London as a tribute intended to remain exactly as he left it. Inspired by his visits to Morocco, the Avestan scent featured accords of clays, stems, and saps, shunning traditional floral notes and priced at £38 in adherence to DECIEM's ethos of affordable luxury, with the company describing the opening as a humble thank you to its founder and noting he once said Avestan was his soul.

In December 2019, DECIEM opened the fragrance brand Avestan as a tribute to its late founder. The company announced the opening to its 702,000 Instagram followers. DECIEM stated that Avestan was a journey into the unfamiliar that brought a comforting familiar sense of Brandon Truaxe. According to a letter written by Truaxe on the brand's website, Avestan was an exploration of the untried meant to create new meaning through scents.

Business Legacy and Impact

Brandon Truaxe's legacy is fundamentally tied to disrupting the global beauty industry's economics and consumer expectations through DECIEM and especially The Ordinary, where he demonstrated that clinical, effective skincare could be offered at radically transparent and affordable prices without traditional luxury markups. His vertically integrated business model proved that a company could control its entire supply chain, from laboratory to consumer, while achieving massive scale, with the company on a trajectory to quintuple in size by the time of his passing after approaching $300 million in annual revenue. Colleagues and observers have noted that his lasting impact was pulling back the curtain on industry markups and prioritizing ingredient integrity over marketing hype, a sentiment echoed in posthumous reflections that described him as a beauty rebel who exposed the beauty industry for what it is. The company's continued growth after his death, including the launch of his final project Avestan, shows the durability of the foundation he built, influencing a new generation of beauty brands focused on transparency, science, and accessibility and permanently altering how consumers worldwide engage with skincare products.

Questions about Brandon Truaxe

How did Brandon Truaxe die?

Brandon Truaxe died on 20 January 2019 in Toronto at the age of 40. Reports from the time indicate his death resulted from a fall from his condominium in the city's Distillery District. His death was confirmed by DECIEM's chief operating officer Stephen Kaplan in an email to The Canadian Press, and a source close to the company said he died in Toronto. It occurred only a few months after he was removed as the company's CEO following a period of public controversy and legal action.

What was The Ordinary and why was it so successful?

The Ordinary was a skincare product line launched by DECIEM in August 2016. It was DECIEM's eleventh brand and focused on cutting-edge skincare products with moderate prices. It first sold exclusively online, then in department stores and company-owned stores. Its success was driven by consumer demand, with the company selling more than one product every second by late 2018.

What happened between Brandon Truaxe and Estée Lauder?

In June 2017, Estée Lauder Companies acquired a 28% ownership stake in DECIEM for $50 million. In October 2018, after Truaxe ordered DECIEM's operations closed, ELC sought legal action. Truaxe was ousted as CEO, and a restraining order was issued against him. The court appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate alleged financial crimes.

What was Avestan?

Avestan was a fragrance brand under the DECIEM umbrella. It was a passion project Brandon Truaxe was working on before his death. The brand was unveiled in December 2019 through a single boutique in London. The store sold one unnamed fragrance inspired by Truaxe's visits to Morocco, with notes of clays, stems, and saps.

What is Brandon Truaxe's legacy in the beauty industry?

Brandon Truaxe's legacy is that of a visionary who founded DECIEM. He created a company known for its disruptive approach and multi-brand strategy. His work positively impacted millions with his creativity and innovation in beauty. The launch of his Avestan project after his death served as a tribute to his creative vision.

Who was Brandon Truaxe and what did he found?

Brandon Truaxe was an Iranian-Canadian computer scientist and cosmetics entrepreneur known as the founder of the Toronto based beauty company DECIEM The Abnormal Beauty Company. He founded DECIEM in 2012 as an umbrella company, which was his fourth business venture after earlier skincare brands Euoko, founded in 2003, and Indeed Labs, founded in 2009. Before entering the beauty industry, Truaxe studied computer science at the University of Waterloo and founded a software development firm. His professional journey into cosmetics began with an internship at a major cosmetic manufacturer in New York, where he was shocked by industry markups. Under his leadership, DECIEM grew to include multiple brands, most notably The Ordinary, and its annual revenue was headed toward $300 million in sales.

Sources and further reading

• Brandon Truaxe (Wikipedia)
• Deciem's new store pays tribute to late founder Brandon ... (cosmeticsbusiness.com)
• Deciem and the death of Brandon Truaxe (cbc.ca)

Checked by the Yadude Books desk. Last updated 2026-10-26.