After a month-long honeymoon hiatus from social media, beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira has finally addressed claims that her wedding was sponsored.
In a series of TikTok videos posted on 1 August, the influencer got ready on camera while responding to all the questions and rumours that have been circulating since her big day on 1 July. The 24-year-old Boston-based TikToker tied the knot with long-time boyfriend Cody Hawken in Newport, Rhode Island, in front of 175 people, including celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic and hair guru Chris Appleton. Other familiar TikTok celebrities in attendance included Dylan Mulvaney, Chris Olsen, and James Charles.
While the day was meant to be a celebration of Nogueira and Hawken’s lasting love, the makeup mogul’s at-home audience was quick to judge, with many suggesting her wedding looked to be more of a brand trip.
On 27 June, Nogueira announced the launch of a new collaboration with e.l.f. cosmetics to honour her impending nuptials. She and the popular drugstore makeup company released a lip kit called “e.l.f. x Mikayla Marriage Material Lip Duo,” which Nogueira planned to use for her wedding look. Although a lot of fans praised the product, others felt the timing was disingenuous and a ploy to sell more at the big event.
Speaking to her followers on 1 August, Nogueira revealed that she had woken up the day after her wedding to a flood of text messages encouraging her to stay off TikTok due to the backlash surrounding her nuptials. Although she still has not read any of the negative content, she said she has heard the claims from others close to her.
“I haven’t seen a single video about my wedding, or any news, or anything, but I have been told what has been said,” she proclaimed. “So, I’m going to answer some of these questions... The biggest question: ‘Was my wedding sponsored?’”
The content creator giggled in disbelief at the fact she even had to respond to such a claim. “No, my wedding wasn’t sponsored, none of it,” Nogueira said.
She then explained how she and her wedding planner had the idea to combine a kissing booth with her e.l.f. products to distribute as party favours that guests could take home with them. However, she made it clear that her wedding was not sponsored by the brand, adding that she’d paid for everything herself and asked the makeup company if she could use their logo on the booth.
“I don’t think you understand how much it means to me that I got to work with e.l.f., so of course I wanted to include them in my big day,” she added.
Additionally, Nogueira also addressed rumours that she uninvited close friends to her wedding so she could make room for more influencers. In a now-erased Reddit post, allegedly written by a friend of 10 years, they’d indicated that they had not received an invitation to the wedding after getting a save-the-date from the influencer.
“My wedding was 175 people. Ten per cent of that was influencers. The only reason why it seemed like it was all influencers was because the only people posting on TikTok are influencers,” the popular influencer noted. “And if you’re wondering about the friend that I chose not to invite, they’re not my friend and I’m sure you can see why.”
“Influencers are just people, dude. These are my coworkers I’ve been getting to know and befriended over the last three years. I see them all the time at events. We talk everyday. I’ve gotten close to a lot of influencers, so of course I wanted to have them at my wedding,” she remarked. “Influencers at my wedding weren’t influencers. They were just my friends.”
After responding to the most controversial claims made about her wedding, Nogueira opened up about how the negative rumours made her feel.
“It was really disheartening that so many people had so much to say about my wedding before I could even say anything,” she said. “I understand if you don’t like me, I get it. But it’s my wedding day. I only have this day once in my life, and to see so many people try to destroy it was just really sad. The way society is, we pray for people’s downfalls, and that’s really sad.”
Upon her return to TikTok, Nogueira was then forced to post a follow-up video acknowledging a different narrative, about her taking diabetes medication Ozempic. A commenter wrote on her previous post and said: “My guess is you’re on Ozempic? But won’t disclose that. You know when you stop taking it, you gain it all back.”
In response to the claim, the beauty fan was taken aback, with Nogueira telling viewers: “This is like such a thing, dude, on TikTok. Anybody makes a video: ‘You’re on Ozempic.’ My video has nothing to do about my weight, my body, nothing. I literally can’t. It’s everywhere, bro. It’s all I see.
She continued: “No, I’m not on Ozempic. I’ve never been on that and I won’t ever go on it.”
The Independent has contacted Nogueira for a comment.
