NYX Cosmetics Announces Winner Of The 2013 FACE Awards Competition

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- NYX Cosmetics has announced Missy Lynn, face and voice behind YouTube™ channel start2finishmua, as the winner of the 2013 Fine Artistry of Cosmetic Elites (FACE) Awards.  On Saturday August 24, 2013 at Siren Studios in Hollywood, California, NYX Cosmetics hosted the Second Annual FACE Awards, a multi-national competition to find the rising beauty star of YouTube™.  At the live makeup challenge event, Lynn's talent in makeup artistry rose above the rest, earning her the title of Beauty Vlogger of The Year, as well as the prize of $25,000, consultations with pro makeup artists, a year's supply of NYX Cosmetics and the promise of a budding professional career in makeup artistry. 

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"I'm so happy, motivated and overwhelmed.  This moment is so surreal for me," said Missy Lynn, after the live event.  "I know winning this competition will take me to places I never even thought I could go – working with brands, being the face of brands, and going to red carpet events.  It was all a dream and now it has the chance to be my reality."

Missy Lynn, an active duty member of the United States Air Force, began her YouTube™ channel in 2010 to help her through a vulnerable time.  She turned to YouTube™ and her growing community of subscribers as an outlet for her feelings and passion for beauty.  She joined the NYX Cosmetics FACE Awards competition after receiving encouragement from one of her fans, the winner of last year's NYX FACE Awards, Charis Lincoln (aka CharismaStar).

Earlier this spring, nearly 1,000 online beauty gurus entered the FACE Awards.  After a series of video challenges, the YouTube™ public narrowed it down to six top finalists, who took to the FACE Awards stage to perform their final challenge at a conference attend by the Internet's most influential digital and online fashion and beauty trendsetters.

Fans, peers, beauty influencers, and industry insiders watched as the top six finalists demonstrated their artistry talents at the competition's live challenge.  A panel of VIP guest judges including NYX Cosmetics Founder and – Chairwoman Toni K., ULTA Director of Trend Development Molly Sloat, NEW BEAUTY Magazine's Editorial Video and Interactive Director Susan Yara, Celebrity Makeup Artist William Lemon, and Racked Los Angeles Editor Natalie Alcala critiqued contestants on their creativity, educational content, artistry and personality.  

"The NYX FACE Awards is such an empowering experience for the contestants," said Molly Sloat, Trend Director of ULTA Beauty.  "ULTA Beauty is thrilled to support a platform that allows young talent to express themselves creatively."

YouTube™ sensation P'Trique from The Platform and acclaimed actress and style correspondent Amy Paffrath joined forces to co-host the event, while style correspondent Justin Howard hosted the event's live stream and led a moment of silence in memory of the late beauty vlogging legend Talia Joy Castellano.

Inspired by the ever-growing and enthusiastic community of beauty vloggers on YouTube™ and across the web, NYX Cosmetics first launched the FACE Awards project in 2012 to support and give recognition to this group of rising beauty stars, rewarding them for their passion and creativity.  

"The FACE Awards has allowed us to shine a spotlight on the up-and-coming beauty vloggers, and unite the community behind a single annual event," says Toni K., NYX Founder and Chairwoman.  "We're here to support those pursuing a YouTube™ vlogging career, open doorways to a career in artistry, as well as offer a surefire way to boost audiences and get recognized by peers."  Joining NYX in their recognition of this talented group were like-minded partners including Sexy Hair, Proactiv®, ULTA Beauty, BluePrint Cleanse, Lulus.com, Sole Society, ACTIVATE drinks, popchips, NuMe and Seagram Escapes.

The 2012 NYX FACE Awards received over 240,000 votes and a total of 27 million impressions.  This year, votes and impressions are more than double last year's competition.

Log online to www.nyxfaceawards.com to see exclusive content from this year's FACE Awards competition, meet the top five finalists, and TK.

About The FACE Awards Winner: Missy Lynn, aka start2finishmua, is 23 and lives in Los Angeles, California.  She is an active duty member of the United States Air Force, and also works as a freelance makeup artist.  Missy Lynn began creating YouTube™ videos to help her through a vulnerable time, and in turn, became an inspiration for her 125,000 subscribers.  In the vintage round of the NYX Cosmetics FACE Awards, Missy recreated a Mod look from the 60's, and then showed her evil side in the Alter-Ego round with her Sumatra Villian look.  Her Galaxy Girl look in the third round helped propel her to the final 6. 

About NYX Cosmetics:
NYX Cosmetics, named after the ancient Greek goddess who ruled the night, uniquely offers a permanent collection of special-occasion makeup in addition to a solid selection of every day basics and on-trend shades.  Rich pigments and high payoff in products is what places NYX in a class of its own and distinguishes the line as a leader in the worldwide color cosmetics industry. With origins in the US, NYX is a global brand available at thousands of retailers consisting of specialty beauty and fashion stores (including ULTA Beauty, Douglas, Clicks, Sephora, Ricky's NYC, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom and PacSun), freestanding shops, and beauty supply stores around the world.

NYX Cosmetics can be found, Twitter @NYXCosmetics, and www.facebook.com/NyxCosmetics.

SOURCE NYX Cosmetics