To Our Cherished Community
For those who have been with us since 2015, you’ll remember Color Up Therapeutics. You were with us on the ground floor of a revolution, long before the 2018 Farm Bill legitimized an industry we were already building with our bare hands.
You knew our heart and our mission from day one.
The Name Change: A Fight for Survival
Over the past two years, we operated under different "doing business as" names—VXN Wellness, VXN LAB and House of VXN.
Not a choice born from strategy, but from a fight for survival.
Following a painful fracture where two of our three original founders departed and tried to shut our business down, a forced rebrand, warehouse blowout sale, and requirement not to release information about the rebrand until after it was over, were stipulations for our company to continue.
Knowing there would be challenges ahead, we chose to fight for our mission, and for the company we built hand-in-hand with all of you.
Even if we had to do it under a different name.
At the time, we believed a new identity could honor the fierce women who stayed to fight—the VXN's (a tribute to the strong, resilient, fierce fox). What we didn't yet understand was how unforgiving modern e-commerce is to a name change, and how technology requires consistency to keep a community connected. We learned the hard way what changing a brand name, domain, email, and online identity does to a small business.
We also realized that the challenge in creating a new brand was that we had already created Color Up exactly as we wanted her to be!
Addressing False Claims & Reclaiming Our Name
Recently, a former co-owner made FALSE PUBLIC CLAIMS about our company – stating that we are not permitted to use the Color Up name, and the company we are operating now is not Color Up.
To be clear, this company has been Color Up, LLC since inception on February 12, 2015, and we continue to operate under the same business entity CO State ID 20151102898 and same sales tax license 30606292-0135.
We were bound by an agreement to operate under a "doing business as" name, and we honored it. However, actions were taken against us that breached the spirit and letter of that departure agreement.
Now, after 28 months of survival, we are no longer staying silent. We are now willing to fight for our name if it comes down to that, and we are confident we will win.
The Amazon Experiment with VXN LUX
In the midst of these challenges, with rising costs and inflation, we realized that to sustain our wholesale model and continue supporting our small business B2B partners, we needed another revenue stream. The answer came from a project our formulator, Lili, had started years ago when we saw this time coming.
After years of study in Brazil and in cosmetic labs, Lili joined our team in 2019, dreaming of developing products that could nourish the skin through life’s many stages. While financial constraints had paused the project before the buyout, our new all-woman team’s resilience brought it back to life.
We were accused of selling out, abandoning CBD, or sowing confusion with rebrands. None of that is true.
We created VXN Den (doing business as) VXN LUX, as a separate, non-CBD line under a different entity – CO State ID 20231359956 and sales tax license 95903441-0000, to stabilize revenue and honor years of Lili’s work, while protecting our professional CBD line. We have never even considered selling our CBD products on Amazon, nor would they allow it. This was a move to ensure the survival and strength of the Color Up community.
A Legacy of Collaboration
From the very beginning, our formulations were born from a collective of brilliant minds, forged in collaborative sessions with practicing estheticians and educators from the School of Botanical and Medical Aesthetics. It was in those rooms, through shared wisdom and real-world practice, that the heart of our products was created.
While our former formulator was still in school, Shauna was already in the treatment room, building the foundations of this brand with the women who continue to use and improve our products every day.
Color Up's formulations were never one person's vision; they have always been a collective effort.
And while we honor every person who has contributed to our journey, the fact remains that our products have always been created by all of us. This brand was never the product of a single individual. Color Up was, and always will be, the result of shared expertise, community feedback, and a passion for creating the world we want to live in and leave behind. That collaborative spirit is the true magic behind every bottle, and it is carried forward with that same spirit today.
The Heartbeat That Never Stopped
While the name on the bottle changed, the integrity within it never wavered. The soul of this company is its people, and that core team has only grown stronger through these challenging times.
After leaving the pharmaceutical industry in 2012, she moved to Colorado to explore the cannabis landscape. When her dog Kali was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2014, she began treating her with cannabinoids from home-grown plants – which ultimately led to the inception of Color Up Therapeutics. She bought out her previous partners in 2023 to continue leading Color Up.
Joined us in 2018 and worked her way up from lab assistant, to owner. She's the one making all of our products with love. She provides the perfectionist touch that ensures every product retains the quality you trust, and she's always looking for feedback to improve on them.
A core leader at Color Up since 2019, leading our sales and education teams for many years. After the buyout she jumped in to manage fulfillment and shipping operations, along with communications to our account partners. With 30 years of experience, she maintains her practice as a licensed massage therapist, tirelessly adapting our professional protocols with real-world expertise.
Amanda Whisnant – Color Up Skincare ExpertA mother of 3 boys who owns her own spa in Wisconsin, has been our rock in the esthetics field—testing products and helping bring our professional education program back online.
We have all gone without consistent pay over the last couple of years, and we've put our own personal savings back into this business to keep Color Up alive. Our fathers, husbands, boyfriends, and sons have all supported and lifted us up along the way.
We are now six generations of women holding the line to ensure our communities continue to have access to clean, science backed, effective cannabinoid skincare and wellness products.
Returning to Color Up
Returning to Color Up is a declaration of who we are. It’s a testament to the fact that the soul of a brand is in its people, our purpose, and our love for each other, and what we are creating here together.
Our mission, rooted in cannabis reform and clean herbal remedies, remains as necessary, and as controversial, as ever. Thank you for standing by us. The original Color Up is back, not because we are going backward, but because our roots have given us the strength to finally move forward.
What's Next
We’re moving quickly to restore all the Color Up branding and products to their original bottles and sizes from before June 2023. We are also bringing back our pet and human wellness tinctures (CBD Oil), and adding healthy-ish gummies to our line-up!
Our Battle for Our Color Up Brand
The VXN rebrand was confusing for everyone. We struggled to gain traction under a name that didn't represent who we were. We lost access to assets – media, website, content, customer orders, and our labels. Then came June 2025—the breakthrough TWO years later. When we shifted assets back to Color Up in an attempt to gain access to our long-standing Google Business Profile that was suspended. Old customers came flooding back. You'd been waiting for us to resurface! And you shined a light on the truth – when our name and branding were stripped away from us, so too was our foundation, our identity, and our people.
The Corner We Were Backed Into
The instability you witnessed was the direct result of a 2023 buyout ultimatum imposed just as our revenue was already declining. Our former co-owners did not leave because the business was thriving. It was the result of deep, pre-existing financial instability starting in 2020. After battling bankruptcy shock, inflation, and relentless banking attacks, the men of our partnership lost faith. They left because the brand wasn't making money, and in their departure they took two-thirds of our assets and detonated the resources we needed to rebuild.
Despite retaining professional negotiators and presenting every conceivable alternative, their demands remained immovable. Their sole intent was to maximize their personal payout, leading to a devastating ultimatum: Close the business entirely, or allow them to strip maximum value through a series of mandated, damaging actions.
The tool for this extraction was the 2/3 Majority Clause in our 2015 partnership contract, which allowed two owners to overrule the third (Shauna). That old contract legally forced our hand, compelling us to accept the following stipulations simply to keep the Color Up entity operational.
| Action | Immediate Benefit to Exiting Partners | Result for Color Up |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront Full Cash Payout |
They rejected every structured buyout term offered by Shauna, and the Fractional CFO we hired to support us. They demanded the full value of the deal in cash on the day the sale ended. This was pure greed for immediate personal gain. |
Demand for upfront cash meant every other imposed action (sale, name change) had to be maximized, crippling remaining cash flow and ensuring no liquidity to rebuild. |
| Forced Warehouse Blowout Sale (50-70% Off) |
To liquidate all existing inventory at once, instantly converting physical stock into a massive cash payout that went into their pockets immediately. |
Sale severed partner trust by undercutting retail pricing, wiped out all ingredients, packaging, labels, and brand assets, leaving no stock to relaunch. |
| Mandatory "Trade Name" Under Color Up |
Fuel customer fear-buying – "Color Up must be closing!" – with payout going directly into their pockets. Name change simultaneously stripped 8 years of brand equity by making us invisible online. |
VXN shift led to SEO Collapse. Instantly lost Google Profile, 96 reviews, and critical search visibility. Left fighting to establish new identity with no foundation, even though we just paid a hefty price for it. |
| Contractual Silence |
Prohibiting explanation of chaos to customers until final day of sale, making it impossible to communicate what was happening, pushing the fear-driven purchases up. |
Directly caused customer alienation, email deliverability issues, and massive loss of digital trust still being fought to reverse. |
We are the same licensed entity (Same EIN, Same Licensing, Same Formulations) that has operated continuously since February 12, 2015 (CO State ID 20151102898).
We are providing this timeline to clearly demonstrate that the licensed entity you trust, has operated continuously under the ownership of our team since 2015.
Our Decade of Resilience: The Full Timeline
For those of you who are new to our Ecosystem, or just want to learn more about our small business, here is a full timeline of important events.
These highlights are a testament to the grit, love, passion, and community that have carried us through regulatory shifts, banking crises, a global pandemic, four location moves, and a complete ownership transition. Fighting for autonomy over our own wellness journey's, and yours, has required us to adapt to challenges, and to use these regulatory hurdles and ownership changes as blueprints for future growth.
The Golden Years: 2015–2022
Color Up's birth from personal mission to become a leader in science-first, cannabinoid-infused professional care.
| Date | Milestone | Our Why and How |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2015 |
Founding Color Up Therapeutics
Kali's cancer treatment story inspired the creation of Color Up Therapeutics.
|
Our mission began after co-founder Shauna’s dog, Kali, was diagnosed with cancer. Homemade cannabis and hemp formulas extended Kali’s life by over a year. We launched with a modest, unlicensed basement lab focusing on science-first formulations, starting with pet products. |
| 2016 |
Launching First Products & Education
Started in a basement lab with grassroots education initiatives.
|
We launched pet care products (in Kali's honor) and quickly expanded into body care for use in local massage school, School of Botanical and Medical Aesthetics where Shauna was attending school, and officially starting our professional practitioner network and began crafting our professional skincare line. We developed our initial product lines and solidified the B2B, professional education model that defines our brand. |
| 2017 |
First Licensed Lab & Wellness Center
Opened physical location and Launched 7-step European facial protocol.
|
We opened our first physical location in Denver, The Yoga Grow, sharing space with a yoga studio and plant shop owned by our friends. We built our first licensed manufacturing lab, a retail space, and launched a full professional skincare line, including a signature 7-step European facial protocol. |
| 2018 |
Regulatory-Driven Rebrand to Color Up
Our name was simplified from Color Up Therapeutics to Color Up.
|
Due to increasing federal regulatory pressure concerning medical claims, we streamlined the identity by removing "Therapeutics" and becoming simply Color Up. This change was essential to position the brand for national professional adoption. We launched our retail "Life" line, expanding into new markets and added SKU's to our Pro skincare line. |
| 2019 |
National Credibility
Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa launch, Oncology Spa Solutions partnership, Aveda/Paul Mitchell placements.
|
We began partnering with Becky, owner and operator of Oncology Spa Solutions, having our products inspected for harmful ingredients and tested on clients in hospital settings. We launched at the prestigious Red Door Fifth Ave Spa and secured placements with Caesars and Harrah's Casino's, validating our position in clinical-luxury wellness. Weeks later, the pandemic hit. |
| Jan 2020 |
Immediate Pivot
Demonstrated resilience and flexibility by supporting our account partners, ensuring business continuity during the toughest operational period.
|
We avoided layoffs, shifting rapidly to drop shipping, online education, community spa parties, and consulting services to support our account partners through the shutdown. Our whole team showed up, every day with our differences aside, and we kept our businesses going. Our landlord-family offered us support, and we in turn offered that support to the women-owned businesses operating out of our wellness center. |
| Late 2020 |
Relocation & Rebuild
Larger facility, 30-day lab rebuild, Nurture Wellcare Marketplace.
|
Despite the pandemic, we moved our entire wellness center and lab into a new location provided by our landlord-family, building a lab twice the size of the previous one. We also opened a second retail space at the Nurture Wellcare Marketplace. |
| 2021 |
The Financial Drag & Bankruptcy Shock
Trade show losses, 26-location spa bankruptcy, inflation pressures.
|
The aftermath of 2020 proved challenging. Several major trade shows canceled without refund, and a 26-location spa partner declared bankruptcy, resulting in a significant loss. This, compounded by inflation, forced us to tap into our savings, alongside tighten our operations. |
| 2022 |
Arizona Expansion
Phoenix wellness center with Archipelago Clubs extended our community model beyond Colorado
|
Seeking new community and revenue streams, we opened a retail and wellness center location in Phoenix, Arizona alongside our friends and community leaders, Archipelago Clubs. With the intention of tapping into the newly legal cannabis industry and opening up more revenue streams to sustain our business, two of our co-founders temporarily relocated to establish roots. |
This period of turmoil was caused by the direct effects of 2020 and loss of belief from teammates who chose to leave.
| Date | Milestone | Our Why and How |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 |
Our New Reality
America experienced the largest rollback of women's rights in modern history.
|
We began to realize that the ecosystem we had built together had developed into a vehicle for women’s equality and autonomy. |
| Early 2023 |
The Crack in Our Foundation
To generate capital before they left, two previous co-owners forced the sale and name change that ripped the ground out from under us.
|
We were backed into a corner and had no legal way to stop the Warehouse Blowout Sale, shift to do business under a Trade Name, or the order not to tell you until the sale was complete. The devastating sale completed the buyout, and the name change led to an instant collapse of domain authority, website content loss, and the departure of more key team members. |
| Early 2024 |
We Paused to Realign
We took this time to reorganize operations, reaffirm our core values, and focus on long-term ethical sustainability.
|
After years of absorbing rising costs, battling platform restrictions (Square/PayPal disruptions), and facing an unbalanced regulatory system, our pricing no longer covered costs. We took an intentional strategic pause rather than compromising quality or ethics. |
| Mid 2024 |
We Lost Key Team Members
Consolidated operations and refined our focus, transitioning from a space-heavy community model to a lab-first, manufacturing-precision model.
|
The cumulative strain from the buyout, visibility collapse, and the strategic pause led to the attrition of more team members, including customer support and design. We began the slow, emotional process of closing our large, 6,500 sq ft wellness center, rebranding our focus on our independent, licensed Hemp lab. |
| Late 2024 |
Launching VXN LUX on Amazon
Seeking channel diversification, we started a new business and launched a non-CBD line on Amazon called VXN LUX.
|
Seeking non-CBD revenue diversification, we successfully relaunched a non-CBD line, VXN LUX, on Amazon (following an earlier 2023 deactivation due to the association with our Color Up brand). However, our formulator departed before the launch, removing the product’s core champion, and we voluntarily pulled the line to focus back on our professional CBD skincare line. |
| Early 2025 |
Full Shift to Family
Our founder, Shauna, was joined in ownership by two women, Marrana and Amber, who have been with Color Up since shortly after inception.
|
Each of our mother's now own a small percentage to honor the extent they each went to support us through the last few year. We represent a multi-generational, women-led collective. Now, we all work for Color Up in one way or another, and our motto of Made With Love has never rung so true. |
| Mid 2025 |
Partnering with Faire
We were invited to Faire's inaugural CBD wholesale cohort as one of the first CBD companies on their platform.
|
We began stabilizing revenue by leveraging our manufacturing strengths and utilizing a platform aligned with the compliance needs of small, women-owned cannabis wellness brands. |
| Late 2025 |
Home is Where the Heart Is
We are strategically pivoting all of our Color Up CBD products back to the Color Up name and branding.
|
Restoring the original identity is crucial to reclaim a decade of brand equity, professional trust, and critical search engine (SEO) authority that was lost during the transition. This is not going backward; it is coming home to our most trusted brand equity. |
By the Numbers: Our Community Impact
Measuring success through professionals and communities empowered.