6 Hours At Breakaway Beach: Miami Art Week

Katherine Diermissen, NYLON’s social media assistant, shares a behind-the-scenes look at Breakaway Beach: Miami Art Week for the latest installment of their traveling EDM festival series. In this as-told-to below, she shares a diary of her first-ever Breakaway experienceheld on the beach in front of the Cadillac Hotel — plus, her thoughts on e.l.f. Cosmetics’ activation, Zedd’s headlining set, and the VIP section.

Going to Miami for Art Basel and getting to call it a “work trip” is definitely one of the best parts of my job. I work on NYLON’s social team, so I am somewhat used to these types of perks. Still, this was my first time at Art Basel, and my friends were freaking out for me. When I posted that I was in Miami for work on my Instagram Story, they all slid up to tell me, “You have the best job ever.”

This trip was my first time going to Miami for Art Basel — plus, on my last night in town, I got to attend my first-ever Breakaway Fest. Here’s a full diary of my night at Breakaway Beach: Miami Art Week

6:45 p.m.: Heading into the event was a bit of a rush. I spent most of my day at the beach, so I had to get ready in record time to get into the event before things got too crazy. I ended up having 15 minutes to turn it around, but still managed to squeeze in a post-beach shower, finish my makeup, and choose an outfit before grabbing my wristband for the night. (It definitely helped that the venue was a 3-minute walk from my hotel.)

Going in, I knew it was going to be wild. The lineup was stacked with performances by Zedd, Chris Lorenzo, Daniel Allan, Kaleena Zanders, Night Tales, and Benjamin Lloyd. Plus, there were so many pop-ups and photo opps to check out.

7:00 p.m.: After catching sunset at the beach, I arrived at Breakaway Beach just in time to catch Benjamin Lloyd’s set. While he was playing, I made sure to stop at the e.l.f Cosmetics’ activation before the event filled up too much.

The e.l.f. Cosmetics’ Lippie Land was definitely a highlight — they had a bedazzling station with mirrors and a bunch of their lip products. (I bedazzled a mirror.) Guests were able to choose two lip products to take home, so I ended up grabbing one Glow Reviver Slipstick and one Glow Reviver Melting Lip Balm, which are so fantastic. They were also giving out little sour gummies — and I’m always a fan of those.

7:55 p.m.: Kaleena Zanders was the second set of the night — she was a surprise favorite for me only because I was unfamiliar with her music ahead of time. She played a lot of throwback songs, like Paramore. Obsessed. I loved the pop punk vibe.

During her set, I checked out the Happy Dad activation, which was right next to Lippie Land. Their peach tea is great. They had a beer pong table — I did not play, but I saw some people getting really, really into it. They also had cornhole set up, which I played with one of my co-workers. (We ended up tying.)

8:45 p.m.: Later, when Daniel Allan went on, I checked out this Surfside van that had a photo booth inside, so I had a little solo photo shoot in there, which turned out so cute.

A few hours in, the crowd had grown a lot — plus everyone was getting more into the music.

9:45 p.m.: Eventually, I ended up escaping the crowds to head up to the VIP section that was a little bit raised. I loved it up there — and I made it just in time for Chris Lorenzo’s set. VIP had bottle service, so what’s not to love? Plus, the signs were cracking me up. I saw “Art Basel Baddies” and “Congrats on your new hair, Henry” — just really funny stuff.

10:45 p.m.: Zedd was one of the last acts of the night — and of course, the crowd went absolutely crazy for him. I hadn’t listened to him in a while, so I was nervous that I wouldn’t know any of the songs, but he played a lot of his hits. I loved loved loved “Break Free.”

I stayed through Zedd's entire set, which was incredible. And surprisingly, I didn’t run out of phone battery, even though I recorded 90% of his performance.

1:00 a.m.: My coworkers and I waited to leave until after Zedd wrapped, just to give the crowd time to clear out. But it ended up being for the best because we got to see some of Night Tales’ set, too.

When we did finally leave, I headed right to the hotel bar to see if they were still serving food, but the kitchen was closed. It was a little after 1 a.m., so I was getting ready to order from the only fast food places that were still open, Cane's and Burger King, but I decided that I didn’t want to wait for delivery since my flight was at 7 a.m. Instead, I ended up eating the e.l.f. gummies for dinner — and honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing.

This as-told-to has been edited for clarity and length.