Celebrity Name: Lauren Betts
Brand Name: NYX Professional Makeup
Deal Type: Brand Ambassador / Campaign Feature
Announced: March 11, 2026
Impact: Deepens NYX’s “Make Them Look” women’s sports platform; marks Betts’ first-ever beauty deal ahead of her projected top-5 WNBA Draft selection
- Betts is the newest face of NYX Professional Makeup’s “Make Them Look” campaign, marking her very first beauty brand partnership.
- The UCLA women’s basketball star earned both Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors and is widely projected as a top pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
- NYX and Betts will host a community-focused game experience where selected fans and students receive on-court coaching alongside professional guidance while discovering Lauren’s favorite products.
- NYX’s “Make Them Look” campaign launched in 2024 with Juju Watkins and has since grown to include soccer stars Gisele and Alyssa Thompson, as well as a multi-year partnership with NWSL’s Angel City Football Club.
NYX Professional Makeup has announced a new partnership with Lauren Betts, the college basketball standout who earned both Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors.
In her first-ever beauty deal, Betts is the newest face of the brand’s “Make Them Look” campaign, a program that actively celebrates and empowers women in sports.
Diana Valdez, VP, Brand and Consumer Experience at NYX, said the brand is proud to keep supporting athletes who are changing the culture of sport, adding that what stands out about Betts is how she shows up as herself — confident, authentic, and very in the moment.
The UCLA women’s basketball star is widely projected as a top pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft after the current season wraps up. Last season, Betts averaged 20.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 64.8% from the field, earning her first-team All-American status.
Off the court, Betts is clearly building her brand. Just days before the NYX announcement, she made headlines for a surprise halftime dance team cameo during a UCLA men’s basketball game against Nebraska on March 4, joining teammates Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez in a routine they learned in just 24 hours via a YouTube challenge.
NYX and Betts will also host a community-focused on-court event where selected fans will receive coaching and mentorship while exploring her favorite NYX essentials, including the Brow Glue Crazy Lift, Butter Gloss, and Epic Inky Stix.
The move mirrors a wider 2026 wave of creative partnerships, such as WNBA veteran Tiffany Hayes’ recently announced educational campaign with Adobe Express and Lexie Brown’s naming as the new Brand Ambassador for Curél.
Takeaways
This deal is more than a lipstick collab, it’s a signal. NYX has quietly been building one of the most consistent women’s sports marketing strategies in beauty, and Lauren Betts is the perfect next chapter.
She’s 6’7″, a projected #1 WNBA Draft pick, and now the face of a beauty campaign, and there’s nothing contradictory about that. That’s entirely the point.
What makes this partnership smart is its timing. Betts is at peak cultural moment: a player the sports world is obsessing over just as March Madness heats up. Signing her now, before she goes pro, means NYX gets the authenticity of a college-sports star with the upside of a future WNBA franchise player. It’s also her first beauty deal, which means no brand confusion. She’s all theirs.
The community activation component is also worth noting. It’s not just a photo shoot, it’s an on-court mentorship event where fans and student athletes get coached by Betts while discovering her beauty routine. That’s brand storytelling that actually does something in the real world.
Could Lauren Betts become one of the WNBA’s biggest brand ambassadors once she goes pro, rivaling athletes like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers in endorsement value? Will the community coaching activation drive deeper fan loyalty than a standard social media campaign?
