I’m not sure if dubbing this episode as the “Sally Beauty Challenge” is 100% accurate, but Sally Beauty did play a major role this week. The designers met Tim Gunn and lead Sally Beauty stylist Gregory Patterson on the runway for all of the details!

Gregory announced that Sally Beauty would be hosting a pop-up shop in NYC, more specifically in Soho. The designers’ looks would be showcased in the window displays and the the public would cast their vote for the winning looks. The public’s vote would count for 20% of the overall results. Three teams would be put together with 3 designers each. The separate teams would each be assigned a color palette to then create a 3-piece cohesive collection. Here were the team breakdowns —

Team Red Violet — Erin, Dexter, & Cornelius

Team New Neutral — Jenni, Nathalia, & Mah-Jing

Team Hues of Blue — Rik, Laurence, & Roberi

Each team received a $600 budget for Mood and 1 day to create their collection. Naturally since this was a team challenge week, there was some workroom drama. Mah-jing initially felt left out of his group, but after Tim’s critique, they really came together. Cornelius felt left out of his group and never really jived with them as it soon became evident post runway.

The designers were off to the pop-up shop to see how the public voted. It really came down to neutral versus blue, with Team New Neutral pulling out the win. Each team member received $500 to shop for Sally Beauty products. I kind of wish the judges had not known who the public voted for, although it didn’t seem to sway their scores. The judges went with Hues of Blue as the winner, leaving Red Violet as the bottom group.

Joining this week’s judging panel was Kelly Osbourne. This was a hard runway I think to really label a “losing” group. I think Heidi said it correctly to Team Red Violet in that their looks were not all bad, but compared to the others, they did pale in comparison. I could see why new neutral won the NY public vote and it was a toss up for me between them and hues of blue. But I think if I had to choose, my winning team this week would have been New Neutral. But my favorite individual look would have been Roberi.

With New Neutral, there was such a edgy, cool, street-chic vibe with this collection — also very boho chic. These tones could have been a bore, but this group made a neutral pop. I liked the great show quality here, but also wear-ability was a huge factor.

SHOUTOUTS — Sally Beauty for all, naturally with all of the highlights put in

But as I mentioned, the judges selected Hues of Blue as the winning team. I love blue, so I did love most of what the designers did here. I really loved the plaid. Roberi was the winning designer of the group and I of course loved this decision. The sweater was intricate, very fashion-forward, but was also super practical. It worked on so many levels. And the skirt was also top notch.

SHOUTOUTS — More lovely highlights from Sally Beauty, but I also loved the beauty look here from Mary Kay

Laurence’s look was also pretty great, especially the blazer. The pants were also nice as well, some stunning details as you looked closer. I was not as in love with Rik’s look as the judges were. I thought the dress was a little plain, a little basic. I recall Tim saying some of the pieces were a little simplistic and that was my thought with Rik’s dress. The plaid coat was okay, but it read a little thin to me. I didn’t look at it and think it would provide warmth compared to that say of Nathalia’s jacket.

So of course, Team Red Violet was the bottom group, meaning Dexter, Erin, or Cornelius would go. Firstly, I would put out there that all 3 groups were made up of 2 friends. Any of these groups being in the bottom, I feel as if one designer due to friendship would have been the one picked to be eliminated, such as Erin and Dexter did with Cornelius. I don’t think I would have called them “Mean Girls” because we all knew they were friends and would leave Cornelius out in the cold. None of this being right of course, but was fairly predictable from the get-go.

It did seem as if at first, Cornelius was not being listened to. I thought we were seeing a change here, but the one area that was not truly listened too was regarding the “too much read” comment. This was the biggest problem in my eyes for this group. The other groups had some breaks in the color. And with red being so bold, so bright, you would think a plan would have been executed on this. And then to further exacerbate the issue, the styling was also too red. For more on the direction of the collection, this did put Dexter in jeopardy. His look was also not that great. I felt a little underwhelmed. And when looking at all that Cornelius did, some at the direction of Erin it appeared, I think that is what made his look suffer.

The judges were right to point out that Erin should have thought a bit more about her team here. She executed an excellent coat, but why would she not do more. I’m not sure of the episode slant in how it was portrayed that Erin & Dexter were goofing off quite a bit, but my thought is that if they weren’t talking and playing around, their wouldn’t have been enough footage to show on the matter. Cornelius did really get the raw end of the deal here, doing all of the work and then ultimately being sent home. Tim Gunn was right in that regard to save him as this was result was not the fairest of all. I was still a little upset Tim didn’t use the save a few weeks back, but Tim’s use here was the right thing.

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