"Exercising with makeup on" is mocked, but girls deserve the choice of "having it all" | Marketing Observation

Text | He Zhexin

Editor | Qiao Qian

Social media has amplified our anxiety about appearance. Content related to appearance improvement usually gets a lot of likes, except in one scenario: sports.

The freedom to decide whether to wear makeup ends here. Adventurous women often receive concerns like "Won't you sweat? Won't your makeup run?" Taunts are even more common, as if a woman wearing full makeup and form - fitting clothes isn't there for a serious workout but has other motives. Even Wu Yanni, the top - ranked track and field athlete in Asia, faced huge criticism for her delicate makeup during competitions, despite her achievements proving that makeup has no necessary conflict with athletic performance.

"Sports has always been a male - dominated field until the emergence of female athletes changed everything," Minx, the founder of a sports - beauty brand focusing on the Xiaohongshu platform, told 36Kr. "More women have brought in a new trend, that's all."

The 2024 Paris Olympics was the culmination of this trend. In this Olympics, hailed as the "most fashionable" one, the eyeliner of female athletes was as eye - catching as the numbers on the scoreboard. Behind them are often one or two beauty giants. Even though they can't print their logos on team uniforms like traditional sponsors, brands are still willing to invest because women, whether as spectators or participants, are experiencing unprecedented growth in the sports field.

New Audience

In April this year, the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship attracted 24 million viewers on ESPN and ABC, setting a viewing record for basketball events since 2019. Similarly, the National Women's Soccer League in the United States also had a record - breaking 2 million viewers in 2024. These numbers not only mark the rising influence of women's sports events but also reveal a trend: Women are reshaping the landscape of sports consumption.

In China, this change is also significant. According to Tencent Sports' "2022 Survey Report on Chinese Sports Viewers", the proportion of female viewers in traditional male - dominated sports like football and basketball has reached 42%, a 15% increase from 2018. In sports like volleyball and badminton, the proportion of female viewers even exceeds 60%. They are not only spectators but also topic - makers. During the women's basketball group stage of the Paris Olympics, commentator Yang Yi's question "Have you ever worn makeup while playing basketball?" instantly went viral on social media, with the related topic getting over 100 million views and 48,000 discussions.

Beyond the numbers, traces of the increasing number of female viewers can also be easily found in popular social media topics. Male viewers are more concerned about statistics and wins and losses, while female viewers are often more interested in athletes' personalities, team interactions, and even dressing styles. Take table tennis for example. On social media, discussions about the "chemistry" and "CP feeling" between players are as popular as the games themselves. This kind of delicate emotional resonance is exactly what female viewers are good at.

When female viewers and athletes rewrite the rules together, it's logical for beauty brands to join in. Sponsorship is the most effective and quickest way to monetize. Among top - tier domestic athletes, Gu Ailing, Sun Yingsha, and Zheng Qinwen each have their own beauty brand endorsements. In the overseas market, Glossier, ELF Beauty, Rihanna's Fenty Beauty, and retailer Sephora have not only locked in female athlete endorsements but are also actively looking for sports teams and even college sports teams as long - term sponsorship partners, rather than just treating them as short - term traffic tools.

Compiled from public information

From a business perspective, the reason for choosing female athletes is that the traditional marketing methods in the beauty industry (such as celebrity and influencer endorsements) have reached the peak of their effectiveness, and brands urgently need to find new growth points.

"Cosmetic companies must respond to trends as quickly as possible. Compared with fashion brands, the beauty industry requires more speed in competition," said Pauline Brown, who once worked in Estée Lauder's strategy department and now has her own brand. This also explains why beauty brands are more tolerant of the "rebellious" behavior of their endorsers. Even though female athletes face a more critical public opinion environment than male athletes, brands are still willing to bet on their influence.

Endorsement is just the first step. In the long run, the bigger blue ocean lies in how to make "wearing makeup while exercising" truly accepted by the public and thus cultivate new consumption habits. Currently, when searching for "sports beauty" or "sports makeup" on domestic e - commerce platforms, the results are still mainly regular waterproof and sweat - proof products, and the segmented product categories specifically for sports scenarios have not yet taken shape.

New Consumer Group

On Xiaohongshu, there are more than 160,000 notes on the topic of "sports beauty". Many sports bloggers are recommending the cosmetics they use during exercise, and there are also many netizens joining the discussion. According to our observation, the discussion about sports beauty has also heated up with the arrival of summer.

In a random interview by 36Kr, the most frequently mentioned reasonable scenarios for wearing makeup while exercising are as follows: working late and being too lazy or inconvenient to remove makeup but still wanting to do some light aerobic exercise; taking group classes like yoga and Pilates where photos are taken, and makeup makes one look better. Many interviewees told us that they sometimes specifically wear makeup to the gym just because it makes them more confident - "There are mirrors everywhere in the gym, and there are handsome guys and beautiful girls."

In terms of product use, sports enthusiasts usually have a lower requirement for product coverage but a higher requirement for product fit, long - lasting effect, and breathability. In terms of makeup results, they hope to have a good complexion rather than just covering flaws. In other words, they value highlighting advantages more than hiding disadvantages.

Therefore, beauty products suitable for sports not only need to make breakthroughs in practicality but also need to fit the lifestyle of sports enthusiasts from a marketing perspective: the pursuit of natural health far exceeds the pursuit of a flawless makeup look.

Another easily overlooked point is price positioning. After going through a brand name change and the departure of its founder, the current team of the once - popular sports beauty brand Sweat Beauty, which was once available at Sephora, admitted in an interview that positioning the brand in the mid - to high - end market was a mistake. "Our customer group consists of energetic girls who don't like a lot of makeup products. They pursue speed, convenience, and multi - purpose products and are not willing to spend too much money and time."

Thus, a portrait of the sports beauty consumer group emerges: Urban sporty women pursuing 'efficient beauty' - they want both the pleasure of sweating during exercise and the right amount of refinement; they want products that can withstand high - intensity exercise but reject complicated makeup procedures; they value both the functional performance of products and the use of healthy and safe ingredients.

Smaller brands are responding actively. Last month, Judydoll launched its first sub - brand, Judydoll Orange Label, positioning it as "high - performance makeup" and focusing on makeup problems such as sun exposure, makeup smudging, and skin stuffiness in outdoor and sports scenarios. Its slogan is "The more you sweat, the more beautiful you are." In addition to multi - purpose powder compacts that highlight portability and small - sized foundations, blushes and eyeshadows are also in liquid form to highlight the "zero - burden" feature of the products.

The core of this sports beauty revolution is not just women's challenge to the traditional concept of "what one should look like during exercise". Instead, as more women incorporate exercise into their daily lives, beauty brands need to rethink how to provide smarter solutions for this new lifestyle.