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/ August 24, 2014

NYX Cosmetics Face Awards 2014: The Whole Shebang!

What do you do when your friend texts you and asks if you want to go to the NYX Cosmetics Face Awards with her?  You say YES and start planning your makeup.

My friend Lindsay, of www.BlushinginHollywood.com, won tickets to the sold out event at the Nokia theater in downtown L.A. for the 2014 show.  From what I can see from the 2012 and 2013 events, it looks like NYX went waaaay bigger this year with the awards as the Nokia theater had two floors and tons of space.

1:30pm – Makeup.  I did a cat eye, big lashes, light contour, and red lip.  I probably should have washed my hair, but I was lazy and just dry shampooed it.  It was slightly wavy from me curling the day before.  I clipped in two wider pieces of hair extensions for fullness, because what’s an awards show if I don’t have some weave to toss over my shoulder?

3pm –  I started my NYX face awards experience by taking the subway downtown to the Nokia theater.  I’d been wanting to try taking the subway in L.A. more, but trying new things is slightly terrifying, right?  Who are we as humans, though, if we don’t force ourselves to grow?  Ok, at any rate…subway.  I walked 4 blocks from the subway to Nokia, arriving at 3:30pm (doors opened at 5, but entrance wasn’t guaranteed) and the line on the street was already wrapped around the building.  Lindsay met me about a half hour later and the line had stretched another block.

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5:15 –  We got our tickets and wristbands and went upstairs.  There were cameras everywhere recording entrances and the activities for people to watch via the NYX livestream.  You could take photos on the pink carpet in front of the step-and-repeat featuring all the sponsors of the event.  The sponsors were NYX but I’m guessing you knew that, haha, Target, Sexy Hair, GHD, Proactiv, Maker, and Lulus.  The photos I took on the pink carpet only proved to me that I need to work on my red carpet poses a little bit more.

5:30 – Lindsay and I reserved seats for the show, then headed back downstairs for the pre-show activities.  We didn’t expect anything between seating and the show, so I was completely surprised by how much the event planners had set up for the guests.  I just thought we’d get in and maybe grab a drink and wait for the show to start.  Oh, Molly.  You dear thing, so sweet and simple.  *This is when my heart started racing.*

-ghd (short for Good Hair Day) had set up two demo stations where stylists used their newest flat iron, the Eclipse, to do touch ups on the guests.  I was one of the first people there so I didn’t have to wait for a spot, which is already winning.  My stylist, Erica, who had the best bangs in the biz, smoothed out my hair and added a few waves to pieces that had fallen flat.  I was glad I hadn’t really done my hair, because she made it look way better, but I also wished I had washed it that day so I didn’t feel like a gross human.  I had been wanting to try the ghd irons for awhile (I’ve had my current flat iron for 13 years.  Yep, you read that right.)  I was so excited to get to demo the iron.  It made my hair so crazy smooth, I couldn’t stop touching it.  I guess they’ve made some improvements in flat iron technology in the past 13 years.  Who knew?  I was so excited getting my hair done, that I don’t think I used full sentences.  Just words came out.  Jumbles of words.  I needed to take a deep breath, but it wasn’t gonna happen.  I felt like a 7-yr-old at a birthday party that Batman AND Spiderman came to and we were about to play parachute games then have cake WITH ice cream.  I could not calm down.  Poor Erica, but she was very sweet and my hair looked amazing.  Both stylists were very talented, sweet (esp considering they did probably 150 touch ups in 2 hours!) and very very knowledgeable about the brand.  Oh, you didn’t think I asked ten million questions about the flat iron?  I did.  I asked 10 million and still asked for a brochure and read the brochure cover to cover.  Twice.  Dork for life right here.  A+ student all the way.

At the GHD station!
At the GHD station!

– NYX also had two stations set up for makeup touch ups, but baby girl had brought some A Game makeup realness to the awards, so I didn’t want to change anything and went over to the vending machine giving out free NYX makeup.

–  Oh yeah, THE MAKEUP.  NYX had a vending machine that gave you free makeup when you tweeted at it.  A computer in front of the machine gave you a special code to tweet, then makeup rolled out at you.  I almost passed out.  Even my wildest dreams hadn’t gone that big.  And I’ve had many dreams about Vegas buffets featuring several different types of pizzas.  I got a double sided eyeliner and happily skipped my booty over the the Lulus line.  Lindsay went to check out the ghd station, because I made her, and also she loved my hair.  She got one of the NYX grinder blushes from the machine, in the perfect peachy pink shade for her.

– At this point, there were lines for all the stations, because everyone had gotten in to the venue.  But I honestly think this was one of the smoothest run events I’ve ever been to, because it never felt like you were waiting that long for anything.  The event planners had set up flatscreen TVs everywhere, so you could watch the livestream while you were waiting in line, staring at your double sided liner, touching your flat ironed hair.  In all seriousness though, there were so many people at the event and the event planners did such an amazing job.  It ran so smoothly.  I’ve worked in event planning before and this is no small feat.  They did an incredible job, huge kudos to them.

– Lulus was running a “spin-the-wheel” prize station.  You could win a Lulus clothing item (they had racks set up), a Lulus accessory, or NYX makeup.  I won an accessory and got a green clutch I’d been looking at on the Lulu’s website.  Lindsay won more makeup, and ended up getting one of her favorite eye pencils.  At this point, I was so excited and having so much fun, I felt like I could crush a brick in my hands.  I needed to Calm. Down.

– What’s the best way to calm down?  Photos.  Because let’s be real, it takes about 15 thousand tries to get that. perfect. pic.  So Lindsay and I headed over to the ghd Instagram booth and started snapping.  With my feet sufficiently planted back on planet earth and the booth attendant about ready to murder us, Lindsay and I decided our last pic was The Perfect One! and went back to our seats.

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–  In this entire 1 and a half, all of the guests were super sweet.  There were a billion people there, and everyone who I bumped into or who bumped into me apologized immediately and were so sweet.  Such a good vibe.  It was such a good reminder of why I love the beauty community so much.  People were taking pics and talking and when we got back to our seats, everyone was ready for the show to start.

– There was a VIP area for makeup artists and bloggers as well, to talk and meet before the show started, pretty sure my invite just went to my spam folder, haha, which is fine because I got the green clutch I wanted.

7pm – The show begins!  NYX did a cute behind-the-scenes style intro, then brought out the judges.

7:15 – Each of the contestants were introduced via video first, then they came out and did a live introduction, then their makeup transformation video rolled.  The judging was based on the video, whereas last year there was a live makeup demo application.  Lindsay made a great point, that doing the videos was so smart because it followed a traditional YouTube format, which was perfect for NYX’s target audience.  The transformations were amazing.  I gasped twice.  I love makeup.  I love seeing what makeup can do.  I love watching other people’s artistry with makeup.  It was amazing.

7:45 – After the last of the transformation videos (Alex Faction, holy moley amazing), voting was open online to pick a winner.  A huge dance crew came out and did a 12 minute dance that blew my mind.  Just go watch it on NYX’s youtube because I can not even describe how amazing it was to watch 20+ people dance in sync and Lindsay and I had the best seats above the stage to watch.

8pm – The contestant Cook1emonster won (who has 400,000 YouTube subscribers) and was a really adorable winner.  She is only 16.  I know this is going to make me sound old (I’m only 33, which still feels young to me!), but it’s crazy to see how smartphones and Instagram and YouTube have changed the world so much since I was 16.  There just weren’t even opportunities to do makeup and connect to people in that way, and I wasn’t 16 that long ago.  400,000 subscribers?  I think I knew maybe 250 people when I was 16, and that’s only because I was Irish Catholic.

We headed out and were given NYX gift bags at the exit.  Seriously, this event was beyond generous.  The gift bags included another eyeliner, the nude-on-nude eyeshadow kit, and more SWAG.  The timing was perfect, because I’ve been putting together a “Favorites of NYX” makeup post.  So now I’ll have more products to try and hopefully add to that list.

Lindsay and I had such an amazing time.  What a fun and high-energy event to be a part of.  Does saying “high-energy” make me sound old?  It’s what the kids are saying these days!  I think.  At any rate, we had a great time and I loved every single second of it.  NYX hosted an incredible event.

Thank you for reading!  Follow @girlgetglamorous and my friend Lindsay @blushinginhollywood for daily beauty pics!

Go Get Glam!

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XO,

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