After Co-Founder Kristen Speller’s Cancer Diagnosis, Clean Beauty Brand Doubledown Cosmetics Shutters
Doubledown Cosmetics has closed up shop.
Co-founders and married couple Marvin and Kristen Speller announced the news Monday last week through the clean makeup and skincare brand’s social media accounts, newsletter and website. Customers are no longer able to shop from its e-commerce site. Overflow inventory will be donated to domestic violence shelters and excess packaging will be sent to recycling company TerraCycle.
“On behalf of my wife and I, we have now closed our beauty brand, Doubledown Cosmetics,” Marvin wrote in an Instagram post. “This was a difficult decision due to many unforeseen circumstances this year. We want to thank all of you that supported us and our retail partners Walmart, Hellablack, Herbally Grounded and the retailers that onboarded us for later this year. We doubled down and got it done for 5 years as we are incredibly proud of our accomplishments in this industry. From our hearts, we thank you.”
Doubledown launched in 2017 to sell clean alternatives to conventional products on the market. Kristen, a domestic violence survivor, had used makeup to cover wounds to keep her job as a healthcare administrator. While in hiding to escape her abusive ex-husband, neurological trauma forced her to seek medical care. In 2012, her physician expressed concern about the products she was putting on her face and body, and she began researching clean beauty. In addition to making Doubledown clean, Kristen, a Cape Verdean, was intent on making it an inclusive brand.
Doubledown began with a makeup bag composed of leftover and recycled materials featuring the phrase, “Starts With Foundation,” on it. From there, it went into highlighters prior to branching into lip, eye and cheek products as well as skincare. The bestselling makeup product was a purple eyeshadow named Barbs after Kristen’s late mother, Barbara. Organic Rosewater Clay Face Mask was Doubledown’s skincare bestseller.
Kristen and Marvin started Domestic Violence Glam Up Program in 2012 to provide victims and survivors of abuse access to clean cosmetics, perform makeovers and offer legal assistance. The program has performed over 200 makeovers. In 2022, it assisted with five court cases. “For us, it was more than makeup,” says Kristen. “It was always a mission-led brand for domestic violence, mental health and human trafficking, and that’s what we stuck with for all five years.”
Kristen was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma colon cancer in January. She and Marvin went public with the diagnosis the same month on social media. Kristen explains, “Because I was front-facing, Marvin and I said people are going to start to wonder why we’re not posting, why I’m not in videos, and that became a burden more than anything.”
For months, Kristen and Marvin debated whether they could handle running Doubledown while Kristen was battling cancer. Ultimately, they concluded they should close it. She says, “This experience has been so laborious and so undefined, and we only can do so much as two people. We don’t have a full team, so really it was just us.”
With guidance from aesthetician and beauty brand founder Shani Darden’s mentorship program, Doubledown was in the throes of a rebrand encompassing packaging, formulations and logos when Kristen was diagnosed with cancer. Along with Darden’s mentorship program, Doubledown participated in accelerator programs from clean beauty retailer Credo and clean beauty brand Tower 28. Kristen says, “[Marvin and I] were always trying to say to one another, ‘How can we be better? How can we be a more efficient brand, a better brand, a more sellable brand on e-commerce?’”
The pair struggled with e-commerce, especially during the pandemic when in-person events Doubledown primarily relied on for marketing stopped. “We did festivals, we did farmer’s markets, we did a lot of different things in the community,” says Kristen. “And in person we are magic. We sell out every single time. What was difficult was transitioning that to the e-commerce side.”
In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd’s murder sparked interest in Doubledown amid the rush to promote Black-owned brands. Suddenly, the brand was fielding interview requests and highlighted in publications like Essence and Yoga Journal. Doubledown launched at Walmart in 2020 and became the first clean Cape Verdean beauty brand at the chain. It started off strong, but the partnership eventually succumbed to challenges within the Walmart organization, according to Kristen.
By the end of 2020, she was burnt out. “It was just just going and going and going until the train crashes,” says Kristen. “We were duly unprepared, and I think, too, a lot of the burden was on us. It’s still on us to this day.”
Kristen is grateful for beauty brand founders who’ve been advocates for Doubledown. She mentions Dorian Morris, founder of Undefined Beauty, Christina Funk Tegbe, founder of 54 Thrones, and Carrie Lin and Angela Ubias, co-founders of Common Heir, as among the founders she’s become close to in recent years. “We’re pioneers, we rose up together, and we have an entire sisterhood for the rest of our lives,” says Kristen. “We have such a solid sisterhood that it was never a competition. We were all cheering each other on.”
Kristen also expresses appreciation for Doubledown’s customers, influencers, celebrity makeup artists like Katey Denny, Renée Loiz, Beth Follert and Karim Orange, and her husband and business partner Marvin. She says, “My husband taught me so much about business, about quality control, about COGS, things I didn’t know about. I wouldn’t want to do this with anybody else.”
Evaluating the beauty industry generally, Kristen argues it should get back to basics. “So many bigger brands have these cash grabs like hiring influencers. We never had that in 2013, 2014,” she says. “I hope we can go back to the OG days because I think, in those days, it wasn’t just makeup, it was techniques. People were learning how to do creases better. They were learning how to apply makeup better, so much so that a lot of these OGs became makeup artists. I think the art has been lost or at least it’s not presented in the way that it used to be.”
Kristen’s latest positron emission tomography (PET) scan revealed cancer has spread to her liver, lungs, left rib and pelvis. She may participate in clinical trials, but is forgoing chemotherapy and radiation to fight the disease holistically. She remains optimistic.
“I’m healing so beautifully. I go for mile walks. I drive once in awhile. I don’t believe what I am is on paper,” says Kristen. “I believe in the resilience of what my body can do, and my body has shown me that it can do it in this capacity. I’ll do whatever it takes to save myself. I’m the phoenix, and we’re about to rise like never before.”
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