Holly Aitchison announced as ambassador for Clinique’s #GameFace campaign

Holly Aitchison has been announced as the ambassador of Clinique’s new #GameFace campaign.

The nationwide skin confidence and sponsorship campaign with England centre Aitchison at the forefront aims to instil self-confidence in girls while also providing £10,000 worth of support for four girls’ rugby clubs.

The Olympian, Red Rose, and Saracen has spoken openly about her struggles with her skin and self-confidence and hopes to provide inspiration for younger girls.

“I think my first worry with my skin was when I was maybe 14 or 15, middle of secondary school, where I was getting blemishes everywhere. I didn’t really know how to feel about it.

“I was guilty even then of feeling really insecure with it. When I went to Hartpury College at 17 and it was getting really bad, I had a lot of social anxiety as well. That then had a massive effect on my confidence and the more stress I was incurring the worse my skin I was getting,” Aitchison confessed.

“I wouldn’t go out, I would make excuses not to see people. Even when I was living with other people, I would make sure that I was always wearing makeup because I was really embarrassed with how it made me feel.”

The collaboration was created by MATTA and was introduced to Aitchison through her now Saracens teammate Flo Williams, MATTA’s Women’s Sport Lead.

Having struggled with her skin, it was vital to Aitchison that she worked with a brand whose products work for her.

“MATTA reached out to me and said they were working with a global brand, would I be keen to get involved. I need to be really careful with my skin because it’s so sensitive, so I said I didn’t really know until I knew what brand it was if I’d want to do it.

“Clinique is amazing for no fragrance, no parabens, not testing on animals, it’s clean products so I was super excited when she [Williams] told me the ins and outs of it. I thought wow that’s a massive opportunity, but also the product was unbelievable for my skin. I was super keen, and it was such a ‘pinch me’ moment.”

Aitchison is hoping that as a role model, she’ll not only be able to provide sporting inspiration but also inspiration that girls can relate to off the pitch.

“That’s what you hope when you think about the words role model, is hoping that people can look about to you or resonate with some part of your story and say ‘I went through that’. That’s probably the case for a lot of young girls, teenage girls, younger girls, I hope they can look at me and think ‘oh she’s been through something really similar to what I’m going through’,” she said.

“With Clinique, we also tried to base it on the fact that sport also gives you that kind of confidence. There was a part of me that was very confident in my sport and for other people that’s academics, that’s arts or things like that. There’s another level that you can unlock in yourself.”

Since finding and using the products that work for her, Aitchison has seen a massive growth in confidence

“As a person it’s given me another level of confidence when I’m talking to people, being able to look people in the eyes is something I used to really avoid when I didn’t have good skin. I thought everyone was looking at my face. Now I feel so much better about myself. I can talk to people more easily, I’m not worried about things as much, I feel amazing,” she said with a beaming smile.

Knowing what she knows now, Aitchison shared what she would have liked to have been told when she was struggling.

“I would have liked to have been told that it doesn’t define you. It’s not something that you should always be thinking about. I was guilty of not escaping the thought that everyone was looking at me all the time,” she admitted.

“That was the main barrier for me when I was meeting new people. I wish someone would have said ‘no one’s looking at you’. Everyone has got way more things going on in their head than you think they are. Also, I would have said this isn’t going to be forever.”

While Aitchison struggled with her self-confidence in relation to her skin, her sport gave her a great amount of confidence that she hopes can be found by others through being involved in sport.

The campaign will also see a sponsorship programme provide funding and support for four girls’ rugby clubs.

The successful clubs will be awarded £10k worth of equipment, travel funding, and education.

This is something Aitchison takes huge pride in being part of and is hugely impressed at the brand’s contribution to grassroots girls’ rugby.

“I’m so proud and excited to be part of a brand that is willing to go into that. Especially with Clinique, I don’t think this has been done before so I was proud of them for investing so much money into the grassroots,” she said.

“I think that’s the main audience that we need to get into, making sure that the younger generation is really taking note of this. Also just putting money into women’s sport in general, it’s so underfunded. We need to give more girls the opportunity to get into rugby, get into sport. I can’t believe that they’re putting in that much money, I was so amazed and I’m super proud of them,” she added.

Clubs have until January 31st 2023 to apply.

“Clubs can go to www.Clinique.co.uk/gameface and then there is an application form that you can fill in. Clinique want people to do videos and let us into their club a little bit more. The aim was for people to show us their club, and their team so we can get more of a feel for the people who are applying. After the application, we’ll pick the four clubs based on the things that they’ve submitted,” she explained.

Feature image credit: Clinique