These Athletes Put Their Super Stay Lip To The Test

Being a woman in sports is a powerful thing, but it can also be isolating. While opportunities for female athletes have increased significantly over the past decade, women in sports still have fewer opportunities overall, less female role models to look up to, and fewer financial incentives. Despite these barriers, women are still competing, defying athletic expectations, and standing up to stereotypes every day. Two women in particular who are rewriting the rules when it comes to women in sports are Dede Lovelace and Ellie Smart. Lovelace, a skateboarder, and Smart, a high diver, are professional athletes who remain authentically themselves. Despite their non-traditional career paths and fierce personas, they still struggle with things we can all relate to — like confidence, performance anxiety, and finding a long-lasting lip color that doesn’t budge throughout rigorous tests of extreme athleticism.

OK, maybe the last example isn’t so relatable—not all of us can boast the same level of endurance that our makeup needs to keep up with. But many of us can relate to the far-and-wide search for a lippie that fits our lifestyle. Enter Maybelline’s Super Stay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick and Vinyl Ink Lip Color — formulas that provide budge-resistant matte or vinyl color, and up to 16 hours of wear. We spent a day catching up with each woman to learn more about their craft, their personal styles, and how they put their Super Stay lip product of choice to the test during important moments.

Dede Lovelace

Lovelace didn’t pick up a board until she was 13 and discovered her middle school’s playground was attached to a popular skate spot. When school let out, she’d marvel at the talented skaters in awe, and eventually joined them, begging her dad to buy her a skateboard. Her love for the craft has burned brightly ever since.

When it comes to sports, Lovelace doesn’t subscribe to just one title of “female athlete.” She’s also an actress, visual artist, and DJ, proving to women everywhere that they can embrace their athletic side without giving up their other passions, and continuing to explore their creativity.

How She Preps To Skate: Performing in front of a big crowd with media cameras following your every move is intimidating. And while it may get easier over time, it never really gets easy. To calm her nerves and prepare her mind and body for a big skate, Lovelace’s motto is: “Always stretch first.” Then, she typically watches a skate clip to get inspired for the tricks she wants to try out.

Her Style When Skating: Lovelace describes her style as “versatile tomboy.” That means wearing t-shirts, cargo pants and avant-garde jackets on the way to the skatepark, but switching it up with knee-high heels, skirts, statement earrings and a colorful lip color when heading to an event. Maybelline’s Super Stay Vinyl Ink color palettes makes it easy to find a vibrant shade that fits her mood.

“I love skating and I love to go out to a fancy event, so I make sure to show up for both,” she explains. “When I’m out, I just want to look really colorful and fun, so when I’m smiling and talking to people, they take notice of it.”

The Super Stay Test: Lovelace began experimenting with makeup after being inspired by friends and makeup artists on social media. Still, she keeps it simple, trying out fun eye makeup and changing up her lip color when skating. She loves Maybelline’s Super Stay Vinyl Ink formula (worn in shade “Unrivaled” here) because not only does it highlight her lips with instant shine, it stays on despite her sweating heavily while skating. After just a five-second shake and quick application, the lipstick locks in once it dries and gives no-budge vinyl color, even as she grabs a drink of water in between rounds, or when she rubs her upper lip against her nose which she sometimes does when she’s nervous.

“As I sweat [during skating] I’m losing water, and my lips get dried out, which is one of the most annoying feelings,” Lovelace explains. “So I have to make sure I use a lip color that will last through the sweat [and multiple rounds of rehydration], and doesn’t come off easily.”

Ellie Smart

While Smart got into her sport at the age of five and spent two years on her college’s diving team, she retired from diving after her sophomore year of college and thought she’d never dive again. However, after jumping off a cliff post-college graduation, she had an ‘aha’ moment and decided she was meant to be a diver, for good.

When it comes to being a woman who high dives, Smart doesn’t let anyone label her. “I think there’s a big misconception in society about being feminine and being an athlete, especially in extreme sports, that you have to fit into a box,” Smart explains. “I like to live outside the box. I could get dressed up and look cute, but I can also do my makeup and do an extreme sport. I like that I can be whoever I want to be.”

How She Preps: For Smart, the moment leading up to a dive can be riddled with fear and anxiety. So rather than pump herself up, she completely calms down. “When I compete, I only listen to classical music, and I meditate before each dive to keep myself present,” Smart explains. “When I step to the edge, I remind myself I’ve done all the training necessary to prepare for the dive safely.”

Her Style When Diving: It’s hard to express your personal style in a sport that requires a swimsuit and dunking yourself in a pool over and over again, so Smart adds her personal touch with a bold lip. Her favorite shades of Maybelline’s Super Stay Matte Ink include, “feminine, but not girly” reddish and purple tones, and a dark nude color that feels intense.

“Diving is a bold sport, so a bold lip is a must,” she explains. “It’s something that makes me feel powerful.”

The Super Stay Test: Smart’s bold lip is her favorite way to express herself with makeup while diving. Yet as someone who’s constantly in the pool, she’s routinely submerging into the water and wiping her face with a shammy afterwards — so having a lip that lasts is, “absolutely critical.” She found Maybelline’s Super Stay Matte Ink to be a reliable, high pigment lip color. And with the precision tip applicator, it’s easy to apply the perfect line. The vibrant colors available help carry her signature lip statement, in this case, the shade “Exhilarator,” from the diving board, into the pool, and all the way through to post-competition media interviews.

What It Means To ‘Bring Their Game Face’

For Smart, bringing her game face is about showing up and doing her best, because at the end of the day, the real competition is not beating others, but improving herself. On days she’s not feeling her best, it’s helpful to have things she knows she can rely on to give her that little extra boost of confidence, like Maybelline’s Super Stay Matte Ink.

“I love the colors, and I love the boldness of it — it just pops!” Smart explains. “And there’s no worrying that it’s coming off or looking funny.”

When Dede brings her game face, it’s more of a mentality.

“No matter what happens in a situation [or competition], whatever direction it goes, I just want to make sure I’m presenting myself as strong,” she explains.

A strong, shiny lip color during skating (and acting, and working the DJ turnstyles) helps cement this mindset: “Other formulas I’ve used in the past just dry out my lips, but with Maybelline’s Super Stay Vinyl Ink, I can smile and lose focus of what’s on my face.”

Photographer: Danilo Hess; Art Direction: Angela Poccia, Alexis Apollonio/BDG Studios; Styling: Natalie Scicolone; Hair: Anike Rabiu; Makeup: Jonet Williamson; Talent Booking: Gracie Willett, Mikaela Baruch/BDG Studios; Talent: Dede Lovelace, Ellie Smart; Production Manager: Danica Butkovich/BDG Studios; Production Coordinator: Hertie Gutierrez/BDG Studios; Associate Branded Beauty Director: Shyema Azam /BDG Studios; Editorial Direction: Irma Elezovic/BDG Studios