Last night's Welcome Reception for North American visitors to Goldwell's Color Zoom event in Paris was phenomenal. Really, beyond all expectations, stunning. The venue chosen for the get-together party was Pavillion Ledoyen at Champs-Lysee Garden--it was beautiful and quintessentially French.

Goldwell Color Zoom: First Night Fun!

It took three bus-loads to get just the North American group to the venue--there are nearly 400 Goldwell guests here from North America (the venue for tomorrow's Awards Ceremony is going to hold all 2,000 of us!) and we all wined, dined and enjoyed the delicious (sometimes!) French treats offered to us. My favorite French appetizer I tried was a delicious cheese of some sort wrapped in a crusty, flaky pastry. Amazing! Check out this strange, moist foam ball I wasn't brave enough to taste:

Goldwell Color Zoom: First Night Fun!

We again congratulated the six North American finalists (three from U.S., three from Canada)--who all happen to be women!!--and recognized Goldwell's top-selling salons. Then, we heard from Mario Argenti, President and CEO, who thanked all the guests for their long travels in support of this incredible competition that honors "the people who make people beautiful."

Goldwell Color Zoom: First Night Fun!

Then, I bumped into NAHA-winning, international platform artist John Simpson who is just about one of the sweetest people ever. So happy to see him here in Paris! One of these days I'm going to have to ambush him into doing my hair!



Following the Welcome Reception, I headed off to dinner with Dimitrios Tsioumas, who you may remember won the NAHA Texture award in 2010 (that Editor Laurel Nelson and I presented!), Goldwell's Paige Fadden and Dina Elliot and a great group of people I've met on the trip. We went to this amazing restaurant and ate outside. I, of course, snagged a seat next to Dimitrios--anxious to talk about our photo shoot on Wednesday. We had some delicious food and laughed ALL night long!!! Including about this dessert, which, for some reason, we thought was hilarious:

Goldwell Color Zoom: First Night Fun!

That's all for now! I can't wait to see what today brings--I get to head over to the competition for a bit!! Then, there's the Titanium Dinner at Alcazar and then to the Color Zoom Welcome Party at Pavillion Baltard. Exciting!


For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.