In the audience with Jamie Stone from Wen (and the great beauty blog Queen of the Quarter Life Crisis)

This trip to Vegas brought home a sad truth: I’m officially old.

We beauty bloggers with Wen haircare founder Chaz Dean

I was back in my room before midnight on both nights of the Miss America 2012 press trip with Wen Haircare–and I voluntarily left our private VIP table with bottle service at Marquee nightclub after only 25 minutes and a few sips of a vodka cranberry. I just wasn’t really feeling it, you know? (And by “it,” I mean: wall-to-wall fist-pumping dudes grinding on girls wearing dresses that would have been more appropriate during a gynecological exam. Public nudity. Good times.)

The beauty gals after makeup applications and hair by Wen

At every turn, I found myself annoyed by something: the indoor smoking; the ever-prevalent “Woo!” girls; the leering packs of men; the people shrieking, “Oh my God, I’m soooo hungover!” while downing bottles of Heineken at 10 am; the $5 cups of coffee…

Banners inside the theater cheering on the contestants

Like I said; I guess I’m just old. This stuff didn’t bother me quite as much in my early 20s.

The Miss America pageant itself was a blast, however. Our group of beauty bloggers first had our hair and makeup done in the Wen beauty suite, then traipsed across Las Vegas Boulevard to Planet Hollywood, where the show was being held. We had amazing seats in the front-row of the back section, which meant the cameramen kept coming up to us. We were advised to clap and cheer for the cameras: exhibit A, below, on live TV!

We were live on TV during the Miss America telecast!

Somebody related to Miss Wisconsin (we couldn’t figure out if it was her dad, her uncle or an older brother) was seated directly behind us, and when she won, he LOST HIS MIND. It was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen. His happiness and disbelieving tears actually made me a little teary-eyed–even though I was rooting for Miss Oklahoma myself.

After the show, we had dinner at Koi and went to the VIP after-party, where we ran into Chaz Dean himself. He marveled at our Wen hair transformations and seemed particularly pleased by my hair, which was incredibly soft and full after using the Cleansing Conditioner. New fan here!

The audience at Miss America 2012 was mostly friends and family

At the end of the night, I returned to the craps tables at the Cosmopolitan, where I won again and was so excited that I practically skipped back to my room. I won’t treat you to another tacky “Making it Rain!” photo of stacked hundreds, but let’s just say that I recouped my initial layout about 20 times over. That makes five times in a row that I’ve won at craps over the past 3 years!

Thank you to Wen Haircare for an amazing press trip. Not only was it a blast, but meeting Chaz was a treat (he’s an incredibly sweet guy) and I now feel strongly that this is a haircare line I can really get behind and recommend enthusiastically. Check it out for yourself at NotShampoo.com. (And I hope you’re enjoying your new bottles of Wen, TSA agents at Las Vegas airport. Grr!)