What Is ‘Ski Care’ and Why Are Beauty Brands Obsessed With it?

When it comes to sunscreen branding, creative inspiration generally comes from the pool or beach. For sun-care label Utu, it was avalanche training.

“For years, when we would be skiing, we’d be using an SPF lip balm, and just putting that on our cheeks,” Utu founder Richard Welch told The Business of Beauty. An avid skier, he was in California’s Eastern Sierra backcountry learning avalanche safety protocol three years ago, using the usual sun protection he and his friends had adopted. During the training, he learned that his guide, Barbara Wanner, was also in search of a mineral sunscreen offering both extreme sun and wind protection.

Together, Welch and Wanner began developing a sunscreen with 50 SPF and occlusive skin-shielding properties, and in 2024, the brand’s Hydrating Sun Balm was revealed, packaged in a thin aluminum disc specifically for snow athletes to fit in their jacket pocket.

Utu is far from the only beauty brand trading the beach for a snow-capped peak in its branding these days. While 2025 marked an explosion of aspirational “ski-core” fashion, beauty brands have launched or dramatically expanded alpine initiatives this year. Incumbent brands such as Kiehl’s and Supergoop, alongside newcomers like Salt & Stone and Rhode, are taking a page from the sportswear playbook with a performance-first mindset and ski resort promotions. Skiing is just one of the latest affluent sports to have an influence on beauty and fashion in recent years, and has been bolstered by the Olympics and fashion-forward athletes like Eileen Gu.

To reach people who actually participate in the sport, ski resort company Alterra has signed its first beauty partners this year through its multi-resort seasonal Ikon Pass. Others, like Batiste and First Aid Beauty, are starting to announce sponsorships of Olympians and the Olympics ahead of this year’s games. Beauty brands are going far wider than influencer hotspots like Aspen with their promotion destinations, best evidenced by Rhode’s new pop-up at Big Sky.

Supergoop, which has been activating at Aspen since 2017, significantly expanded its resort presence in 2026 through its partnership with the Ikon Pass as its first ever sunscreen partner. Kiehl’s, meanwhile, became the pass’s first skincare sponsor after two years of Jackson Hole branded resort takeovers, expanding to five resorts this year including Palisades Tahoe and Steamboat.

Despite being founded by a professional snowboarder, Salt & Stone only began activating around skiing this year, teaming up with Olympic gold medalist Alex Hall for a campaign and sponsoring an on-mountain pop-up in Aspen with a giant deodorant lugged up the slopes.

These labels have tapped into a sport that allows them to emphasise their product’s benefits in decidedly aspirational settings. It’s part of a broader fashion and beauty embrace of “old-money” sports like padel and rugby that have complemented a rise of preppy style in recent years. While evidenced especially by brands’ preference to invoke skiing imagery over the comparatively skater-culture snowboarding, beauty’s emphasis on product efficacy on the mountain could benefit longer-term potential as trend cycles change.

From Ski-Core to Skincare

From luxury to fast fashion, clothing labels have latched onto ski-core looks over the past few years with not only technical apparel, but après-style sweaters and furry outerwear. While fashion largely remains in select “see-and-be-seen” bubbles like Aspen or St. Mortiz, beauty is moving into all terrains where windburn and UV exposure are technical obstacles.

“For us, it was more about scaling with intent,” said Supergoop chief executive Melis del Rey, who joined the brand last year from Amazon Beauty in December 2025. “We’re still doing Aspen, but we want to expand accessibility.” As part of its promotions, the brand held a giveaway of Ikon passes on its Instagram and is headed to 13 different Ikon Pass ski resorts over the next four years, most recently sponsoring a pop-up in Park City.

From sunscreen to deodorant and skincare, product efficacy remains the common thread among beauty brands with ski activations. “For us, it’s about performance. Performance is a key pillar of the brand,” said Salt & Stone’s chief marketing officer Abby Tellam, noting that the brand has worked with athletes across motorsports, basketball and golf.

While windburn, dry air and UV rays are among the biggest areas of focus for skincare brands, other beauty and wellness labels are getting in on the ski action regardless of a direct connection to the sport. In wellness, Cowboy Colostrum is a sponsor of the extreme sports contest X Games, while Moon Juice created a ski-themed hot chocolate gift box. Hands may be gloved on the slopes, but Manucurist launched its Après-Ski nail colour collection in January 2026.

High-Elevation Branding

Beauty brands certainly haven’t abandoned the lifestyle fantasy aspect of sports marketing as skiing joins privileged pastimes like tennis or Formula One racing in their marketing activities.

Influencers help to sell ski-core beauty, flooding feeds with the “frostbite makeup” trend, stylish ski suit fit checks and photos with fur hats, champagne and fondue. Ulta Beauty recently brought creators to Park City, while Supergoop and Kiehl’s are also incorporating influencer trips in their ski campaigns.

“When you’re inviting creators in any other kind of hospitality that we may want to do, we want it to be a luxe experience, and to link to the brand identity in that way as well,” said Kiehl’s general manager John Reed.

While ski beauty’s messaging relies on performance, its marketing still has to feel aspirational. Utu’s branding was created by designer Yorgo Tloupas, who is known for being the creative director of French ski brand Black Crows for over 10 years, as well as creative work for luxury and fashion brands.

Brands are arriving to the slopes as skiing becomes less accessible to the masses. Participation has largely flatlined in the US, according to National Ski Areas Association data, as costs and global temperatures rise, threatening the future of ski resorts globally. In parts of Europe, reduced snowfall has turned once-busy mountains into “ghost resorts.”

Yet aspirational ski content has surged, fuelled in recent years by Eileen Gu’s multiple luxury brand endorsements for the 2024 Olympics, and hype surrounding this year’s upcoming games that began on Thursday.

With the Olympics about to kick off, brands show little sign of pulling back. While the Olympics trademark is “very well protected,” said Reed, resort-based promotions can tap into enthusiasm to hit the slopes. After the games are over, brands are dedicated to take part for the long run.

“Activating around winter sports, or even snow in general, is something we’ll continue to do,” said Tellam. “It’s not a one-off.”

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