Forget the Kardashians—are you keeping up with Deciem? Over the first three months of 2018, the Toronto-based, self-proclaimed "abnormal beauty company" captivated the beauty industry with its series of unpredictable events: messy public firings; Instagram mayhem including photos of garbage dumps, dead sheep, and fights with followers; and alarming accounts of an abusive work environment.

At the helm of the drama is Brandon Truaxe, Deciem's founder and acting CEO (he stripped the official title from himself to be called "worker"—more on that later). In January, he took it upon himself to singlehandedly manage the company's social media account in the name of transparency. What resulted was confusion.

For the record, the company is wildly successful. Though it was founded in 2013, over the last year it catapulted to popularity across social media and aggressively expanded store opening plans to Melbourne, Sydney, Seoul, the UK, and the US. It is projected to earn $300 million in sales in 2018 and, last summer, Estée Lauder made a minority investment (it owns 28 percent). You likely recognize Deciem's most popular line, The Ordinary, which has won over skincare enthusiasts with its no-frills, active ingredients-focused, freakishly affordable line of products. It's so loved that when it launched a foundation in 2017, it earned a 25,000-person waitlist.

Now, fans of the brand have started questioning whether or not the company will still thrive amidst recent happenings. Whether it's your first time hearing about Deciem or you've been following it but feel tangled in all the layers, buckle up. We're breaking down what happened piece by piece, ahead.