The Bizarre and Baffling Tale of Dr. Tijion Esho's Short-Lived Deciem Line

Imagine finding out you’ve been fired via a public Instagram post. That’s what happened to cosmetic surgeon Tijion Esho, who under the self-described "abnormal" beauty company Deciem, launched his own lip care line, Esho.

The line debuted in September 2017 and was discontinued just five months later when Deciem founder Brandon Truaxe dropped the Insta-bomb. In the since-deleted post Truaxe wrote that "almost everyone hated" the Esho products and "I need to say goodbye to you because we are too busy to love your brand enough."

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Tijion, who had just been on QVC promoting—and selling out—his line the week before, says he was left “very confused.” He was at a restaurant with friends when he saw the post.

"I remember being very emotional and I just cried. I didn't understand," he told ELLE.com over the phone, calling from London. "Even though what had happened wasn’t due to me or any control I had, I felt responsible, like I let everyone down. I had a lot of young black doctors and minorities saying, ‘You’re really inspiring us to do something, we don’t see that often. We don’t see black guys owning cosmetic lines’ so I remember telling Brandon that this is more than just me."

> Deciem's deleted Instagram post parting with Esho on February 6, 2018. In it, he promises to hand over formulations and trademarks to Esho.

Instagram

Esho was a renowned doctor before Deciem came calling. He built up a following (on social media and in his practice) for his non-surgical cosmetic procedures and his appearances as a doctor on the British E4 network's reality show Body Fixers. His influence can be seen all over Instagram. With an expertise in lip augmentations, he coined the plump "three-point lip" seen all over your feed (think: the pout on Emily Ratajkowski and copied by many an influencer). Esho's collaboration with Deciem capitalized on this notoriety, offering three core products: One formulated to plump lips without fillers, one to maintain those with fillers, and a lip balm to nourish either.

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Since January, Deciem has been the equivalent of a massive car pile-up the beauty industry can't look away from. The founder started posting erratically on the company Instagram, raising concern as he posted footage of garbage, something appearing to be a dead animal, sympathized with Donald Trump, fielded accusations of racism from followers, and shared confessional-style videos threatening to sue journalists. All the while, turmoil was brewing within the company as Truaxe started letting go of key team members. Among the string of blindsiding firings and resignations triggered by founder Truaxe (most alarmingly Nicola Kilner, former co-CEO), Dr. Tijion Esho was arguably handled the worst.

Since Truaxe's February 6 Instagram post went live, the fate of Esho, the brand, was left up in the air while Esho, the man, was left with zero answers. The questions keep coming in the wake of non-stop, concerning activity from Truaxe (he reportedly sent a company-wide memo saying he's "done" with Deciem, went on a tirade of erratic comments to followers, and, shortly after we spoke to Esho in late April, made an announcement for launching another lip care line, Petrowhat. On top of that, Sephora confirmed on June 8 that it will no longer carry Deciem products in the wake of the company "chang[ing] direction."

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Here, speaking for the first time at length about the Deciem fallout, Esho seeks answers not only for himself, but for his supporters. "I want to speak out on what happened and give them transparency. I haven't got the brand, I'm unable to do what I want to for them," he said, "At no time have I received any apology for what happened and how it happened or having my trust betrayed." (When we reached out to Deciem for comment, the brand's current press rep Dionne Lois Cullen wrote back, "We won’t be looking to comment on this but thanks so much for checking in.")

Read on for more revelations from our conversation with Esho.

On meeting Deciem founder Brandon Truaxe:

It was just over three years ago. Dionne [Lois Cullen], who does PR [put us in touch]—we’re mates and she sent some NIOD [one of the brands owned by Deciem] products. I hadn’t heard of Deciem at that point at all. I messaged back saying the products were great and I loved them. A year after that, Dionne sent an invite that [Brandon] was going to be in the UK and it’d be cool to meet up. My team met with Brandon. There was a lot of crossover in our industries and there was a kind of marriage of minds. I remember him talking about how he never knew someone that obsessed with lips like I was.

Deciem [is] ‘the abnormal beauty company’—it’s the way things happen on their side. We expected that and accepted no real timelines or as many updates as we would've wanted because there was a trust and a belief in the legacy they've already created with The Ordinary. When you’ve got that credibility and you’ve done so much, it does demand a respect.

On how the Esho line came to be:

[Brandon and I] were talking for ages and he said, ‘I think we should do something’ and I was really taken back. At the moment I was in “fan” mode—the owner wanted to meet me and now he’s saying he wants to collaborate and do a line? That’s crazy. Sure enough, a few months later, he contacted me, "I think we should do a lip line but do one for people that have lip fillers and don’t have lip fillers and we can extend it to treat all different areas of the lips."

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We talked about the name and he said he wanted to call it Esho. At first I was a bit worried and hesitant about it, but then honored because I'm a very proud guy and come from an African background, so my name means a lot to my family. It means "jewels worth more than gold." I remember [Brandon] saying don't worry—he would always protect me and have my best interest at heart. I remember that conversation being one of the biggest reassurances for me, like, this guy understands it.

I had a lot of input in the design, packaging, how it looked—in terms of the formulations not so much because to be fair, [Brandon] is the guy who came up with The Ordinary and he's a genius. From the doctor point of view, I can come up with concepts.

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On the surprise Esho launch:

The launch happened without me even knowing. I was in my clinic and I just started getting tagged in posts on Instagram of people saying, "Oh my God, I bought the Esho product" and I was like What? Is this real? I messaged Brandon like, what’s happening? I’m getting tagged in posts that people got the product and he called me saying there’s been a big mess up. He had given the brand and some of the information to [beauty and health retailer] Victoria Health and it was released on their blog before [Deciem] was planning to. Obviously, people were pre-ordering it and press were talking about it and at that point, I hadn’t even had the final product myself. I had samples. The actual final, final product in the tube, in-the-box-version? Customers got [the products] before I did.

It was a bit frustrating but at the same time, it was still exciting for me because all of a sudden, we’re fulfilling these dreams. Despite it not happening the way I wanted it to, I was still just looking at the positive.

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On never getting orders for his own products:

I couldn't even give products to my own family. My PR hadn't been sent any so in the end, we actually ordered from Victoria Health. I even did an order for my clinic because my clients also want these products and they’re hard to get a hold of. I did an order for about 150 to 200 and to this day, I’ve never had that order fulfilled. They never, ever came.

On the five months of Esho:

It was always very exciting for me. I buried myself in chat groups and always looked at the feedback. There was a lot of good feedback and a lot of people saying they may not like taste or the texture. I didn’t know if this was something consistent through all products, or if this is one or two particular ones. I remember feeding it back to Brandon. He would also feedback and was very reassuring and he said, "Don’t worry, don’t look at these things. It’s normal when a brand first launches that you get feedback and it’s positive because we can always change these things." I was very relieved and happy.

I was really relaxed because we could only get better as he said, and we were selling out on QVC. I don't know how many units. The time I was on there we sold out. I had no suspicions [about Esho getting discontinued] because a week before the actual [Instagram] post, I had been on QVC and we had sold out again, Nicola [Kilner, former co-CEO] was really optimistic and talking about Deciem going to Sephora. Then, ASOS wanted the products, as well as Cult Beauty. There were so many people wanting it, so I was really excited.

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I remember contacting Brandon and was excited like, "We sold out on QVC, what’s happening next? What’s happening with the new formulations?" He said the new formulations would be ready soon and he was really excited about the new products. He wanted to meet me in London to discuss how this stuff would make sense within the portfolio of the brand. I was just excited, then a week after, there was the Instagram post.

> Nicola Kilner and Esho on QVC in January 2018.

Courtesy of Tijion Esho

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On Truaxe's Instagram post discontinuing Esho:

In our last conversation, there was nothing else, no bad tone or anything. Nicola was always really optimistic about where [Esho] was going to next and talking to me about the different distributors that would use and Brandon was always optimistic about what was happening in the lab and any concerns that I had.

It was a hard time because—I didn’t tell Brandon or anybody else—I was being checked out for lymphoma. Even though I’m the face of [Esho], and I was going on TV and smiling, I was in pain but that’s how dedicated I was to the brand. I wanted to give my all to this for it to be successful. Even though what had happened wasn’t due to me or any control I had, I felt responsible somehow and like I let everyone down—forget all the money, this is something bigger and actually inspiring somebody to be more. That's what killed me even more.

On Deciem not transferring ownership of Esho's trademarks and formulations as promised:

As it stands, I don't have anything. I don't have trademarks. I don't have formulations. I don't have any revenue. [Brandon] always said to me, "You would be always protected. I will always protect you." I always trusted.

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So, when that post came, even though he said it was still to protect me and not upset me, I still don't understand that.A few days after that post, I spoke to Nicola and she was really supportive and said that she disagreed with what happened. I got emails from Brandon and saying that he did what he did to protect me.

He said that partners told him to say that they didn't have time to produce my brand at the moment and because he owned all the trademarks and the formulations, my hands would be tied and I wouldn’t be able to do anything for the next two years, or even ever again, with regards to the brand. By doing that [Instagram] post, he knew that in offering me the trademarks, he knew that his partners couldn't then disagree with that move. If they were to take away those things that were promised in that post, it would give the company a bad public image.

But it still didn’t make sense to me. I sat down and I didn’t understand it. Why wouldn’t you tell me and give me a choice? Especially with something that has my name and how much I put in it. I could’ve chosen how the post was going to be, and not just sit there with all I was going through in terms of my own health and just see it. I don’t understand why it was done that way. To this day, I still don't.

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On not receiving any income from Deciem:

My monthly royalty agreement, written in my contract, was to receive five percent each month over the sales and revenues—not even the profits at the time. To be fair, I didn’t even chase those because, like I said, it was never about [money] for me. Whatever it made, I was always going to invest back in the brand. I thought, at least if they made this decision that I had no part in, they would fulfill [the financial obligation] and make that a priority. At that time, I spoke to my family, my team, even Nicola—I said it was hard for me because I don’t want to upset him, but I need closure.

I remember contacting Nicola, and Nicola had her severance paid, so I was like, 'Wow, Nicola had her severance paid and I’m still here and I haven’t had any documents.' I’m just one man—I didn’t want to spend to get legal advice. I was hoping [Brandon and I] could’ve just sat down, discussed and solved it. In the end, I'm still here, having to solve it and pay people to facilitate that process for me. It should’ve just happened.

I think Brandon owns 72 percent of the company [Ed note: Estée Lauder owns 28 percent]. It was Brandon’s company and he was the one who had the only say and everybody respected that. If you do have that power, you can tell your partners no, I don’t want to stop producing—it contradicted everything.

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On what’s next for Esho, the brand:

I think there was a true vision of the brand and the vision was to be a new-age cosmeceutical brand where everybody would find one product within that range that would address their concerns, whether it was pigmentation, dryness, or volume. You should treat your lips like your skin. I really hope to reach that vision in the future. How? I’m unsure at the moment. I still respect him for what he’s created at Deciem and The Ordinary and even if he turned around to me now and said “If you let me, let’s sit down and talk” I would, because that’s the type of person I am.

Other brands are now reaching out. There were products from the line that never ever got released—there was supposed to be a line called “Professionals” and “Clinic” that would help to treat lips pre- and post-procedure. There was supposed to be another product called Esho coat, which was like a lip gloss that was gonna be really hydrating and nourishing like a SOS balm. The possibilities are endless. I was excited. I was really living the dream, to be honest.

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On his attitude about Deciem moving forward:

[Brandon and I] haven’t had any contact. I want this negativity to just go. I want Brandon to be happy. I want Nicola to be happy. I want myself to be happy. I want the clients to be happy. I always want to be positive because I always believe that when you put that energy out there it’s going to come back to you. I always, always believe things happen for a reason. It’s not clear right now to me what that reason is. But, at some point in the future, there will be a positive outcome.

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