If you want proof that beauty now sits at the center of culture, look no further than the advent calendar wars. The humble £2.50 chocolate box has been dethroned by prestige options, including Sephora’s £225 beauty blockbuster; the new symbol of how beauty has become ritual, status, entertainment, and community all at once.
That same cultural pull is exactly why beauty is the next frontier in sport.
Beauty and sport may feel like unlikely allies, but both are built on aspiration, performance, and identity. Both shape consumer behavior few categories can, and after years of operating on parallel tracks, the two worlds are blending together commercially.
According to Two Circles data, beauty’s presence in sport marketing across 2024-25 tripled compared to 2017-18. In the UK, Clinique’s partnership with the Red Roses and the luxurious ELEMIS’ collaboration with the Aston Martin F1 Team have signalled a new era. As Amy Mansell, ELEMIS’chief partnerships officer and ESA board director, puts it: “F1 offered a white space to shape culture, not just appear in it.”
While momentum builds globally, the UK lags behind the US, where 60% of all beauty sport deals were signed over the last two years. This was driven by the NBA, WNBA, and MLS becoming regular territory for brands like e.l.f. Beauty and Glossier.
So what needs to happen in the UK for beauty brands to make sport their next frontier?
To understand why the sport and beauty collaboration is building at a slower pace in the UK, Two Circles surveyed 1,000 female sport fans, aged 16-35, and analyzed broader sponsorship and fan-behavior trends.
The topline: the female sports audience is exploding. Between 2020-24, the number of women who identify as sports fans jumped by more than 40%. Encouragingly for the beauty category, research showed that there is a significant overlap between UK female sports fans and beauty consumers, with 91% of female sports fans stating beauty products have significant importance to them.
They’re also commercially engaged. Female fans show stronger brand recall than their male counterparts and are 45% more willing to purchase from sports sponsors than fans of male sports.
So what’s the disconnect?
Only 18% of female sports fans say they regularly notice beauty brands in sport; the lowest visibility of any category tested. Yet when we tested real-world recognition, the picture changed. We showed respondents five sporting images featuring visible sponsor branding and asked them to recall brands they noticed. Across 12 different sponsor categories, three of the top four most-recalled brands were beauty brands, giving beauty the strongest spontaneous recall of any category we tested.
Beauty brands may not show up in sport often, but when they do, women notice. This is because beauty sits in a sweet spot of passion, recall, and cultural relevance for the rapidly growing female sports audience.
1. A beauty-adjacent audience
Female sports fans show strong beauty consumption habits, with 71% using beauty products daily, proving beauty isn’t peripheral; it’s a deep-rooted passion. This opportunity grows further with Gen Alpha. Already influencing over $100bn in US annual spend, they shape household purchasing, especially in beauty, with many tweens guiding their parents’ routines and gravitating towards adult brands. Their interest in sport is rising too. Some 67% of Gen Alpha parents say their child wants to play sports with girls’ participation spiking around major women’s sports moments. Sport is fast becoming a cultural space where this generation pays attention and forms brand impressions.
For beauty brands, that’s a double win. Today’s 16-35 female fans and tomorrow’s consumers are congregating in a cultural space where beauty is mostly absent within the UK.
2. Cutting through the noise
In a category defined by newness, noise, and competition, sport offers something beauty brands desperately need: trust and relevance.
Two Circles research shows:
The early movers are already reaping the rewards. According to Mansell: “F1 fans are twice as likely to try ELEMIS because of the partnership and Aston Martin fans are three times more likely.” This reinforces sport’s emotional stakes and cultural momentum, delivering a halo effect for authentically placed brands, which can be difficult to replicate through traditional advertising alone.
3. A narrative advantage
Sport delivers some of the most powerful stories in entertainment. For brands, this creates a storytelling canvas that’s hard to match. Beauty, especially in recent years, has shifted toward more inclusive and empowering messaging. Women’s sport reflects many of the values beauty brands are trying to communicate.
Female fans associated key sports with the exact values beauty brands want to convey:
This alignment is already being recognized by brands. Speaking to Two Circlers about ELEMIS’ work in Formula 1, Mansell explains how the platform allowed the brand to amplify the stories that matter most: “F1 has given us a global stage to champion the stories that matter to us; those of representation, confidence, and women breaking boundaries.”
These values play out through real, unscripted moments like goals, comebacks, and rivalries, where the storytelling is authentic and culturally sticky. Beauty brands can tap into these storylines to create messages that feel bigger, more meaningful, and more relevant than traditional advertising.
Crucially, Two Circles’ research consistently shows that beauty’s impact is amplified within women’s sport. Across every brand health measure that was tested, results strengthened when the partnership was framed in a women’s sport context.
This shows a synergy in the minds of female fans: beauty and women’s sport belong together. The market is starting to reflect this, with 19% of all beauty-sport deals now in women’s sport, compared with just 3% across other categories, and the timing couldn’t be stronger. Women’s sport revenues are projected to grow 25% from 2024-25, while 82% of female fans say their interest will continue to rise. This isn’t a spike; it’s a cultural movement.
Female athletes are also driving a disproportionate share of attention, and many are ready-made influencers that the beauty industry can tap into. Influencer marketing within the beauty industry is tried and tested, and can be supercharged when great storytelling is applied through sport.
For beauty brands, the alignment is natural, culturally resonant, and commercially attractive. Women’s sport offers the values, audiences, and storylines that beauty can authentically attach to, and the window to secure partnerships in the UK is open.
1. Capitalize on the moment
This space is moving fast, and early movers will define it. The biggest cultural runway will go to the brands that step in now, before the sponsorship landscape becomes as crowded.
2. Pick the right partners
Not all sports deliver the same value. With each league, team, and athlete now functioning as a brand in their own right, beauty brands need to be deliberate about alignment. Identifying the right partner means matching audiences, values, and brand ambition to ensure the collaboration drives outcomes.
3. Show up with intention
Fans expect brands to contribute to something bigger. They want brands to contribute to the sport they’re entering. In fact, 79% of female fans believe beauty brands should help boost the visibility of women’s sport.
That means that telling athlete stories, elevating women’s leagues, creating meaningful content, and activating in a way that reflects fan culture are the expectations, not just placing logos on LED boards.
Beauty and sport are no longer distant categories. They’re becoming culturally intertwined. Women’s sport is soaring, and beauty consumers are already in the stands.
For beauty brands in the UK, the opportunity is clear, and brands like ELEMIS are proving that the commercial impact is real.
The question is no longer why or when beauty should enter sport, but who will seize the opportunity within the UK?
