Beauty's new Olympic poster girls

A recent poll suggests that the Olympics has left behind a powerful legacy in the world of beauty: a brand new body aesthetic.

What most of us, 72 per cent to be exact, now aspire to is a honed and toned athletic physique and not, it seems, a catwalk figure. So it's no surprise that beauty companies are signing up our sports stars as their new ambassadors.

Procter and Gamble led the new wave with a "healthy is the new beautiful" campaign earlier this year. In a smart move they signed Jessica Ennis (who knocked both Kelly Brook and Kim Kardashian off the best female top spot in a recent poll carried out by the Lifestyle247 boot camp company) and Victoria Pendleton as their new faces.

READ: Olympians Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Ennis and Keri-Anne Payne prove they're worth it in the beauty stakes

CoverGirl cosmetics also turned to hard-working athletes, rather than models, to sell their equally hard-working make-up line with what they say, were 'impressive results'.

American nail company OPI is the latest to make its move into sport. It is an obvious choice, not just because the latest GelColor campaign (out in November) focuses on 'endurance', but also because Olympic nail art was hard to miss this summer. Virtually every competitor branded their nails with stripes, shapes and stars to show team spirit.

IN PICTURES: Olympics Nail Art

Executive Vice President of OPI, Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, believes colour is a "powerful language, enhancing mood, energy and even productivity." No doubt their strong line up of new poster girls will portray the very same message. They have decided on gold medallist gymnast Gabrielle Douglas, racing car driver Danica Patrick, volleyball star Miranda Penn Turin and Serena Williams, who also took gold in the 2012 Olympics.

Whether this shift in body aesthetics will be a lasting legacy remains to be seen, but with the beauty industry putting serious money behind it - Weiss-Fischman projected OPI would spend millions on the campaign - we think our new role models in training may just work out.

Via: Beauty's new Olympic poster girls