Published September 25, 2026 12:12PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n What You Need to Know<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Sparking face glitter is becoming popular at marathons and bike races, and even in non-competitive outdoor activities like whitewater rafting and skiing. Athletes say the sparkly accessory helps reduce the pressure they feel to perform, and adds a boost of fun when a race becomes a test of suffering. Enthusiasts say glitter reduces the fear of participating in dangerous outdoor activities, and helps them express their personalities to their peers.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n Face glitter is having a moment in outdoor culture. If you\u2019ve sat on a chairlift, floated down a river, or competed in a bike race recently, you might have already noticed this. Ultramarathon racer Jennifer Lichter finished the Western States 100-mile endurance run in June, setting a new course record, with orange glitter splashed across her cheekbones. Thru-hikers are glittering themselves on the Continental Divide Trail. Even wildland firefighters are bringing glitter into the woods.<\/p>\n The rise of glitter on summits and at finish lines can be at least partially attributed to elite athletes rocking it on a national and global stage in recent years. Jessie Diggins, the prolific cross-country skier with four Olympic medals, four World Cup overall titles and seven World Championship medals, sparkled her way through the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. But her use of glitter goes much further back.<\/p>\n Diggins started wearing glitter when she was 19 years old and first competing in the World Cup, she told Outside<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a younger athlete, I used to get so nervous for races, to the point where it would take all my energy,\u201d she said. \u201cOf course, I still get nervous for races, but back then, it really sucked the fun out of the experience. Deciding to put on glitter before a race was a way to reclaim that joy and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to take yourself too seriously, Diggins added, when you have glitter on your cheeks. Today, Diggins smears on glitter right before she leaves the hotel for the race venue for an extra dose of positivity. \u201cThe glitter became my most important pre-race ritual,\u201d Diggins said.<\/p>\n Olympic runner Alexi Pappas is one of glitter\u2019s trailblazers in endurance sports. Pappas first wore glitter\u2014along with rhinestones and butterfly wings\u2014when she ran the New York City Marathon in 2021. Still recovering from a hamstring surgery, Pappas was nervous that she\u2019d run slower than her usual blistering pace. But dancing through the streets, blowing kisses and wearing glitter was like protective armor against her fears. The sparkles communicated to the crowds that she was OK with her performance. In fact, Pappas was better than OK. She was full of joy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t random,\u201d Pappas told Outside<\/em>. \u201cThere was meaning behind it. There was purpose behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n Pappas has worn glitter at races ever since.<\/p>\n Fed up with using harsh eyelash glue to stick loose glitter on her face, Pappas is now launching her own sweat-proof aesthetics company, Glop<\/a>, at the Chicago Marathon on October 9. The first product: pouches of glitter that fit in your running vest. The brand\u2019s name is inspired by the \u201cglop\u201d that caterpillars emerge from on their way to becoming a butterfly; all the colorways are inspired by animals that similarly metamorphose. Pink and purple glitter, for example, mimics the strawberry sea anemone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to make products that help people transform,\u201d Pappas said.<\/p>\n Glitter seems particularly popular amongst athletes competing in sufferfest endurance races where a little extra something might just be what gets you across the finish line. Legendary ultrarunner Ann Trason, winner of 14 editions of the Western States Endurance Run, discovered the power of glitter while pacing a runner during the Javelina Jundred 100k in 2018. Her runner was struggling with 13 miles left to go, but after an aid station tent with glitter and a few sips of Coke, he was ready to keep running. \u201cI look at it as this happiness powder,\u201d Trason said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mood booster. It\u2019s better than any kind of pills, if you ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite living with painful rheumatoid arthritis at age 66, Trason had just completed three races in successive weekends when we spoke this fall.<\/p>\n While other runners have also embraced glitter this summer\u2014Rachel Entrekin wore glitter when she crossed the finish line in second place at the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, Mikey Mitch had glitter on his cheeks, chest, and shoulders during the 2026 Leadville 100, where he placed fourth\u2014it\u2019s far from just elite athletes stepping out with sparkly cheekbones. Mountaineers, ski instructors and raft guides have embraced glitter, too.<\/p>\n The guide training for Upwards Transitions Institute, a female-owned guide company in Bellingham, Washington, offers pots of glitter to participants. \u201cIt\u2019s what we consider part of the guide kit at this point because it does so much for morale\u201d Victoria Garvin, owner and guide, told Outside<\/em>.<\/p>\n Mountaineering can be scary, but it should also be enjoyable, she said. \u201cWe use it when we\u2019re heading out to cut that fear and remind people that we\u2019re doing this because it\u2019s fun,\u201d Garvin added. Glitter\u2019s impact on trips is both \u201creally complex and really simple,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can have a hard conversation about anything\u2014conditions, physical readiness, whatever\u2014but if there\u2019s glitter on my face, people will just respond better,\u201d Garvin said. \u201cIt\u2019s a magical thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooke Hornbeck, a guide at Glacier Raft Company in northwest Montana, said that glitter \u201cis a daily thing for me.\u201d When we spoke, blue glitter with star and moon shapes sparkled on her face. \u201cI put on glitter before I brush my teeth in the morning,\u201d Hornbeck told Outside. <\/em><\/p>\n She brings glitter on her float trips, offering it to entire buses of people before they head out for the day. For Hornbeck and others, glitter can be a way of expressing femininity in traditionally male-dominated spaces, like mountain summits and burly rapids. \u201cYes, you can be a woman in the sport and you don\u2019t have to hide your femininity at all,\u201d Hornbeck said. \u201cYour femininity can be a strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Hornbeck guides on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, a Wild and Scenic River. Garvin and her team lead trips to remote mountaintops. Neither wants to leave microplastics behind for the sake of whimsy. \u201cWe don\u2019t want glitter on our glaciers and on our snow,\u201d Garvin said. But they\u2019ve found a solution: wearing biodegradable glitter gel from Montana-based Adorn Glitter<\/a>, which is made from Eucalyptus tree plant cellulose film. (Both are brand ambassadors.)<\/p>\n Ali Bierman founded Adorn Glitter in 2022. She was \u201cnever a sparkly person\u201d growing up, but after making glitter party favors for friends, the business took off.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople responded to it in a way that I never expected,\u201d Bierman said. \u201cThere\u2019s never enough glitter.\u201d<\/p>\n She attributes glitter\u2019s soaring popularity to an overall explosion of color, creativity, and playfulness in outdoor gear in recent years, in large part due to small, women-owned brands bucking traditional colorways and norms. People are embracing self-expression and playfulness in outdoor recreation, and glitter is just another component of that.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you put on glitter, it\u2019s like you\u2019re putting on a superhero cape,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it reminds you that you are capable of doing hard things. It helps you be brave.\u201d<\/p>\nGlitter Helps Athletes Transform<\/h2>\n
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Sparkles in Backcountry Sports, Too<\/h2>\n
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