Ilia Beauty and Halfdays Launch Limited-edition Ski Suit Collaboration

Ilia Beauty is hitting the slopes.

The Los Angeles-based beauty brand has teamed up with Halfdays to release a limited-edition ski suit commemorating its recent Barrier Build Skin Protectant Cream, $64.

Launching Tuesday, the full set retails for $650 and features Halfdays’ insulated Lawrence Jacket and Alessandra Pant in a mauve colorway inspired by Ilia’s “Wild Rose” lipstick shade, plus a matching makeup bag containing the moisture-replenishing cream.

“Protecting your body when you’re on the mountain, making sure your body is taken care of — that it’s not too hot, not too cold — this suit is very much in alignment with what the cream is going to do for your skin,” said Ilia founder Sasha Plavsic, a longtime skier herself.

After living in Los Angeles for 15 years, Plavsic moved back to Vancouver — where she grew up — in 2022, and has since made routine weekend trips to nearby Whistler’s eponymous ski resort. After her chief marketing officer, Liz Cebron, placed an order for a Halfdays ski suit, a mutual friend connected the executive with Halfdays cofounder Ariana Ferwerda, inadvertently setting the collaboration in motion.

“We’re both women-founded brands, and the way Ilia has tried to democratize skin care and beauty aligns with what we’re trying to do with skiwear and our mission of bringing more women to the mountain,” said Ferwerda, who launched Halfdays in 2020 alongside her cofounder and 2018 Olympic skier, Kiley McKinnon.

“A lot of brands in the [ski] industry speak to the more professional skier and roll with this messaging of having to be the best one on the mountain — that’s not what we’re trying to communicate with our brand. We’re trying to make the outerwear industry feel more fun and less serious, and I think a lot of consumers have resonated with that,” McKinnon said.

The collaboration marks a first beauty partnership for Halfdays, which recently opened its first flagship in Denver and has previously launched limited-edition collaborations with fellow ski brand Yardsale and camping brand The Get Out.

“The [barrier cream] is designed to soothe and heal the skin — whether its post-treatment or after its been obliterated by the wind and the cold,” said Plavsic, who infused the cream with colloidal oatmeal and ceramides, aiming to alleviate redness, dryness and irritation.

“Ilia launched 15 years ago with an aim to disrupt the makeup industry, and Half Days is looking to disrupt the ski and snow industry with their gear, and we’re very excited to support and be a part of that story.”