She鈥檚 boxing. At least I think she is. With her lids covered in opalescent purple shadow听and her face perfectly highlighted, model Adriana Lima is flexing her arms and baring her toned abs in shorts and a crop top. The ad has found the sweet spot all women鈥檚 fitness marketing seems to aspire to鈥攕omewhere right between sporty and sexy.
Lima is posing for , a workout-makeup collaboration that includes highlighter, smudge-proof mascara, and liquid lipstick in shades like Fearless, a saturated pink, and Fierce, a dark purple. Maybelline isn鈥檛 alone in trying to make women sparkle while they sweat. Cosmetics company Tarte has a whole athleisure , subscription beauty company Birchbox鈥檚 in-house brand, , is made for an 鈥渙n-the-go, active life,鈥 and Insta-famous Nike trainer Kirsty Godso reps , whose products听include听a mascara and cheek tint. In January, Wet n听Wild released a collection it听calls ,听while Covergirl debuted its听Active听line, geared toward sporty, image-conscious consumers.
Although some of these offerings are specially formulated for sweaty workouts,听others听just听seem to be tagging normal makeup with an 鈥渁thleisure鈥 label.听Still, many of the products听are selling听the听same ideal听of Lululemon leggings: the ability to pivot from a workout to the rest of your life, whether that鈥檚 grocery shopping or a drink with friends. Athleisure听assumes a constant state of busyness that doesn鈥檛 afford you time to switch modes. So these听new goods are less blush for the backcountry听and听more makeup for weekdays, when you鈥檙e trying to break away from the computer and go for a run. 鈥淥ur customer is a multitasker who is looking for easy-to-use products that will serve a clear purpose in her routine,鈥 says Kirstin Ratcliffe, the makeup merchant for Arrow.
Such multitasking is both appealing and terrifying. On one hand, yes, efficiency, please. To that end, Ratcliffe says Arrow听offers听women products that make their daily life easier, because they can听use its makeup and skincare in and out of the gym. But the negative implication of that efficiency is that women鈥攁nd this is all marketed toward women鈥攕hould be made up at the gym听and shouldn鈥檛 be barefaced even while nailing dumbbell rows. It creates yet another narrative around female beauty standards that听distracts from our athletic accomplishments and goals.听
Still, a clean-face workout may be a tough ask for many women. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no secret that most dermatologists promote makeup-free sweating. But it鈥檚 just not realistic for most. For me personally, I rarely go out of the house without something on my face,鈥 says Courtney Jones, cofounder of Sweat Cosmetics, a line of foundations and highlighters designed to be worn while working out.听
According to dermatologists, working out with makeup on doesn鈥檛 have serious health impacts. But听because your pores open during exercise, whatever is on your skin鈥攕weat, oil, and makeup鈥攚ill be more readily absorbed, which can clog pores and cause acne. Meghan Feely, a board-certified dermatologist, recommends听looking for products that are noncomedogenic and oil-free听and washing your face after sweating. Jones, a former professional soccer player, started Sweat when she and her cofounders couldn鈥檛 find makeup that fit听within these dermatological standards to wear during all-day training sessions. She says the response to the new athletic-makeup line has been strongly positive, because she thinks it provides a better option for women who would be wearing makeup while sweating anyway.听
At face value, these options seem like a good thing to me. I know plenty of people who like the playfulness and creativity that comes with being able to change their looks. I have friends who say that putting on makeup before they work out makes them feel more confident鈥攁nd confidence is one of the main reasons why they exercise. 鈥淯sually, it鈥檚 just whatever is left over from the day. Mascara, that kind of thing,鈥 says Sierra Shafer, editor-in-chief of Powder magazine. 鈥淏ut I will say, even if I鈥檓 working out in the morning, I still get up and put on my makeup, because it makes me feel good about myself. If I鈥檓 there just feeling insecure every time I pass a mirror, I know I鈥檓 not going to get a good workout. But if I feel cute, I feel like myself.鈥澨
I wonder if that confidence would feel slightly different if there weren鈥檛 a parade of Instagram influencers giving concrete鈥攂ut often staged鈥攅xamples of how much better you could look听every time you scroll through your phone. The problem isn鈥檛 that several lines of athleisure makeup exist, it鈥檚 that these examples are everywhere and feel inescapable.
For me, and I鈥檓 guessing I鈥檓 not alone, exercise has often been the only time and space when I鈥檓 not听thinking about how I look. Addressing my appearance before I start sweating takes away some of that freedom. It brings the creep of the ever present external gaze back in, and it pulls away that safe space where no one is judging you but yourself.听
While I don鈥檛 want to dunk on anyone who feels better in mascara, the rise of workout makeup seems like the amalgam of a lot of negative trends: the implication that no place is appropriate to be barefaced听and the onslaught of听fitfluencers whose lives and asses are perfectly contoured. It is a听constant, exhausting need to be on, which at some point will drive us face first into our graves.听
That said, it鈥檚 not a simple pro or con.听It鈥檚 hard to untangle 听from what feels socially enforced, and the line of demarcation is different for everyone. Workout makeup is part feminist send-up, driven by the desire to give us more time and more options, yet it鈥檚 also part performative external pressure, pushed by companies trying to capitalize on unrealistic听standards of what women should look like.听
But that鈥檚 what being a woman often feels like these days.