Beauty companies have been collaborators in women’s sports ever since the latter began its quick ascent in attendance and ratings not so long ago, and they remain as one of the preeminent partner types. This year has been particularly active for sponsorships involving women’s sports leagues, with several deals announced in 2025:
- In October, Glossier and the Women’s National Basketball Association expanded on their ongoing sponsorship with their first co-branded merchandise, in the form of a limited-edition co-branded hoodie. Glossier was the WNBA’s first beauty sponsor, signing on in 2020 and renewing in March 2024. As an official beauty partner, Glossier creates tentpole events, content distributed across the WNBA’s media channels, and promotions with the league. The WNBA’s other beauty partners range from Mielle to Maybelline.
- Sephora announced in July that it would become the exclusive beauty partner of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. It becomes the presenting sponsor of the AUSL Championship Series and will provide a variety of athlete and fan activations at AUSL events. Separately, the brand became the exclusive official beauty partner of the Unrivaled basketball league, in a deal announced in January of this year. It is supplying beauty products for the players, and its brand is being integrated into Unrivaled’s on-court and off-court programming.
- e.l.f. became the first beauty sponsor of the National Women’s Soccer League in March, assuming the role of official makeup and skin care partner of the league and presenting partner of the NWSL Challenge Cup through 2027. One of the focus areas of the partnership is to empower female athletes, given that twice as many girls as boys drop out of sports — often a precursor to success in life — by age 14. The NWSL deal followed a March 2024 pact in which e.l.f. became an official partner of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the presenting sponsor of the PWHL Takeover Weekend.
- In January, Maybelline paired with the Women’s Lacrosse League, founded by the Premier Lacrosse League in November 2024. Maybelline became the title sponsor for what is now called the Maybelline Women’s Lacrosse League. Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports for girls and women in the U.S. and is returning to the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. This deal was followed by a partnership with WNBA Canada in March, which saw the brand become the first official beauty partner of the league in that country. Maybelline got into sports sponsorship in 2024, becoming the first cosmetics sponsor of the New York City Marathon.
Beauty brands are also active as collaborators with individual clubs and athletes, of course. Brands including Fenty Beauty, Essie, Sephora, Orly, Covergirl, and Urban Decay have worked with teams in the WNBA, for example, while e.l.f. has paired with the NWSL’s San Diego Wave FC and Kansas City Current. Meanwhile, e.l.f. has also partnered with four NWSL athletes, while Cerave has collaborated with Paige Bueckers of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.
Unlike many of the agreements with individual athletes and teams, relatively few of the listed sponsorship deals with the leagues have involved collaborative products to date. That is likely to change, however, given the strength of both women’s sports and the beauty category in the consumer products sector these days. There is an expanding universe of consumers who want to support women’s sports, and its members are likely to consider purchasing beauty products that help do just that.
Raugust Communications’ monthly e-newsletter will hit inboxes next Tuesday, November 18, 2025. The Licensing Topic of the Month is about the strength of gaming ecosystems and how the licensing business as a whole can capitalize on the trend. The Datapoint research spotlight takes a look at the growth of the beauty sector as a core category for character/entertainment properties in recent years. If you’re not yet a subscriber to this free publication, you can sign up here.
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