After being forced to move to a digital format last year due to the pandemic, the Beauty Envision Awards returned as a live event this year, with an award ceremony like no other held on Sunday, August 15th at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Presented by Wella Company, the show brought together its portfolio of iconic brands — including Wella Professionals, Sebastian Professional, Nioxin, Kadus Professional, Clairol Professional, and OPI — for the ultimate competition of creativity for salon pros.
For this year’s ceremony, 33 talented hairstylists and nail artists from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada were narrowed down from over 3,600 entries to compete live on stage, across 13 diverse categories. The finalists were tasked with creating entries inspired around the theme of “Chrysalis,” which symbolizes a transitional stage of growth. And aside from their allotted prep time the day before, all the artists had just two hours ahead of Sunday’s show to complete their final looks. The prizes at stake? Well, aside from being recognized as a top industry artist, the winners got to take home a $5,000 Visa gift card and free products from ProfessionalStore.com (with the exception of the Salon Team category and Elite Artist winner who received a $1,000 Visa gift card!).
“This year’s competition received the second highest number of entries from the last 10 years,” said Wella Company CEO Annie Young-Scrivner. “These artists are proof that this industry is unstoppable and we’re so happy to be back educating and inspiring beauty professionals live in Las Vegas.”
The whirlwind weekend kicked off on Friday, August 13th with a welcome cocktail party at the Aria hotel that provided finalists, competition judges, media and other industry pros an opportunity to mix, mingle, and reconnect after such an unprecedented year.
The following day, while BEA finalists were in the midst of preparing and practicing their looks ahead for the competition, the media (like myself!) had the opportunity to connect with the BEA judges including, Painted Hair founder and Wella Professional Brand Ambassador Patricia Nikole, Industry Activist and Founder of Texture vs. Race and Kolour Kulture Keya Neal, Craft Hairdresser and Hairbrained Co-founder Gerard Scarpaci, “Queen of Bling” and OPI Artistic Ambassador Jenny Bui, and Wella Professional Global Creative Artist Sonya Dove.
“All of the categories are really going to pull out the best in everybody. They really are!” said Neal, ahead of the show. “And, I’ve been watching them work and they are really doing it — they’re digging deep. They are being challenged to stick to a theme and use it as inspiration and their interpretation of it. So, it’s going to be interesting.”
Cut to the night of the show and there was so much excitement in the air. After a brief cocktail hour, the show kicked off with an exhilarating opening performance featuring acrobatics, dance, and multimedia that perfectly captured the idea of “breaking out of your chrysalis” and “rising like a phoenix from the ashes” amid all of the chaos of the past year. Aside from the stellar performance, the show also featured incredible presentations from the Wella Professional Ambassador team, which included Briana Cisneros, Zach Mesquit, and Dereq Clark as well as the #TogetherWeRise Team which included Omar Antonio, Johannie Jacquitte, and Anthony Cress.
If you’re curious who took home the top awards in each category, below find the complete list of the 2021 winners from the Beauty Envision Awards.
US & PR “TrendVision Color Artist” (Sponsored by Wella Professionals)
Emma Hancock, @masterpiecehair
Entry:
Canadian “TrendVision Color Artist” (Sponsored by Wella Professionals)
Regan Wasson, @reganthehairkitten
Entry:
US & PR “TrendVision Creative Artist” (Sponsored by Wella Professionals)
Akela Douglass, @akelahairstudio
Entry:
Canadian “TrendVision Creative Artist” (Sponsored by Wella Professionals)
Olivia Chafe, @oliviachafeukiyosalon
Entry:
“Editorial Artist” (Sponsored by Sebastian Professional)
Aisha Al-Hasan, @aishalhasan_hair
Entry:
“Barber Artist” (Sponsored by SebMan)
Shelwin Jafet Rodriguez, @shelwinjafet
Entry:
“Total Transformation” (Sponsored by Kadus Professional)
John Nguyen, @john.n115
Entry:
“Bridal Hair Artist” (Sponsored by NIOXIN)
Sara Lopez, @svglamour
Entry:
“Nail Artist” (Sponsored by OPI)
Amy Hwang, @aymehnails
Entry:
“Natural Texture Artist” (Sponsored by Clairol Professional)
Jacqualine Fermin, @jackie.maneeventhair
Entry:
“Future Star Artist” (Sponsored by WellaEducation)
Elnaz Arman, @8llena
Entry:
“Salon Team” (Sponsored by WellaEducation)
John Luis Salon, @joseluissalonboutique
Entry:
“Elite Artist” (Sponsored by WellaEducation)
Lisa Smith, @lisaminthair
Entry:
To watch the 2021 Beauty Envision Awards in its entirety, be sure to check out the livestream of the show on Wella Education’s Youtube page. And, for more information about the competition, make sure to visit www.beautyenvisionawards.com.
