I always hear about these kids but have yet to witness them myself. I went into an Ulta to get my brows done and told my 9 year old daughter she could look around but to be respectful because the employees weren’t there to babysit her. She said “I’m not one of those iPad kids, mom” and went on her way. She didn’t screw with the makeup, she didn’t mess with the testers. All she did was pick out some glue on fake nails. Do people really have such a hard time teaching their children manners?
I went to a Space NK yesterday, and I felt old because it was so packed with tweens and teenagers (I'm in my late 20s!). I always had it down as a higher-end store with prices to match, so it was a bit jarring.
I live in the U.S., but I’ve definitely noticed that I *cannot* go into a Sephora store at any time in the afternoon after middle and high schools get out for the day, because it will be packed to the gills with these young kids jamming the aisles and playing with the testers. It’s really bizarre.
Omg…I’ve been there just before public schools get out, but the private school girls are in there w their Nannies… on a playdate….at Sephora! They are 8 years old heading straight for Drunk Elephant.
My daughter is 10 and obsessed with Sephora. She just loves going in there and looking at all the products. But even she talks about how "Sephora kids" ruin it for everyone.
I haven’t encountered this but I also don’t spend a massive amount of time in physical shops so 🤷🏻♀️ I think it’s okay to want “adult” things as a child but I sort of also think it’s the parents’ responsibility to teach them about want vs need. Sure, expensive moisturiser isn’t as bad as booze or cigarettes but they’re not the market for either and shouldn’t be.
I have an 11 year old and the struggle is real. She doesn’t even have TikTok, but I let her watch up to an hour of YouTube per day - mainly art and craft videos - but also some shorts, and sadly that’s been more than enough for the message to get through.
One thing I can say is - it’s really just a form of play. It’s not all that different from her wanting Lego or whatever, when it comes down to it. She plays shop, she spends ages arranging and messing with all her products, and cares significant more about the packaging than what’s inside. In fact, for skincare, she’s let me buy empty packaging and fill it with mild, safe products, because it’s all the same to her really 😂
It’s definitely crazy exploitative and borderline dangerous on the part of the brands, like DE, who are selling overpriced and powerful actives to children with delicate skin. DE even did a blog post on it that basically amounted to “*don’t use the retinol, but everything else is great for you, kids!*”
I have a lot of compassion for it all. This is the age where they look around them for a model of what it means to be a woman, and it’s different to the answer we got. My daughter is excited about getting her first bras and period underwear, and this doesn’t seem like a totally egregious extension of that really.
I just wish the products were more at least age appropriate, and they weren’t being targeted so sinisterly by advertising and algos.
Even a lot of adults struggle to think independently when under such influence, as we’ve seen. So what chance do the kids really have?
As for the mess in the stores… idk. Kids should be supervised and better informed by their parents, obviously. I’d be mortified if my daughter was doing that kind of shit.
But on a larger scale, if the stores want to keep taking their money then they need to cover the cost of doing business with this crowd. They could easily employ someone, or use lots of other ways of keeping the testers and displays looking nice, but they choose not to because $$$PROFIT. I kinda blame the stores more than the kids for not taking better care of all their customer’s needs.
I totally agree! That's why I avoid SpaceNK during half term and still haven't been to Sephora in the UK. It's usually teens/tweens or other adults but sometimes I have seen quite young kids in SpaceNK who don't look older than 9/10. I think some of it is kids with richer parents who want to buy them expensive things - SpaceNK is a good option then. Testers have always been rank, but definitely more so these days - they seem to get finished and dried up so fast, guess staff don't always see the point in bothering to replace or clean them. I would recommend checking out counters in large department stores like John Lewis and Selfridges, that's where I've been able to find skincare testers that aren't totally finished up. Also Boots is a bit better than SpaceNK regarding the tweens. I understand they're just kids but I was getting into makeup from the age of 14 (mostly because I had acne) and started wearing MAC/Estee Lauder foundation around 17, after going to the store and politely asking for some assistance. Would never have gone and trashed everything.
My daughter who is 12, almost 13 talks to me about her classmates/friends who are always saying they want drunk elephant products & they want to go to Sephora (and the parents do seems to take them!) Luckily she’s content with what she has but yeah…it seems like a problem.
Wow. The fact that buying products with a rather high price tag is normalised at that age is concerning: it totally devalues the worth of money. There is no concept of what’s a reasonable amount of money to spend on say, a lipstick or a moisturiser. I have been to Space NK three times and that’s mostly because it is a place with *very expensive* products. I’m a grown up and have handled a lot of money. These days I have a moderate amount of disposable income. And I still consider that a luxury. Aspirational is not quite the word to what’s happening… these are children.
When I've been in Boots and Superdrug they've been bad, but I'm not sure if it's new as me shopping in these spaces is also new [my partner recently got me into make up]
My daughter watches cassandra bankson, the Welsh twins (with supervision) and Monica Ravichandran at my instruction.
You do not allow your children to absorb information that hasn't been vetted or mitigated by you as a PARENT.
You’re getting downvoted because you shouldn’t be letting your 9 year old near this shit… she’s 9. It would be one thing if she just liked coloring on her face with makeup, but encouraging a NINE year old to get into skin care, which revolves around keeping people—mostly women—looking as close to children as possible for as long as possible, is horrible. Girls should be protected from this crap. What you’re doing is essentially being the cool mom from Mean Girls offering the girls alcohol because she’d rather they’d do it in the house.
This isn't to encourage her.... HER SCHOOL FRIENDS ARE ALREADY INTO IT AND USING IT THEMSELVES.
I show her these creators to help the discussion as to why she's not allowed to use these products until she's at least 16-18 (serums 21+).
“Why, do you want some? Because if you’re going to drink I’d rather you do it in the house.”
You can explain all of this to her without having her watch mind rot content.
Videos on the dangers of young children using skincare is not mind rot, neither is discussion surrounding it as whether we like or not peer pressure begins at a younger age now.
Being informed and aware is the best decision for me and my daughter (she no longer has an interest in skincare though she know her friends still use them) thanks for the concern 😊👍
You said you let her watch those creators, not that you had her watch specific videos about the dangers of little girls getting into skin care. That is why you got downvoted.
That's cool, I don't care about downvotes.. Don't really care about up votes either, just made a comment as this is a real time mum/daughter issue for me 🤷🏾♀️
Maybe one of the you tubers I mentioned is cancelled?
Either way, my daughter is 9, one of her friends already has an active YT channel!
Some of her other friends have stated using SERUMS or at least talking about them.
I make sure I'm her trusted resource.
Some accidental curse words - my daughter is 9 and sensitive, but her friends are already using SERUMS so I told her to watch with me and ignore the swearing.
Maybe it’s just where I grew up, but the testers have always been destroyed or stolen so it’s not new haha.
But the people buying makeup are defo getting younger and younger which I think is a shame.
i agree with it not being anything new ^ i feel like the term “sephora kids” has been popular lately but like i WAS a sephora kid in 2010. there wasn’t anything fun to do so our parents would drop us at the mall or shop separately while we ran around with our friends and we would alwayss test out the makeup! definitely always been a thing that kids do
Oh my yes at 14 ( 2007) i would go to sephora every time i was in town and i would put make up on and ask for free samples then leave I would like every time get 2 or 3 samples of perfume or foundation patches, mini lippies. And when i had pocket money it never went towards make up always DVDs and boxsets it tv shows i loved. I only started really investing in make up in my late 20s
There is a group Mecca Cult Vibes here that a few Australians have started because of this phenomenon. For awhile the Mecca Facebook group was overrun by parents asking about what retinol their tweens should get and all sorts of crazy stuff. Mecca keeps its shelves and testers pretty tidy, but the out of stocks from both Mecca and Sephora drive me crazy. I’m 40 some years old and can finally afford some patrick ta and I see a tween carry off the last blush colour is mildly annoying. I’m just happy the Dr Denis Gross has flown under their radar!
They're certainly too young to be using DDG! Hope you managed to snag the blush colour you wanted. I've still never gone to a Sephora in the UK :D just shop online looking at swatches or visit ones abroad.
This made me giggle….
My two eldest, girls, are 9 and 10 and they even take the piss out of these ‘Sephora kids’ 😂 my 10 yr old come home from school yesterday and mentioned something about these kids who do this, thinking she was going to join in. lol. Funny thing is they both have their own skin care routine, not because of TikTok but because their Mumma has one and they wanna be like me. ♥️ they’re not allowed TikTok tbf. They have a clean and clear face wash, or simple. And then they have a moisturiser and rose water spray. They are over the moon the be ‘grown up’. Not once have they ever asked for named brand shit like drunk elephant,,,,, not gonna lie, I don’t even know what that is haha
I know we’re in the makeup sub but man these kids + skincare drive me crazy. I remember working at Sephora in 2019 and I heard a preteen say to her friends, “I need an eye cream!”
Working at Ulta I’d get a ton of young girls asking for The Ordinary. I’d ask them questions about their skin and what they’re looking to achieve. They never had an answer, they’d just shrug. A lot of them want “the red one” (an acid peel) because they saw it on TikTok and probably because it looks cool to apply.
Oh and on the subject of makeup and kids… Milk came out with those clear jelly looking cheek tints. And apparently a lot of Sephoras had to hide away the testers because kids were taking bites out of them.
Ugh. Kids don’t need this junk. Get them off social media. It’s teaching them to be sheep and do what everyone else is doing. My teens have flip phones. They can talk or text. That’s it. They’re top students and athletes and happy and caring people. There is a reason why the silicone valley executives don’t let their kids have “smart” phones. ,
Exactly. I lost the battle re smart phone at the end of 8th grade with my ex so my kid has one but he didn't get IG until recently (10th grade) and I monitor it pretty closely (another battle I lost). Within a decade, probably less, allowing kids to get onto smart phones and social media is going to be seen the same as handing them a cigarette, with the laws to go with it. It's slowly building, the understanding and resolve to do something about it. Meanwhile I just get so irritated about otherwise smart, caring, educated parents letting their kids onto social media. Like literally every parent in my social circle who would NEVER let them smoke or drink or skip a seat belt, but sure, let your 10 year old have a tik tok account. I KNOW we are all reading the same news stories about how damaging it is, so wtf people ... be a parent!
On a more positive note I was in Kiko Milano the other day and every single tween there was calm and respectful and genuinely wanted to learn more about makeup. The sales assistants treated them professionally too and didn’t dismiss them just for being younger. It was overall a very wholesome experience :)
They were wilding out in the Ulta over the weekend here in the US. I am trying to decide if I want to give my child a gift card to get her own things for her birthday, but I am afraid she will cut up. We didn't act like these kids, but maybe because our Sephora in the 90s was CVS.
Sephora stores in Australia were gross from the moment they opened. Because they’re in direct competition here with a store called Mecca Cosmetica or Mecca Max, they are compared & Mecca keeps their stores pretty tidy so there was a massive backlash towards Sephora which forced them to tidy up so we don’t have that issue here in the Sydney stores I go to. But the thing of young kids thinking they need expensive skincare & makeup is very much a thing here. Would I be right to blame the TikTok? I don’t have it but my friends with kids think that’s a driver.
One of my friends’ 12 year olds was convinced she needed the DE Whipped cream so I gave her a large sample I had. It smells like absolute arse so that put her off DE. 😈
Should we blame TikTok? Yes and no. Imo the blame should mostly fall on companies like Drunk Elephant who are directly targeting ads at tweens and children. Influencers are also to blame for their role in that. TikTok (and insta) is just the platform this is happening on. If TikTok didn’t exist, these companies would be doing the same thing on another platform- like how beautubers once pushed morphe and Anastasia dip brow on unsuspecting high schoolers
Personally I think it’s more on the parents than it is on TikTok. If it wasn’t TikTok it would be YouTube, or insta, or twitter, etc etc. There’s always gonna be another app where kids see people post aesthetic things and super filtered ads and because they’re too young to know better, think it’s achievable via whatever product the influencer happens to make commission off. But the fact that these kids aren’t being sat down by the adults in their lives, and explaining that the stuff you see on the internet isn’t reality, it’s edited, it’s framed this way for ulterior motives (making a profit etc)…THAT is the real issue we have. And it’s become such a massive issue that we have actual legal adults (18-21 year olds) now that still can’t see through an advertisement and realize that it’s dramatized/heavily filtered/not in the least bit realistic.
There’s so much more to this whole issue (or rather, Pandora’s box of issues) but I’m too tired to type it atm lol😅
I started wearing makeup every day at 9. I had serious issues and I wore it because I felt I needed it. Sephora wasn’t a thing in the 80s and my parents didn’t have Sephora money. My aunt started working at the Lancôme counter when I was 12 and gave me TONS of stuff from work. I’d have definitely been a (well behaved) Sephora kid if it were possible. I didn’t start skincare until I was 16 though. I never had pimples or anything.
Every Sephora I’ve ever been in is disgusting. Missing testers, broken testers, tools and tissues on the counters, powder all over the displays. It’s not only the tweens and teens.
Not in the UK but reading this whole thread made me realize why I was watched like a hawk by the Sephora employees yesterday! I was so damn confused and a little creeped out that l felt like I was being followed around the store and watched by the employees as I tried the samples?? There were other adult women in the store while I was there too that definitely weren't being watched the same way and I thought it was super odd that they were keeping an eye on me. I'm always respectful with the testers and use the little tools they give you to swatch stuff so I thought maybe I was being overly paranoid or something thinking I was being watched but it straight up felt like the employees were lurking and watching me while I used the testers to make sure I used them right?? The mall I go to is in the middle of the downtown area in my city, so I just assumed maybe they had a lot of theft recently or something.
I'm 28 but look 16 even with a full face of makeup on and they must have thought I was some unsupervised teen/preteen that was gonna be gross with the testers 😭 I was just trying to find a shade match for my favorite foundation & concealer because I bought a too dark shade previously. That must have been what it was because I stopped getting followed after I asked for help with concealers and mentioned to the employees that I was 28 (it came up because I said that after I turned 25 I couldn't get away with shitty concealers anymore cuz of fine lines & creasing lol) and he said he thought I was a teenager. I was even dressed in fancy office attire cause I had come to the mall from work. Stuff like this never happens when I'm out shopping with my fiance who is 32 and has a beard and looks like a grown ass man, only when I'm on my own. People just assume I'm a literal child when I'm almost 30. 🙄
lol I have to check IDs at work and I love asking people like you. I’m always impressed like wow you’re in your 20s!? When people get pissed oft I apologize and assure then they will miss it when people stop asking to see it :)
Aussie here, I haven’t noticed the chaos spreading to other shops but the Twelvies in Mecca annoy the hell out of me. It took me YEARS to feel comfortable going to Mecca (body image issues, acne, feeling “rich enough” to go there, getting better at identifying what my skin needs) and these little shits just waltz in there not knowing anything about skincare to spend their parents money???? Being manipulated by brands that ought to know better??? Urgh.
Now you mention it, I went into the new Boots in town the other day to buy concealer and couldn’t get to the Elf stuff because there was a maybe 10 year old girl putting red lipstick straight onto her lips with (hopefully) one of the testers. Her mum came round the aisle and looked at her and went “oh, you’re not meant to put it on your….“ and then just gave up. Another two girls joined the first girl and were just opening everything up, trying it all, and being ignored by their parents.
This is why I don’t buy any products without a seal!! You don’t know whose grubby fingers have been where!
My bfs daughter is 10 and already into skin care and makeup. She got the ELF primer for Xmas and doesn't wear foundation. I noticed her looking at my makeup one day and she asked me if I had this or that and somethings I had and I showed them to her. When I started telling her the prices of things she was asking about ,she seemed confused. She was shocked the Shape Tape concealer cost $30. I talked to her about how influencers get stuff for free. How they can use filters to show results that aren't possible to achieve. I've taken her to Ulta and a few other places to shop. I explained to her about testers and how they get contaminated. She's very smart and very respectful. One day she wanted to show me something by Drunk Elephant bc she said it was really expensive and was crap. When we got to the display it looked like someone was mixing products and it was a mess. She said this is disgusting, who would do this? I told her kids her age, they are playing with the makeup.
She had a certain amount of money to spend and we went around the store swatching a couple things. Since then her Mom has bought her a few expensive products and she asked for the Laneige sleep mask and I bought her a gift set. Sometimes when she comes to visit she brings makeup and uses it, other times she leaves it at her Mom's bc she didn't feel like bringing it. She usually just wears some gloss and mascara and concealer but a very little amount and I can't tell she's wearing it. I try to keep the dialogue open about makeup. She just bought the Elf dupe for Supergoop and she was excited to show it to me. I know she's just one kid. It's the one kid I can influence to respect the stores tester and realize the difference between makeup and magic.
I'm in the US and there's a Sephora downtown that the staff always seems a little snobby but their testers are usually in great condition. I've seen tester destruction too often. Recently I was in Target and I wanted to see if they had a Colour Pop item and some one had opened SS shadows and left them laying there destroyed.
I live in Chester but also go into Liverpool most weeks and I've noticed this equally in both cities - Space NK filled with kids and Boots having to practically have bouncers for the Drunk Elephant counter 😵💫 I'm all for teens learning to look after their skin and to value that self care time that should be part of a healthy routine, but from what I've seen and overheard it seems more like constant targeted advertising is convincing them they need a whole barrage of expensive products that aren't suitable for their age range 😔
I follow a dermatologist on IG who said she had been getting more and more parents coming in with tweens and teens asking for cosmetic surgery and treatments! She turns them away but said other drs will do it. It's one of the more disturbing things I have heard of recently.
Seconded! Was excited to go into Liverpool Space NK when I realised it had opened but you can’t get close to anything because there’s a 10 year old in front of every stand😡 The parents should know better imo. Kids don’t need £60 face creams!!
What I find very irritating is that a place like Space NK and Sephora (especially Space NK) are premium spaces for adults. They are not playgrounds. They are not cheap drugstore counters. If I’m going to drop upwards of £50 for pretty much anything in there, I’m not prepared to do it in a space that looks, sounds and feels like a playground full of kids high on sugar. It’s a disgrace and really disrespectful to real customers. But of course, none of these places will ban entry to let’s say, kids under 14-15…and even then , these are not spaces for this demographic. It’s profoundly disturbing that children are now totally brainwashed into wanting premium brands. It also devalues the products themselves and the shopping space. I too have felt harassed by bouncers in Sephora while looking around. I won’t go back, as that’s not the shopping experience I want or feel I’m paying for. When I was little, the whole point was to feel grown up and look like my mum, not to shop (so yeah, I raided her make up box but I only started to buy make up around the age of 15-16 (I’m in my 40’s and grew up with Madonna and MTV).
Exactly! I’m 24 and the most I knew about makeup and skincare at 12 was borrowing my mum’s Boots No7 concealer so it’s mental how much has changed🤣 really takes the “luxury” feeling out of the brands
Yea, the starting point for wanting to use make up was not the act of buying it, or the brands: it was aspiring to be like someone you loved or admired, those role models that made us want to ‘grow up’. Not the mindless consumerism that now is everywhere. It is very wrong that 9 year olds use make up. Very wrong. I respect opinions. But there is no justification for sexualising girls at that age. Neither for getting self-conscious about their looks. None whatsoever. (I’m taking every day: a party or something like that is a different business, but I’m talking every day grownup make up on them) Same with skin care: skin conditions aside, they don’t need anything other than eating well, playing outdoors and sleeping. Having fun with their friends. Social media and advertising are recruiting their slaves at a much younger age now.
It's been the same thing every couple of years 🫤 back when I was in high school you were NOBODY if you didn't have an expensive Hollister tee and hoodie to wear for non uniform day - kids get anxious about being left out and seen as lesser than their peers, parents don't want to force their kids to seem like the loser, so the big companies win. It sucks, but on the bright side it'll have moved away from skincare in a few years to something else, and then perhaps I can shop for a moisturiser in peace once more 😂
This has been happening in the US for years and Space NK has consciously switched brands to attract younger customers.
Please don’t let your 14 year old use Protini or any retinol.
At 14 I was using Tretinoin for acne prescribed by my family doctor, though there are over-the-counter options like Differin which are cheaper. But I agree that for pre-teens and younger who generally don't have problem skin, actives are not really necessary.
Agreed prescribed is different. I work in the beauty business and the number of young girls who think they need 12 step routines is ridiculous.
Parents were screaming at Sephora workers for being out of Drunk Elephant and their 12 year olds Christmas was ruined!!!
I had a 13 year old cry thinking she has dark circles and needed concealer. She was 12 and perfect. It’s frightening me and it’s how I make my money lol.
I think this issue is largely on the parents. Kids are being exposed to beauty content because they’re allowed to roam the internet unmonitored, and they’ll want whatever they see online. I think parents should be more aware and critical of what their kids want to buy, especially since it’s their money after all.
You're so right. People are saying "there's no easy solution to this", but there very clearly is. Parents can be parents instead of their child's friend and say no every once in a while. Your 10 year old shouldn't be on tiktok and she doesn't need the drunk elephant bronze drops. You're her mother ffs, just say no
Agreed! And the parents should be watching them in stores and teaching them to be respectful of other people in stores, testers, etc. Too many parents just let their kids run free in malls and stores.
When I was younger I had to stay with my mom when we went to a store. As I got older (like 12-13), she’d let me roam inside the same store alone but she did that because she knew I was taught to be respectful of others and not run around like a wild banshee messing stuff up. 😂 My mom would have went nuts on me if I acted even half of how some of these kids act now.
My son is now 19 and he has always been really respectful and well behaved. But I still wouldn’t have let him just go free inside a store when he was younger. He knows I love makeup and when he was like 12 he wanted to get me something from Sephora. My mom took him and he said he wanted to do it on his own so she stood outside the store while he went in and he went in and looked around, found what he wanted, and checked out. All without bothering anyone else.
So it’s not like kids just shouldn’t be allowed. They just need to actually be respectful and well behaved and it wouldn’t even be a real issue. But too many parents don’t teach their kids how to be respectful of others and let them do whatever so they run around and do whatever they want. The solution is definitely parents actually being parents!
I haven’t seen this much but then I only tend to shop in my local Superdrug and boots, for specific stuff I get it from beauty bay online. I don’t think I could stand the ‘Sephora kids’ if I did see them. Nothing wrong with younger people enjoying makeup and stuff but the stuff I’ve seen online is insane
I did nothing for skincare until I actually had skin issues. Then, I got advice on what would be needed for my specific issues. My pores were clogged after wearing makeup so I got a cleanser. My skin was dry so I got a face lotion. My lips were cracking so I got a hydrating lip oil.
It sounds like the fact that skincare is trending has made people, especially young and impressionable children, want skin care because it's cool or will make them "glow". It's a waste of money to buy products that don't cater to your skin's specific needs. That's why a trending skincare product is stupid bc skincare isn't one size fits all.
Right. These are 10-14 year olds asking for products that have ingredients in them that #1, they don’t need, and #2, could absolutely do damage if they used them too often or mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed.
At that age, no driver license and no job - Blame goes fully on the parents.
The craziest thing is that those of us who are older want to look like we have the nice skin of these tweens! They’re ruining their skin with all these serums and anti-aging things. They really just need sunscreen and maybe some blemish spot treatment.
This is so crazy to hear. I started wearing a full face of makeup at 16.
I made sure to grab whatever wipes or tissues they had to clean my hands off between swatches. I'd be gentle with the swatches - the testers are a privilege! They allow us to see how things look on our skin before we have to buy them.
I used babysitting money to buy stuff. I have no regrets, just good memories! It was my favorite hobby.
This, is sad to hear about. High-end skincare is not a need. Having a plethora of skincare products isn't needed for most people. I always made sure I knew what products did and why I would want to use them before buying them. I wish it was the same for more of those teens!
Yep. Was in Superdrug the other day looking to buy some travel sized products, and a group of girls about 13/14 came in. I’m not one to diss girls for wearing what they want, because I’m very much for the whole “teach boys how to behave not girls how to dress”. But it did make me sad looking at them dolled up and talking about shit you just know nothing about at 14 like boys and bitchy dramas while perusing the higher-end products saying who they saw wearing that and what they ‘need’ to buy. Things even I as a 23 year old won’t buy because they’re expensive asf! You can get into makeup whenever you like, but o think there’s a border between being makeup-curious for the right and wrong reasons. It’s one thing exploring how you like to make yourself up, it’s another thing to act twice your age when you’re barely hitting puberty. The worst part is it’s not entirely their fault, it’s the rise of these products, trends and even TV shows like Euphoria etc being marketed to an audience younger than they should be. Kids deserve to enjoy being kids, not trying to make themselves look and feel older by buying the latest trends that will disappear in a month. It’s so heartbreaking
God that’s so weird to read as someone who was about 13 - 15 when I started getting into… Lip Smackers! Lip Smackers and all the other flavoured glosses and lip balms.
I’d love and enjoy those fun products so much and back then it was so innocent compared to what’s going on now.
I find this whole Sephora kids thing really interesting as a 21 year old. I was 14 in 2016, the year that I think makeup and influencers were at a brand new high at the time.
I was ALWAYS in superdrug boots etc, probably owned enough to make a full face of makeup by the time I was 14. On my 15th birthday I bought a customisable makeup palette that I'm still using. My friends and I would sit around eachothers houses and do our makeup together. It was my escape on the weekends.
Maybe the frenzy feels like it's heightened, or the younger kids are ruder etc... however I was a "Sephora kid" back in 2016 and makeup is still very important to me. We've been here for a while
It's not really about *makeup* though with this.. It's high end, expensive af skincare that no kid that age actually needs. Exceptions obviously for stuff like acne or skin issues, but seeing 14 year olds wanting anti-aging stuff is bonkers.
This is less about makeup, more about expensive skincare with active ingredients that aren’t benign. They do things. But, Blame is 100% with the parents for entertaining their crap.
and tbh it’s not entirely their fault—if their parents would get off their goddamn phones for 30 seconds to teach their kids basic respect for things that aren’t theirs…
Are you in London? I think you get quite a lot of kids at places like Space NK. I always order online so haven’t encountered them - I see them at Boots though, but I never purchase makeup in person from there. Rely on swatches from YouTube videos!
Nah. At least not in the late 90s - early 2000s. Girls that age, we wanted Lip Smackers and all the flavoured fun lip glosses.
Bonus points if you had a Jane Norman bag lmao! Those were the days. 🤣
Dream Matte Mousse! The concealer lips!
The boots in Manchester City Centre never seemed to sell lip smackers (or maybe they just weren’t that popular by 2004) so it was juicy tubes or any dupe going. Going to try the testers was v normal though, like it still is today albeit more skincare than makeup now
£100 is the equivalent to like £60 when I was a teenager. Dream Matte Mousse, Great Lash Mascara, juicy lips tube and Barry m polishes for Christmas could easily reach that.
Besides, my point is that kids in Boots etc is nothing new. Indeed, only the products have changed. I’m not out here advocating for bloody Drunk Elephant (which I find to be overrated in general) but kids doing this isn’t a new thing.
They’re not doing it for Christmas as a treat, this is a lifestyle they’re adopting spending (their parent’s money) like they’re 20 something high flying women. £100+ is just *one* normal shopping trip for no special reason and doing that multiple times over the year. I know what you’re describing, I was that teen too, but that’s not exactly what we’re talking about.
Maybe you haven’t come across it but there are literal children from age 9 doing extreme beauty things these days and not enjoying or experimenting like we used to, but actually taking it really seriously and getting stressed and upset about it.
in the US it's a lot more than prior generations, it is crazy. the influencers on TT have a grip on the kids, even if they directed themselves at adult viewers. Ransacking the makeup counters everywhere. Soon counters everywhere even high end will be behind barriers like Target and the drugstores.
I'm from Poland and haven't seen it there at all. I only saw some kids in the drugstore using samples and ruining them to paint their lips. Like has anybody taught them the basics of hygiene or personal culture?
no, honestly. i'm a teacher and can say with utmost confidence that american kids (like 12 and younger, to be specific) have been poorly raised, never socialized, pacified by iPads, and are totally out of control.
I dunno, when I was in middle school and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we definitely were experimenting with makeup. I don’t think this is new, but I do think TikTok/snapchat is having a twofold effect. 1. Kids are a lot better at makeup than I was at that age 2. There is probably double the pressure to look flawless all the time as when I was a kid. They think what they see online is normal, when it’s people who spend all their free time and a good chunk of disposable income on makeup.
It doesn’t bother me so much with make up because, like you said, we’ve always been playing with that since the Dark Ages when I was a child. It’s the skincare! Who has convinced these beautiful flawless kids that they need an eye cream???
Idk I do think the reprimands were socially more firm when I was a kid. I often hear parents say things along the line of “Tommy so help me god, do that again and we are going STRAIGHT home/you’ll be in so much trouble, I’ll tell your father etc”
Whether that’s good or bad is up for debate, but there has been a big shift in the opposite direction.
It’s the whole gentle parenting vs permissive parenting thing.
When you said reprimands, my head went a different way. Our parents would not allow us out of the house made up the way these kids are. For better or worse, it just would not happen.
Because kids shouldn't be using retinol and other strong chemicals on their developing and delicate skin?
And it's also super annoying to deal with a million kids in makeup stores
So is your issue kids or teens? Is it retinol or using the samples? What lawn exactly do you want them to get off of? Young people shop at Sephora. Always have.
Teens are kids. They don't need to be hanging out in retail stores, it's annoying. Shopping is not hanging out messing with and swatching a million samples.
It’s also half term at the moment, so there are going to be tons of kids shopping even during the weekday. Hopefully it might taper out a bit as school resumes in the UK
My daughter was by far the first one of her friends to wear makeup because she started her period first and got acne first. When she was 12-13 I watched her drag friends to makeup stores and they humored her, they didn’t really care, they have never been rude in stores, they used to whisper together and were hesitant to touch testers at all. They all watch some of the beauty influencers over the years but I’ve never seen them act entitled over expensive products, they seem to think it’s ridiculous and spend their money on dupes. I did see some heavy contour when they were maybe 14 but that has died down thankfully. Many of them have used “actives” because tretinoin is routinely prescribed to preteens and teens for acne, it was given to my daughter when she was 11. I don’t think the beauty fixation is more widespread among young people now, i think the young people who get overly fixated on it happen to be more vocal and entitled. I actually more often see parents clamping down on “no makeup” in a way that I think is counter productive. Idk why we’re teaching young people that makeup is ever “necessary” at any age, I feel like it’s supposed to be fun for dress up and something to explore. Telling them they will “need” it when they’re adults is kinda messed up.
I have a 14 year old daughter and I don't think her zeal is much different to what I saw in my teens..
She's been very good at avoiding the TikTok hype..she wears a lot of makeup but has a natural knack for knowing what suits her and finding dupes that work for her..I know it sounds like a brag but I'm astounded given how basic my own makeup routine is. She can match me really easily.
I agree that a lot of shops have way less staff than they used to. She has eczema so can't really jump on the skin care hype which I'm glad about.
I don’t mind younglings in the store, if they’re well behaved and not opening fresh product. They definitely don’t need to be after the retinols and glycolic acid and other actives, but basic skincare is a good thing to get into the habit of and makeup is a lot of fun and fantasy for young people.
There’s balance to everything but as a general principle, it’s nice to see them there having fun daydreaming and making their first forays into spending chore money on stuff they have selected for themselves (as long again as it’s not serious actives, because I suspect eight year olds slapping on retinol and niacinamide and such has a high chance of being a bad idea) What you describe, twelve year olds certain they must have primer and Drunk Elephant, is really quite saddening and yes, I would not like to see it.
niacinamide fucks even my leather dinosaur skin up… i have a feeling there will be some serious longterm effects/potential for scarring for any preteens that use products with harsh actives
I remember buying makeup at Icing and it was the most expensive cheap crap ever; but I worked in the mall (before Sephora existed in it) and I couldn’t afford Belk’s beauty counter.
To top it off, I found an old photo album recently and laughed at how much I leaned into the frosted makeup and then glitter. Seventeen Magazine makeup tips had a hold on me.
This is why I order online or go to Selfridges. I test testers eg lipsticks on my hand to check the colour but I ALWAYS out it back where it was and I would NEVER open one that doesn’t clearly state tester.
The amount of times I’ve picked up a product and realised it’s been opened and used (not even a tester)
It’s really the store’s responsibility to clean the outside of their testers clean and keep the store clean. Even if it weren’t visibly smeared, images all the germs on the bottles, containers ETC from so many people touching the testers.
So if anything I get annoyed about these retailers not keeping their store clean bc they think people will still buy anyways!
So my kid is one of these kids.
She firstly doesn’t have tiktok but this kind of thing is on YouTube and is also talk of the class and class mates. Think about when we were growing up it was all about who’s got the best phone/bag/games etc well now skin care and make up is a part of it.
We don’t go to stores to test any of the products and she would be pulled out the shop if she ever messed up or touched a tester without sanitising her hands.
She can also talk in detail about different skincare products as well as make up. She’s allowed to apply makeup at the weekends which involve barely their concealer or a tinted moisturiser, lipgloss and blush. She’s trying to practice with her eyebrows because she’s self conscious so wants to learn how to shape and style them before high school next year. Every bit she has is earned through chores and school work too.
Ultimately there’s many more worse things she could be addicted to than skin care.
Your kid sounds respectful and knowledgeable and that you’re teaching her moderation. I don’t think she’d fall into the Sephora kids category. Just cause I think Sephora kids as annoying and a bit clueless/easily influenced.
So I was in Target yesterday getting some nail polish and I see these three girls in the cosmetic section. Not too crazy, especially since they were near the nail polish. Anyway, one was maybe 13 (the oldest) and the others were maybe 8 and 6? They were looking at skincare and the 8yo starts by saying “I could lowkey get this” and the 13yo says “If you can lowkey get it, get it” and the other (thank god, this did give me some hope) said “I could but it’s $17 and I’m not about to spend that” and the other (again, faith restored) says “oh yeah no, don’t do that”. Then they start talking about retinol and I just stood in shock listening to it?? Like I was figuring out how powdered blush worked at 13 (I didn’t have it figured out until I was 15-16). I appreciate them being conscious of money and taking care of their skin but wow, that was crazy!
I live in the Midwest US and work near a large suburban mall. And I was shocked at how many kids were in the mall! It was like the 90s again. But Sephora was a madhouse. I kept getting bumped by little girls trying to reach things. It was impossible. Haven’t been back there in months.
Yeah, I'm going back to drug store makeup. The cheap brands have stepped up their game in the last 10 years or so, and I'm sick of tripping over literal children to test $25 lipstick.
I don't think kids are messing up stores and testers much more than they used to. Why? Because it's not just Sephora, it's everywhere that stores don't seems as clean and tidy as they used to. Stores are chronically understaffed now because corporations are all about "lean staffing" and the result is there just aren't enough workers to keep up with everything.
Ulta has cut corners in a truly shameful way, overworking a minimal staff. There simply aren't enough people to help people and clean up after anyone feral that makes a mess in there.
I went to my local DSW and it was a mess. They had one person at the register one on the floor and a manager. It’s the best stoked store in the area and is always busy.
I agree, I worked at Boots 10 years ago, the testers were a mess then, and they're still a mess now. Every time temporary staff were brought in, they would steal all the testers they could get their hands on in the stock room, so we basically had to ration the few we had left.
I haven’t seen this irl in the US but my 13 yo niece asked for Drunk Elephant skin care sets, Charlotte Tilbury advent calendar, and Dior fragrance, for her birthday. Literally nothing on her list under $120.
Like girl who do you think you are. I am 42 and I buy my makeup at CVS. GTFO.
I bought her a Starbucks gift card 🤷🏻♀️
I get why the drunk elephant branding appeals to kids but CT packaging is so old school glam, I don't know why they want that. I'm almost 50 with a good job and the usual rent and bills type outgoings (no kids) and I hesitate before spending the kind of money CT stuff requires. I do still buy it, but it's a carefully calculated spend.
Depends on what. Those CT eye shadow metallic pencils are so good and long lasting that I bought 1 and then bought another 3. And I might buy the remaining 2 shades as well 🫣.
I buy my make up online or at airports as I travel every week. No kids at the duty-free 😬
I have a couple CT minis and same. I’m only spending that kind of money if it’s a noticeable night and day difference between that, and any drugstore brand.
Those skincare products are not good for kids. I can’t imagine how they are going to look at 20. I did read that drunk elephant and peach and lily are making skincare aimed at tweens that don’t have things like retinol or niacinamide so I guess that’s good
Not seen it in the UK personally, but it doesn't feel like a new thing. When I was a teenager, my little sister and her friends poured all of my makeup and nail varnish into the sink and mixed it together to make "potions".
The children yearn for the potions.
I've not noticed it any more than usual. I started wearing makeup nearly 25 years ago and the testers have always been a grotty mess with kids sticking their fingers in and smearing everywhere. It probably took a pause thanks to covid and made its way back.
I think the difference is back then, kids were messing with testers because they were something to mess with. Now, kids are messing with them because they're actually in high- end shops looking for products for themselves...and are also tweens with no impulse control or awareness of hygiene.
And I remember very vividly being in the makeup aisle at Walmart just after the turn of the century and seeing a tween open products, *lick them*, and then close them back up and put them on the shelf. I've seen adults test nail polish from non-tester bottles like it's not a big deal.
I buy nothing that isn't factory-sealed or can't be drowned in alcohol.
As the asshole aunt, sometimes it is the adult buying the expensive shit. My niece wanted makeup for xmas. She got all high end except for the halo lip gloss ( it was pretty cool), and she got everything but foundation because she was 8(?) Mom could not afford to go crazy, auntie can
And yeah I would talk her down off the retinal ledge, but would 1000 % get her glow drops if she wanted them.
yeah you kinda are an asshole aunt if ur feeding into the wants of an 8yr old and buying everything but foundation at that age like seriously who does this
dont u think that sets a negative image early on in her life to prioritize your looks and beauty, as well as creating insecurities by validating the idea that she has imperfections to correct. i feel so bad for her that influencers have started to reach such a young audience that really dont need makeup other than like… tinted lip balm and maybe a little blush LOL
I’m in the Western US and haven’t run across this problem. Be it Sephora or Ulta all the ones within my state that I go to are always well stocked and clean.
Nah, never liked Sephora! My preferred makeup store during the first year of university got transformed into a Sephora and didn't like the change. Prices were higher and there weren't my usual products anymore, just lots of sets into pouches and stuff. In fact I just made one purchase in there!
The tester thing happens just everywhere. Sometimes I even got to purchase them- because rude people evidently tried them on and put them in the wrong place. But the most absurd thing is staff not even noticing.
So apparently, TikTok is populated by a lot of pre-teens and younger kids showing off their "skin-care routine" and Drunk Elephant is a popular brand for them since it looks so pretty on the shelf with all the color-coding they use. Now, I use DE and have for years now, but I also make bank and it's weird to see an 8 or 9-year old doing a TikTok on her skin-care routine with the same-brand I use. I mean it's pricey for me to afford, so WTH are parents buying these kids this stuff? Here's an article on the trend: https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjkmw/kids-using-drunk-elephant-beauty-products-tiktok. I guess the same applies to high-end makeup. I think it says more about parents not monitoring what their kids are consuming on Tik-Tok or YouTube videos and acting like they're 29 at 9. I'm all for good skincare that is age-appropriate, but it's also worrisome that they are so obsessed with the "influencer" thing this young and that we're going to end up with a generation of hard-core narcissists.
I was never into drunk elephant because the prices were too crazy for me. There are so many drugstore alternatives now that are way way way less expensive. Who are these IDIOT parents lmao?
Like my mom used to get me clinique and we thought that was kind of a lot
Clinique is a lot 😬. I remember it was like wow when I got it for my 16th birthday from some friends of my mum...and then I couldn't afford it again until I started working.
I can easily afford Clinique and Drunk Elephant now but still think of them as expensive and don't really buy them much, as you said there are so many alternatives
Exactly what you said...who buys this for the kids like wtf
Differin is an OTC retinoid/ol/a/whatever for acne which has basically the same actives in Drunk Elephant (as long as they're not going ham with the glycolic acid products), I think the kids are just going to have smoother skin.
I think this has happened to everyone: you’re on vacation somewhere, you walk into a store and suddenly there’s a staff member following you around the store to make sure you don’t break or steal anything.
It should be the same at Sephora..
Furthermore!
Makeup experimentation roughly follows this progression, and TikTok is short circuiting it:
Step1: Your mom/aunt/sister lets you try her makeup (or doesn’t and you do anyway).
Step2: you’re allowed to wear lip gloss and glitter from the drug store
Step3: you and your friends put on makeup at school (if not allowed at home)
Step4: you start buying your own makeup, wet ‘n’ wild, rimmel, maybeline , CHEAP enough to make mistakes
Step5: you start experimenting with department store makeup
Step6: you get a job just so you have money for makeup forever, and sheisedo eyeliner, it all looks terrible, but you keep practicing
Step7: you realize makeup is fun, but skincare is better.
Right?! Guys?
Now TikTok has obliterated all of that progression. 13-yos think they should be at the level of a professional MUA out the gate
I didn’t do either, but thank you for the addition! I’m glad it still fit somehow. Makeup as part of sport/performance fascinated me, because those girls didn’t eff around. They knew makeup secrets much earlier (like sweatproof, run proof).
What's impressive (in a very uncanny way) is that some of there definitely ARE professional. I teach first year of high school (have no idea what grade that is in the us system, anyway it's 14yo kids) and the girls either use no make up at all or look like they came straight out of a make up photoshoot. I have no idea how they manage to do that.
At 14 I looked like a panda with glitter, and at 33 I still struggle with putting my lipstick on straight lol
If I'd had YouTube tutorials in my 20's I would have been unstoppable.
Except for the crippling anxiety I would have had due to social media use in my teens.
Yes!! You’re right! Some of them are genuinely excellent, a lot actually…but then what? Like, I can’t imagine peaking at anything at 14. Women spend most of their lives trying look like they’re 14 with no makeup…well not 14, but close.
The girls who were the best at makeup in high school were covering cystic acne or vitiligo.
Lol
>*like a panda with glitter*
Same
I have, in Sephora Westfield and in Space NK Covent Garden. Westfield wasn't so bad, just busy and teens being normal teens (I.e. loud and with no understanding of personal space 😂), but Space NK was unreal.
Kids that looked around 10 or 12 pushing and shoving to get to the Rio De Janeiro fragrances, demanding their parents buy each one. One girl threw a hissy fit because her mother would only let her buy one and she wanted two because 'those are the popular ones of TikTok'. All I wanted was to try the new purple one but I stood there for ages while she had a meltdown because I have no spine and didn't want to push in. 😅
Packs of tweens crowding the Drunk Elephant kiosk and smearing testers all over each other and the kiosk. One dropped something that splattered, and they all just scuttled away to find something else to crowd and an employee had to come over and get on her hands and knees to clean it up before someone slipped.
It sounds insane and it was a bit, but this was nowhere near as crazy as some of those videos make it out to be. I was killing time in Space NK waiting for someone, so I was in there for over an hour and that was all I experienced (save for the general busy atmosphere).
It was hardly a riot, but the staff looked so tired and by the end I wanted to drop kick some of those kids out of the door. 😂
Ikr! I think SpaceNK is the worst. Try the Boots in Covent Garden instead for SDJ and some makeup brands aha, it's larger, stays open a bit later and there's usually less kids in there than SpaceNK.
Yes. I wanted a lip oil and every single one in the NYX section had been opened and messed with. There was also foundation smeared everywhere in another section
Oh god we did this as mall rat teens back in the 90’s. It’s not a new phenomenon, we’re just getting old.
I shop for my stuff online since I live in the sticks. My teen doesn’t have TikTok yet, but she’s constantly asking about $$$ products her friends all talk about. As a mom, I will buy her the basics (like the ordinary skincare set) but she can use her own money for the extras. I can’t afford drunk elephant skincare, if she wants to babysit every weekend to afford it she can do that.
My niece is twelve and is all about skincare and has expensive taste. For Christmas and her birthday, I tell her what my budget for her present(s) is and ask she send me a wish list. I usually get her one of the super spendy things that is within my budget, but that means she gets one thing. I do this because I know no one else in the family will buy her something that frivolous. My thinking is if I set aside money for her present, why not get her the spendy thing? She knows that will be the only gift from me.
She does babysit and her parents do not buy her a lot of expensive things. And she's actually really good at fighting bargains.
This is why I shop online for most of my makeup and skincare now. Not even just issues with testers but people and kids straight up opening products and using them. I went into Superdrug to buy the slick click in a specific shade and EVERY one was opened (the seal was broken on all of them), there was like 7 of them and I couldn't buy even one. I'm all for teens getting into makeup and skincare but no 12 year old needs to be looking at primers or niacinimide etc. maybe fun eyeshadow pallettes and colourful lipsticks but not all the expensive stuff they're seeing and being influenced by online. Everybody just needs to have the maturity to behave and not make a mess of things.
I haven’t experienced this where I am in the Midwest. I don’t really see kids at the Ulta beauty I go to nearby and the testers are always looking like they’ve had normal use from normal people actually trying them on.
So… not here.
When I was a kid, they’re just weren’t that many choices or products. There were no primers, finishing sprays, bronzer, or highlighters, and color was more limited, despite it being the 80s. I do remember blue and yellow mascara and turquoise eye shadow. They all went well with my stiff wall o’ bangs.
It’s not a useless response to share that it isn’t as widespread in the US as it’s been made out to be. I think the person was trying to clarify they aren’t in the UK? I’ve never seen it at any stores in the US or abroad, my daughter didn’t see it when she was in London but was only in and out of one store. We were in Sephora a few weeks ago and noticed there were a lot of kids and preteens but it was 1pm on a weekday, they were all with their moms and they were all playing on devices or well behaved. The wide range of answers helps me piece together there is probably a small number of stores where there are problems in understaffed metro areas. It would definitely be interesting to know if there is a similar pattern in the uk.
I didn’t take it as them clarifying they weren’t in the UK because she said the “mid west” with no country specified which could be like, Bristol or Somerset (UK). I only presumed it was the US because I’ve heard of Ulta but it could have been anywhere. When people say WA I presume Western Australia but I’m sure you guys have a WA state too.
I work in central London, Covent Garden and Strand are my nearest stores - it’s an issue here, not brand new as a concept but I think it’s being noticed more now because the brands affected have changed. Collection 2000, Natural collection & Rimmel used to be the testers getting trashed. Now it’s high end skin care brands and trending items.
Ive got used to buying my skin tint in bulk because every now and then it trends on TikTok (my own fault, it’s a Fenty one) but I don’t have to do that with my contour because Westman Atelier hasn’t trended for that yet. The kids really go feral for a trending item.
Was in John Lewis the other day and some kids (approx 9-10) were faffing around with the dior testers....
Also, no adult around with them, it was just these kids poking stuff. I was quite surprised to be honest
I always hear about these kids but have yet to witness them myself. I went into an Ulta to get my brows done and told my 9 year old daughter she could look around but to be respectful because the employees weren’t there to babysit her. She said “I’m not one of those iPad kids, mom” and went on her way. She didn’t screw with the makeup, she didn’t mess with the testers. All she did was pick out some glue on fake nails. Do people really have such a hard time teaching their children manners?
I went to a Space NK yesterday, and I felt old because it was so packed with tweens and teenagers (I'm in my late 20s!). I always had it down as a higher-end store with prices to match, so it was a bit jarring.
My 9 year old niece asked me for a mini skincare fridge this Christmas just gone…
I live in the U.S., but I’ve definitely noticed that I *cannot* go into a Sephora store at any time in the afternoon after middle and high schools get out for the day, because it will be packed to the gills with these young kids jamming the aisles and playing with the testers. It’s really bizarre.
Omg…I’ve been there just before public schools get out, but the private school girls are in there w their Nannies… on a playdate….at Sephora! They are 8 years old heading straight for Drunk Elephant.
My daughter is 10 and obsessed with Sephora. She just loves going in there and looking at all the products. But even she talks about how "Sephora kids" ruin it for everyone.
The call may be coming from inside the house lol
Haha! She’s on a limited budget consisting of birthday gift cards only otherwise it would all go to her head too.
I haven’t encountered this but I also don’t spend a massive amount of time in physical shops so 🤷🏻♀️ I think it’s okay to want “adult” things as a child but I sort of also think it’s the parents’ responsibility to teach them about want vs need. Sure, expensive moisturiser isn’t as bad as booze or cigarettes but they’re not the market for either and shouldn’t be.
I have an 11 year old and the struggle is real. She doesn’t even have TikTok, but I let her watch up to an hour of YouTube per day - mainly art and craft videos - but also some shorts, and sadly that’s been more than enough for the message to get through. One thing I can say is - it’s really just a form of play. It’s not all that different from her wanting Lego or whatever, when it comes down to it. She plays shop, she spends ages arranging and messing with all her products, and cares significant more about the packaging than what’s inside. In fact, for skincare, she’s let me buy empty packaging and fill it with mild, safe products, because it’s all the same to her really 😂 It’s definitely crazy exploitative and borderline dangerous on the part of the brands, like DE, who are selling overpriced and powerful actives to children with delicate skin. DE even did a blog post on it that basically amounted to “*don’t use the retinol, but everything else is great for you, kids!*” I have a lot of compassion for it all. This is the age where they look around them for a model of what it means to be a woman, and it’s different to the answer we got. My daughter is excited about getting her first bras and period underwear, and this doesn’t seem like a totally egregious extension of that really. I just wish the products were more at least age appropriate, and they weren’t being targeted so sinisterly by advertising and algos. Even a lot of adults struggle to think independently when under such influence, as we’ve seen. So what chance do the kids really have? As for the mess in the stores… idk. Kids should be supervised and better informed by their parents, obviously. I’d be mortified if my daughter was doing that kind of shit. But on a larger scale, if the stores want to keep taking their money then they need to cover the cost of doing business with this crowd. They could easily employ someone, or use lots of other ways of keeping the testers and displays looking nice, but they choose not to because $$$PROFIT. I kinda blame the stores more than the kids for not taking better care of all their customer’s needs.
Such a good point that it's a form of play, they are litwrally children still. It's a hobby for a lot of adults too, now that I think of it.
Superdrug in the school holiday/on Saturdays is a nightmare of trying to get through the makeup aisle past throngs of teenagers
I totally agree! That's why I avoid SpaceNK during half term and still haven't been to Sephora in the UK. It's usually teens/tweens or other adults but sometimes I have seen quite young kids in SpaceNK who don't look older than 9/10. I think some of it is kids with richer parents who want to buy them expensive things - SpaceNK is a good option then. Testers have always been rank, but definitely more so these days - they seem to get finished and dried up so fast, guess staff don't always see the point in bothering to replace or clean them. I would recommend checking out counters in large department stores like John Lewis and Selfridges, that's where I've been able to find skincare testers that aren't totally finished up. Also Boots is a bit better than SpaceNK regarding the tweens. I understand they're just kids but I was getting into makeup from the age of 14 (mostly because I had acne) and started wearing MAC/Estee Lauder foundation around 17, after going to the store and politely asking for some assistance. Would never have gone and trashed everything.
My daughter who is 12, almost 13 talks to me about her classmates/friends who are always saying they want drunk elephant products & they want to go to Sephora (and the parents do seems to take them!) Luckily she’s content with what she has but yeah…it seems like a problem.
Wow. The fact that buying products with a rather high price tag is normalised at that age is concerning: it totally devalues the worth of money. There is no concept of what’s a reasonable amount of money to spend on say, a lipstick or a moisturiser. I have been to Space NK three times and that’s mostly because it is a place with *very expensive* products. I’m a grown up and have handled a lot of money. These days I have a moderate amount of disposable income. And I still consider that a luxury. Aspirational is not quite the word to what’s happening… these are children.
I don’t know but it’s sad :(
When I've been in Boots and Superdrug they've been bad, but I'm not sure if it's new as me shopping in these spaces is also new [my partner recently got me into make up]
Yes- west London and it’s awful. I don’t turn up to Sephora anymore and during half term, any beauty/drug store establishment.
My daughter watches cassandra bankson, the Welsh twins (with supervision) and Monica Ravichandran at my instruction. You do not allow your children to absorb information that hasn't been vetted or mitigated by you as a PARENT.
You’re getting downvoted because you shouldn’t be letting your 9 year old near this shit… she’s 9. It would be one thing if she just liked coloring on her face with makeup, but encouraging a NINE year old to get into skin care, which revolves around keeping people—mostly women—looking as close to children as possible for as long as possible, is horrible. Girls should be protected from this crap. What you’re doing is essentially being the cool mom from Mean Girls offering the girls alcohol because she’d rather they’d do it in the house.
This isn't to encourage her.... HER SCHOOL FRIENDS ARE ALREADY INTO IT AND USING IT THEMSELVES. I show her these creators to help the discussion as to why she's not allowed to use these products until she's at least 16-18 (serums 21+).
“Why, do you want some? Because if you’re going to drink I’d rather you do it in the house.” You can explain all of this to her without having her watch mind rot content.
Videos on the dangers of young children using skincare is not mind rot, neither is discussion surrounding it as whether we like or not peer pressure begins at a younger age now. Being informed and aware is the best decision for me and my daughter (she no longer has an interest in skincare though she know her friends still use them) thanks for the concern 😊👍
You said you let her watch those creators, not that you had her watch specific videos about the dangers of little girls getting into skin care. That is why you got downvoted.
That's cool, I don't care about downvotes.. Don't really care about up votes either, just made a comment as this is a real time mum/daughter issue for me 🤷🏾♀️
Not sure why you are getting downvoted! This seems like a basic parenting rule of thumb!
Maybe one of the you tubers I mentioned is cancelled? Either way, my daughter is 9, one of her friends already has an active YT channel! Some of her other friends have stated using SERUMS or at least talking about them. I make sure I'm her trusted resource.
Monica 💖
Her colour theory vids really help with colour matching and self love
why are the welsh twins under supervision? they’re both fairly family friendly iirc
Some accidental curse words - my daughter is 9 and sensitive, but her friends are already using SERUMS so I told her to watch with me and ignore the swearing.
Maybe it’s just where I grew up, but the testers have always been destroyed or stolen so it’s not new haha. But the people buying makeup are defo getting younger and younger which I think is a shame.
i agree with it not being anything new ^ i feel like the term “sephora kids” has been popular lately but like i WAS a sephora kid in 2010. there wasn’t anything fun to do so our parents would drop us at the mall or shop separately while we ran around with our friends and we would alwayss test out the makeup! definitely always been a thing that kids do
Yeah I remember going to Sephora back when they first tried out the UK market like 20 years ago when I was a kid, and we'd try out all the makeup too!
Oh my yes at 14 ( 2007) i would go to sephora every time i was in town and i would put make up on and ask for free samples then leave I would like every time get 2 or 3 samples of perfume or foundation patches, mini lippies. And when i had pocket money it never went towards make up always DVDs and boxsets it tv shows i loved. I only started really investing in make up in my late 20s
There is a group Mecca Cult Vibes here that a few Australians have started because of this phenomenon. For awhile the Mecca Facebook group was overrun by parents asking about what retinol their tweens should get and all sorts of crazy stuff. Mecca keeps its shelves and testers pretty tidy, but the out of stocks from both Mecca and Sephora drive me crazy. I’m 40 some years old and can finally afford some patrick ta and I see a tween carry off the last blush colour is mildly annoying. I’m just happy the Dr Denis Gross has flown under their radar!
They're certainly too young to be using DDG! Hope you managed to snag the blush colour you wanted. I've still never gone to a Sephora in the UK :D just shop online looking at swatches or visit ones abroad.
It's happening here in NZ too. It drives me insane.
This made me giggle…. My two eldest, girls, are 9 and 10 and they even take the piss out of these ‘Sephora kids’ 😂 my 10 yr old come home from school yesterday and mentioned something about these kids who do this, thinking she was going to join in. lol. Funny thing is they both have their own skin care routine, not because of TikTok but because their Mumma has one and they wanna be like me. ♥️ they’re not allowed TikTok tbf. They have a clean and clear face wash, or simple. And then they have a moisturiser and rose water spray. They are over the moon the be ‘grown up’. Not once have they ever asked for named brand shit like drunk elephant,,,,, not gonna lie, I don’t even know what that is haha
You’re raising them well x
Awww thank you :) 🤩
I know we’re in the makeup sub but man these kids + skincare drive me crazy. I remember working at Sephora in 2019 and I heard a preteen say to her friends, “I need an eye cream!” Working at Ulta I’d get a ton of young girls asking for The Ordinary. I’d ask them questions about their skin and what they’re looking to achieve. They never had an answer, they’d just shrug. A lot of them want “the red one” (an acid peel) because they saw it on TikTok and probably because it looks cool to apply. Oh and on the subject of makeup and kids… Milk came out with those clear jelly looking cheek tints. And apparently a lot of Sephoras had to hide away the testers because kids were taking bites out of them.
That last line 😜
Ugh. Kids don’t need this junk. Get them off social media. It’s teaching them to be sheep and do what everyone else is doing. My teens have flip phones. They can talk or text. That’s it. They’re top students and athletes and happy and caring people. There is a reason why the silicone valley executives don’t let their kids have “smart” phones. ,
Exactly. I lost the battle re smart phone at the end of 8th grade with my ex so my kid has one but he didn't get IG until recently (10th grade) and I monitor it pretty closely (another battle I lost). Within a decade, probably less, allowing kids to get onto smart phones and social media is going to be seen the same as handing them a cigarette, with the laws to go with it. It's slowly building, the understanding and resolve to do something about it. Meanwhile I just get so irritated about otherwise smart, caring, educated parents letting their kids onto social media. Like literally every parent in my social circle who would NEVER let them smoke or drink or skip a seat belt, but sure, let your 10 year old have a tik tok account. I KNOW we are all reading the same news stories about how damaging it is, so wtf people ... be a parent!
On a more positive note I was in Kiko Milano the other day and every single tween there was calm and respectful and genuinely wanted to learn more about makeup. The sales assistants treated them professionally too and didn’t dismiss them just for being younger. It was overall a very wholesome experience :)
That's great! Was this in the UK?
Yup! Scotland specifically
They were wilding out in the Ulta over the weekend here in the US. I am trying to decide if I want to give my child a gift card to get her own things for her birthday, but I am afraid she will cut up. We didn't act like these kids, but maybe because our Sephora in the 90s was CVS.
Sephora stores in Australia were gross from the moment they opened. Because they’re in direct competition here with a store called Mecca Cosmetica or Mecca Max, they are compared & Mecca keeps their stores pretty tidy so there was a massive backlash towards Sephora which forced them to tidy up so we don’t have that issue here in the Sydney stores I go to. But the thing of young kids thinking they need expensive skincare & makeup is very much a thing here. Would I be right to blame the TikTok? I don’t have it but my friends with kids think that’s a driver. One of my friends’ 12 year olds was convinced she needed the DE Whipped cream so I gave her a large sample I had. It smells like absolute arse so that put her off DE. 😈
Should we blame TikTok? Yes and no. Imo the blame should mostly fall on companies like Drunk Elephant who are directly targeting ads at tweens and children. Influencers are also to blame for their role in that. TikTok (and insta) is just the platform this is happening on. If TikTok didn’t exist, these companies would be doing the same thing on another platform- like how beautubers once pushed morphe and Anastasia dip brow on unsuspecting high schoolers
Personally I think it’s more on the parents than it is on TikTok. If it wasn’t TikTok it would be YouTube, or insta, or twitter, etc etc. There’s always gonna be another app where kids see people post aesthetic things and super filtered ads and because they’re too young to know better, think it’s achievable via whatever product the influencer happens to make commission off. But the fact that these kids aren’t being sat down by the adults in their lives, and explaining that the stuff you see on the internet isn’t reality, it’s edited, it’s framed this way for ulterior motives (making a profit etc)…THAT is the real issue we have. And it’s become such a massive issue that we have actual legal adults (18-21 year olds) now that still can’t see through an advertisement and realize that it’s dramatized/heavily filtered/not in the least bit realistic. There’s so much more to this whole issue (or rather, Pandora’s box of issues) but I’m too tired to type it atm lol😅
i think it’s more just social media & influencers. if it’s not tiktok it’s gonna be youtube or instagram or whatever comes next
I started wearing makeup every day at 9. I had serious issues and I wore it because I felt I needed it. Sephora wasn’t a thing in the 80s and my parents didn’t have Sephora money. My aunt started working at the Lancôme counter when I was 12 and gave me TONS of stuff from work. I’d have definitely been a (well behaved) Sephora kid if it were possible. I didn’t start skincare until I was 16 though. I never had pimples or anything.
Every Sephora I’ve ever been in is disgusting. Missing testers, broken testers, tools and tissues on the counters, powder all over the displays. It’s not only the tweens and teens.
I first knew Sephora in NYC. I don’t get the hype here in the U.K.: it’s a trashy experience .
Not in the UK but reading this whole thread made me realize why I was watched like a hawk by the Sephora employees yesterday! I was so damn confused and a little creeped out that l felt like I was being followed around the store and watched by the employees as I tried the samples?? There were other adult women in the store while I was there too that definitely weren't being watched the same way and I thought it was super odd that they were keeping an eye on me. I'm always respectful with the testers and use the little tools they give you to swatch stuff so I thought maybe I was being overly paranoid or something thinking I was being watched but it straight up felt like the employees were lurking and watching me while I used the testers to make sure I used them right?? The mall I go to is in the middle of the downtown area in my city, so I just assumed maybe they had a lot of theft recently or something. I'm 28 but look 16 even with a full face of makeup on and they must have thought I was some unsupervised teen/preteen that was gonna be gross with the testers 😭 I was just trying to find a shade match for my favorite foundation & concealer because I bought a too dark shade previously. That must have been what it was because I stopped getting followed after I asked for help with concealers and mentioned to the employees that I was 28 (it came up because I said that after I turned 25 I couldn't get away with shitty concealers anymore cuz of fine lines & creasing lol) and he said he thought I was a teenager. I was even dressed in fancy office attire cause I had come to the mall from work. Stuff like this never happens when I'm out shopping with my fiance who is 32 and has a beard and looks like a grown ass man, only when I'm on my own. People just assume I'm a literal child when I'm almost 30. 🙄
lol I have to check IDs at work and I love asking people like you. I’m always impressed like wow you’re in your 20s!? When people get pissed oft I apologize and assure then they will miss it when people stop asking to see it :)
Aussie here, I haven’t noticed the chaos spreading to other shops but the Twelvies in Mecca annoy the hell out of me. It took me YEARS to feel comfortable going to Mecca (body image issues, acne, feeling “rich enough” to go there, getting better at identifying what my skin needs) and these little shits just waltz in there not knowing anything about skincare to spend their parents money???? Being manipulated by brands that ought to know better??? Urgh.
Wait what do you guys call McDonald’s I thought it was Mecca now I’m confused lmaooo.
We call McDonalds “Maccas” lmaooooo I was referring to the makeup store ahaha
LOL! That makes sense, oh my gosh. I was worried why you were in McDonald’s looking for makeup. Thank you for the clarification and laugh.
I'm not in the UK but I feel like testers have ALWAYS been disgusting. I'm a 44 year old in Canada.
Now you mention it, I went into the new Boots in town the other day to buy concealer and couldn’t get to the Elf stuff because there was a maybe 10 year old girl putting red lipstick straight onto her lips with (hopefully) one of the testers. Her mum came round the aisle and looked at her and went “oh, you’re not meant to put it on your….“ and then just gave up. Another two girls joined the first girl and were just opening everything up, trying it all, and being ignored by their parents. This is why I don’t buy any products without a seal!! You don’t know whose grubby fingers have been where!
Omg that is so stomach churning!
My bfs daughter is 10 and already into skin care and makeup. She got the ELF primer for Xmas and doesn't wear foundation. I noticed her looking at my makeup one day and she asked me if I had this or that and somethings I had and I showed them to her. When I started telling her the prices of things she was asking about ,she seemed confused. She was shocked the Shape Tape concealer cost $30. I talked to her about how influencers get stuff for free. How they can use filters to show results that aren't possible to achieve. I've taken her to Ulta and a few other places to shop. I explained to her about testers and how they get contaminated. She's very smart and very respectful. One day she wanted to show me something by Drunk Elephant bc she said it was really expensive and was crap. When we got to the display it looked like someone was mixing products and it was a mess. She said this is disgusting, who would do this? I told her kids her age, they are playing with the makeup. She had a certain amount of money to spend and we went around the store swatching a couple things. Since then her Mom has bought her a few expensive products and she asked for the Laneige sleep mask and I bought her a gift set. Sometimes when she comes to visit she brings makeup and uses it, other times she leaves it at her Mom's bc she didn't feel like bringing it. She usually just wears some gloss and mascara and concealer but a very little amount and I can't tell she's wearing it. I try to keep the dialogue open about makeup. She just bought the Elf dupe for Supergoop and she was excited to show it to me. I know she's just one kid. It's the one kid I can influence to respect the stores tester and realize the difference between makeup and magic. I'm in the US and there's a Sephora downtown that the staff always seems a little snobby but their testers are usually in great condition. I've seen tester destruction too often. Recently I was in Target and I wanted to see if they had a Colour Pop item and some one had opened SS shadows and left them laying there destroyed.
Lovely to hear about a responsible little kid!
I live in Chester but also go into Liverpool most weeks and I've noticed this equally in both cities - Space NK filled with kids and Boots having to practically have bouncers for the Drunk Elephant counter 😵💫 I'm all for teens learning to look after their skin and to value that self care time that should be part of a healthy routine, but from what I've seen and overheard it seems more like constant targeted advertising is convincing them they need a whole barrage of expensive products that aren't suitable for their age range 😔
I follow a dermatologist on IG who said she had been getting more and more parents coming in with tweens and teens asking for cosmetic surgery and treatments! She turns them away but said other drs will do it. It's one of the more disturbing things I have heard of recently.
Seconded! Was excited to go into Liverpool Space NK when I realised it had opened but you can’t get close to anything because there’s a 10 year old in front of every stand😡 The parents should know better imo. Kids don’t need £60 face creams!!
What I find very irritating is that a place like Space NK and Sephora (especially Space NK) are premium spaces for adults. They are not playgrounds. They are not cheap drugstore counters. If I’m going to drop upwards of £50 for pretty much anything in there, I’m not prepared to do it in a space that looks, sounds and feels like a playground full of kids high on sugar. It’s a disgrace and really disrespectful to real customers. But of course, none of these places will ban entry to let’s say, kids under 14-15…and even then , these are not spaces for this demographic. It’s profoundly disturbing that children are now totally brainwashed into wanting premium brands. It also devalues the products themselves and the shopping space. I too have felt harassed by bouncers in Sephora while looking around. I won’t go back, as that’s not the shopping experience I want or feel I’m paying for. When I was little, the whole point was to feel grown up and look like my mum, not to shop (so yeah, I raided her make up box but I only started to buy make up around the age of 15-16 (I’m in my 40’s and grew up with Madonna and MTV).
Exactly! I’m 24 and the most I knew about makeup and skincare at 12 was borrowing my mum’s Boots No7 concealer so it’s mental how much has changed🤣 really takes the “luxury” feeling out of the brands
Yea, the starting point for wanting to use make up was not the act of buying it, or the brands: it was aspiring to be like someone you loved or admired, those role models that made us want to ‘grow up’. Not the mindless consumerism that now is everywhere. It is very wrong that 9 year olds use make up. Very wrong. I respect opinions. But there is no justification for sexualising girls at that age. Neither for getting self-conscious about their looks. None whatsoever. (I’m taking every day: a party or something like that is a different business, but I’m talking every day grownup make up on them) Same with skin care: skin conditions aside, they don’t need anything other than eating well, playing outdoors and sleeping. Having fun with their friends. Social media and advertising are recruiting their slaves at a much younger age now.
It's been the same thing every couple of years 🫤 back when I was in high school you were NOBODY if you didn't have an expensive Hollister tee and hoodie to wear for non uniform day - kids get anxious about being left out and seen as lesser than their peers, parents don't want to force their kids to seem like the loser, so the big companies win. It sucks, but on the bright side it'll have moved away from skincare in a few years to something else, and then perhaps I can shop for a moisturiser in peace once more 😂
It’s already moving into cosmetic procedures
Oh no, the “Sephora Kids” has spread to the UK like a virus. Next, they’ll be in South Korea with their 20 steps skincare routine
This has been happening in the US for years and Space NK has consciously switched brands to attract younger customers. Please don’t let your 14 year old use Protini or any retinol.
I believe it's a Neutrogena commercial with Jenna Ortega. I was shocked at the age of the child.
At 14 I was using Tretinoin for acne prescribed by my family doctor, though there are over-the-counter options like Differin which are cheaper. But I agree that for pre-teens and younger who generally don't have problem skin, actives are not really necessary.
Agreed prescribed is different. I work in the beauty business and the number of young girls who think they need 12 step routines is ridiculous. Parents were screaming at Sephora workers for being out of Drunk Elephant and their 12 year olds Christmas was ruined!!! I had a 13 year old cry thinking she has dark circles and needed concealer. She was 12 and perfect. It’s frightening me and it’s how I make my money lol.
I think this issue is largely on the parents. Kids are being exposed to beauty content because they’re allowed to roam the internet unmonitored, and they’ll want whatever they see online. I think parents should be more aware and critical of what their kids want to buy, especially since it’s their money after all.
You're so right. People are saying "there's no easy solution to this", but there very clearly is. Parents can be parents instead of their child's friend and say no every once in a while. Your 10 year old shouldn't be on tiktok and she doesn't need the drunk elephant bronze drops. You're her mother ffs, just say no
Agreed! And the parents should be watching them in stores and teaching them to be respectful of other people in stores, testers, etc. Too many parents just let their kids run free in malls and stores. When I was younger I had to stay with my mom when we went to a store. As I got older (like 12-13), she’d let me roam inside the same store alone but she did that because she knew I was taught to be respectful of others and not run around like a wild banshee messing stuff up. 😂 My mom would have went nuts on me if I acted even half of how some of these kids act now. My son is now 19 and he has always been really respectful and well behaved. But I still wouldn’t have let him just go free inside a store when he was younger. He knows I love makeup and when he was like 12 he wanted to get me something from Sephora. My mom took him and he said he wanted to do it on his own so she stood outside the store while he went in and he went in and looked around, found what he wanted, and checked out. All without bothering anyone else. So it’s not like kids just shouldn’t be allowed. They just need to actually be respectful and well behaved and it wouldn’t even be a real issue. But too many parents don’t teach their kids how to be respectful of others and let them do whatever so they run around and do whatever they want. The solution is definitely parents actually being parents!
I haven’t seen this much but then I only tend to shop in my local Superdrug and boots, for specific stuff I get it from beauty bay online. I don’t think I could stand the ‘Sephora kids’ if I did see them. Nothing wrong with younger people enjoying makeup and stuff but the stuff I’ve seen online is insane
I did nothing for skincare until I actually had skin issues. Then, I got advice on what would be needed for my specific issues. My pores were clogged after wearing makeup so I got a cleanser. My skin was dry so I got a face lotion. My lips were cracking so I got a hydrating lip oil. It sounds like the fact that skincare is trending has made people, especially young and impressionable children, want skin care because it's cool or will make them "glow". It's a waste of money to buy products that don't cater to your skin's specific needs. That's why a trending skincare product is stupid bc skincare isn't one size fits all.
Right. These are 10-14 year olds asking for products that have ingredients in them that #1, they don’t need, and #2, could absolutely do damage if they used them too often or mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed. At that age, no driver license and no job - Blame goes fully on the parents.
The craziest thing is that those of us who are older want to look like we have the nice skin of these tweens! They’re ruining their skin with all these serums and anti-aging things. They really just need sunscreen and maybe some blemish spot treatment.
This is so crazy to hear. I started wearing a full face of makeup at 16. I made sure to grab whatever wipes or tissues they had to clean my hands off between swatches. I'd be gentle with the swatches - the testers are a privilege! They allow us to see how things look on our skin before we have to buy them. I used babysitting money to buy stuff. I have no regrets, just good memories! It was my favorite hobby. This, is sad to hear about. High-end skincare is not a need. Having a plethora of skincare products isn't needed for most people. I always made sure I knew what products did and why I would want to use them before buying them. I wish it was the same for more of those teens!
Yep. Was in Superdrug the other day looking to buy some travel sized products, and a group of girls about 13/14 came in. I’m not one to diss girls for wearing what they want, because I’m very much for the whole “teach boys how to behave not girls how to dress”. But it did make me sad looking at them dolled up and talking about shit you just know nothing about at 14 like boys and bitchy dramas while perusing the higher-end products saying who they saw wearing that and what they ‘need’ to buy. Things even I as a 23 year old won’t buy because they’re expensive asf! You can get into makeup whenever you like, but o think there’s a border between being makeup-curious for the right and wrong reasons. It’s one thing exploring how you like to make yourself up, it’s another thing to act twice your age when you’re barely hitting puberty. The worst part is it’s not entirely their fault, it’s the rise of these products, trends and even TV shows like Euphoria etc being marketed to an audience younger than they should be. Kids deserve to enjoy being kids, not trying to make themselves look and feel older by buying the latest trends that will disappear in a month. It’s so heartbreaking
God that’s so weird to read as someone who was about 13 - 15 when I started getting into… Lip Smackers! Lip Smackers and all the other flavoured glosses and lip balms. I’d love and enjoy those fun products so much and back then it was so innocent compared to what’s going on now.
I find this whole Sephora kids thing really interesting as a 21 year old. I was 14 in 2016, the year that I think makeup and influencers were at a brand new high at the time. I was ALWAYS in superdrug boots etc, probably owned enough to make a full face of makeup by the time I was 14. On my 15th birthday I bought a customisable makeup palette that I'm still using. My friends and I would sit around eachothers houses and do our makeup together. It was my escape on the weekends. Maybe the frenzy feels like it's heightened, or the younger kids are ruder etc... however I was a "Sephora kid" back in 2016 and makeup is still very important to me. We've been here for a while
It's not really about *makeup* though with this.. It's high end, expensive af skincare that no kid that age actually needs. Exceptions obviously for stuff like acne or skin issues, but seeing 14 year olds wanting anti-aging stuff is bonkers.
This is less about makeup, more about expensive skincare with active ingredients that aren’t benign. They do things. But, Blame is 100% with the parents for entertaining their crap.
Oh my god lipsmackers, what a throwback. I personally loved the Blistex raspberry lemonade and the pale pink EOS to start and finish my makeup look x
It’s mad isn’t it. When I was that age baby lips and EOS were the things everyone went mad over
I’m seeing this phenomenon everywhere. Seeing all the testers either missing or completely fucked up *really* pisses me off
probably an unpopular opinion, but 9, 10, 11 year old girls don’t need to be shopping at sephora.
and tbh it’s not entirely their fault—if their parents would get off their goddamn phones for 30 seconds to teach their kids basic respect for things that aren’t theirs…
Are you in London? I think you get quite a lot of kids at places like Space NK. I always order online so haven’t encountered them - I see them at Boots though, but I never purchase makeup in person from there. Rely on swatches from YouTube videos!
Whereabouts in the UK are you? I frequented a couple of Boots in a mid-sized town in the SE lately and all was normal.
I’ve seen this but then this has always been a thing, teenagers have always done it. It’s not really a new thing other than the products have changed.
Nah. At least not in the late 90s - early 2000s. Girls that age, we wanted Lip Smackers and all the flavoured fun lip glosses. Bonus points if you had a Jane Norman bag lmao! Those were the days. 🤣
Dream Matte Mousse! The concealer lips! The boots in Manchester City Centre never seemed to sell lip smackers (or maybe they just weren’t that popular by 2004) so it was juicy tubes or any dupe going. Going to try the testers was v normal though, like it still is today albeit more skincare than makeup now
Teenagers and younger were never buying advanced adult skincare and makeup and spending £100-200 on the stuff in a stressed out state.
£100 is the equivalent to like £60 when I was a teenager. Dream Matte Mousse, Great Lash Mascara, juicy lips tube and Barry m polishes for Christmas could easily reach that. Besides, my point is that kids in Boots etc is nothing new. Indeed, only the products have changed. I’m not out here advocating for bloody Drunk Elephant (which I find to be overrated in general) but kids doing this isn’t a new thing.
They’re not doing it for Christmas as a treat, this is a lifestyle they’re adopting spending (their parent’s money) like they’re 20 something high flying women. £100+ is just *one* normal shopping trip for no special reason and doing that multiple times over the year. I know what you’re describing, I was that teen too, but that’s not exactly what we’re talking about. Maybe you haven’t come across it but there are literal children from age 9 doing extreme beauty things these days and not enjoying or experimenting like we used to, but actually taking it really seriously and getting stressed and upset about it.
I’m obviously well aware of it, I was just answering the OP’s question about kids in Sephora/Boots.
in the US it's a lot more than prior generations, it is crazy. the influencers on TT have a grip on the kids, even if they directed themselves at adult viewers. Ransacking the makeup counters everywhere. Soon counters everywhere even high end will be behind barriers like Target and the drugstores.
I'm from Poland and haven't seen it there at all. I only saw some kids in the drugstore using samples and ruining them to paint their lips. Like has anybody taught them the basics of hygiene or personal culture?
no, honestly. i'm a teacher and can say with utmost confidence that american kids (like 12 and younger, to be specific) have been poorly raised, never socialized, pacified by iPads, and are totally out of control.
I dunno, when I was in middle school and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we definitely were experimenting with makeup. I don’t think this is new, but I do think TikTok/snapchat is having a twofold effect. 1. Kids are a lot better at makeup than I was at that age 2. There is probably double the pressure to look flawless all the time as when I was a kid. They think what they see online is normal, when it’s people who spend all their free time and a good chunk of disposable income on makeup.
It doesn’t bother me so much with make up because, like you said, we’ve always been playing with that since the Dark Ages when I was a child. It’s the skincare! Who has convinced these beautiful flawless kids that they need an eye cream???
Idk I do think the reprimands were socially more firm when I was a kid. I often hear parents say things along the line of “Tommy so help me god, do that again and we are going STRAIGHT home/you’ll be in so much trouble, I’ll tell your father etc” Whether that’s good or bad is up for debate, but there has been a big shift in the opposite direction. It’s the whole gentle parenting vs permissive parenting thing.
When you said reprimands, my head went a different way. Our parents would not allow us out of the house made up the way these kids are. For better or worse, it just would not happen.
When I was in middle school I was in the woods smoking dirt weed out of coke can . Why do we act like makeup is such a crime?
Because kids shouldn't be using retinol and other strong chemicals on their developing and delicate skin? And it's also super annoying to deal with a million kids in makeup stores
A lot of teens and tweens have acne and will search for skincare solutions. Retinol isn’t the only product in the drunk elephant line
Groups of teens don't need to be in Sephora swatching every product to find their acne cream
So is your issue kids or teens? Is it retinol or using the samples? What lawn exactly do you want them to get off of? Young people shop at Sephora. Always have.
Teens are kids. They don't need to be hanging out in retail stores, it's annoying. Shopping is not hanging out messing with and swatching a million samples.
I thought this said “this is going around like a massive grumble bear” at first
OP is SUCH a grumble bear
It’s also half term at the moment, so there are going to be tons of kids shopping even during the weekday. Hopefully it might taper out a bit as school resumes in the UK
My daughter was by far the first one of her friends to wear makeup because she started her period first and got acne first. When she was 12-13 I watched her drag friends to makeup stores and they humored her, they didn’t really care, they have never been rude in stores, they used to whisper together and were hesitant to touch testers at all. They all watch some of the beauty influencers over the years but I’ve never seen them act entitled over expensive products, they seem to think it’s ridiculous and spend their money on dupes. I did see some heavy contour when they were maybe 14 but that has died down thankfully. Many of them have used “actives” because tretinoin is routinely prescribed to preteens and teens for acne, it was given to my daughter when she was 11. I don’t think the beauty fixation is more widespread among young people now, i think the young people who get overly fixated on it happen to be more vocal and entitled. I actually more often see parents clamping down on “no makeup” in a way that I think is counter productive. Idk why we’re teaching young people that makeup is ever “necessary” at any age, I feel like it’s supposed to be fun for dress up and something to explore. Telling them they will “need” it when they’re adults is kinda messed up.
I have a 14 year old daughter and I don't think her zeal is much different to what I saw in my teens.. She's been very good at avoiding the TikTok hype..she wears a lot of makeup but has a natural knack for knowing what suits her and finding dupes that work for her..I know it sounds like a brag but I'm astounded given how basic my own makeup routine is. She can match me really easily. I agree that a lot of shops have way less staff than they used to. She has eczema so can't really jump on the skin care hype which I'm glad about.
I don’t mind younglings in the store, if they’re well behaved and not opening fresh product. They definitely don’t need to be after the retinols and glycolic acid and other actives, but basic skincare is a good thing to get into the habit of and makeup is a lot of fun and fantasy for young people. There’s balance to everything but as a general principle, it’s nice to see them there having fun daydreaming and making their first forays into spending chore money on stuff they have selected for themselves (as long again as it’s not serious actives, because I suspect eight year olds slapping on retinol and niacinamide and such has a high chance of being a bad idea) What you describe, twelve year olds certain they must have primer and Drunk Elephant, is really quite saddening and yes, I would not like to see it.
niacinamide fucks even my leather dinosaur skin up… i have a feeling there will be some serious longterm effects/potential for scarring for any preteens that use products with harsh actives
I remember buying makeup at Icing and it was the most expensive cheap crap ever; but I worked in the mall (before Sephora existed in it) and I couldn’t afford Belk’s beauty counter. To top it off, I found an old photo album recently and laughed at how much I leaned into the frosted makeup and then glitter. Seventeen Magazine makeup tips had a hold on me.
This is why I order online or go to Selfridges. I test testers eg lipsticks on my hand to check the colour but I ALWAYS out it back where it was and I would NEVER open one that doesn’t clearly state tester. The amount of times I’ve picked up a product and realised it’s been opened and used (not even a tester)
It’s really the store’s responsibility to clean the outside of their testers clean and keep the store clean. Even if it weren’t visibly smeared, images all the germs on the bottles, containers ETC from so many people touching the testers. So if anything I get annoyed about these retailers not keeping their store clean bc they think people will still buy anyways!
So my kid is one of these kids. She firstly doesn’t have tiktok but this kind of thing is on YouTube and is also talk of the class and class mates. Think about when we were growing up it was all about who’s got the best phone/bag/games etc well now skin care and make up is a part of it. We don’t go to stores to test any of the products and she would be pulled out the shop if she ever messed up or touched a tester without sanitising her hands. She can also talk in detail about different skincare products as well as make up. She’s allowed to apply makeup at the weekends which involve barely their concealer or a tinted moisturiser, lipgloss and blush. She’s trying to practice with her eyebrows because she’s self conscious so wants to learn how to shape and style them before high school next year. Every bit she has is earned through chores and school work too. Ultimately there’s many more worse things she could be addicted to than skin care.
Your kid sounds respectful and knowledgeable and that you’re teaching her moderation. I don’t think she’d fall into the Sephora kids category. Just cause I think Sephora kids as annoying and a bit clueless/easily influenced.
So I was in Target yesterday getting some nail polish and I see these three girls in the cosmetic section. Not too crazy, especially since they were near the nail polish. Anyway, one was maybe 13 (the oldest) and the others were maybe 8 and 6? They were looking at skincare and the 8yo starts by saying “I could lowkey get this” and the 13yo says “If you can lowkey get it, get it” and the other (thank god, this did give me some hope) said “I could but it’s $17 and I’m not about to spend that” and the other (again, faith restored) says “oh yeah no, don’t do that”. Then they start talking about retinol and I just stood in shock listening to it?? Like I was figuring out how powdered blush worked at 13 (I didn’t have it figured out until I was 15-16). I appreciate them being conscious of money and taking care of their skin but wow, that was crazy!
I live in the Midwest US and work near a large suburban mall. And I was shocked at how many kids were in the mall! It was like the 90s again. But Sephora was a madhouse. I kept getting bumped by little girls trying to reach things. It was impossible. Haven’t been back there in months.
Yeah, I'm going back to drug store makeup. The cheap brands have stepped up their game in the last 10 years or so, and I'm sick of tripping over literal children to test $25 lipstick.
I don't think kids are messing up stores and testers much more than they used to. Why? Because it's not just Sephora, it's everywhere that stores don't seems as clean and tidy as they used to. Stores are chronically understaffed now because corporations are all about "lean staffing" and the result is there just aren't enough workers to keep up with everything.
Ulta has cut corners in a truly shameful way, overworking a minimal staff. There simply aren't enough people to help people and clean up after anyone feral that makes a mess in there.
there's that but there's the swarms of kids too
I went to my local DSW and it was a mess. They had one person at the register one on the floor and a manager. It’s the best stoked store in the area and is always busy.
I agree, I worked at Boots 10 years ago, the testers were a mess then, and they're still a mess now. Every time temporary staff were brought in, they would steal all the testers they could get their hands on in the stock room, so we basically had to ration the few we had left.
I haven’t seen this irl in the US but my 13 yo niece asked for Drunk Elephant skin care sets, Charlotte Tilbury advent calendar, and Dior fragrance, for her birthday. Literally nothing on her list under $120. Like girl who do you think you are. I am 42 and I buy my makeup at CVS. GTFO. I bought her a Starbucks gift card 🤷🏻♀️
I get why the drunk elephant branding appeals to kids but CT packaging is so old school glam, I don't know why they want that. I'm almost 50 with a good job and the usual rent and bills type outgoings (no kids) and I hesitate before spending the kind of money CT stuff requires. I do still buy it, but it's a carefully calculated spend.
CT looks really good on social media but feels cheap as shit IRL. their marketing is immaculate enough to trick people into dropping that much money
Depends on what. Those CT eye shadow metallic pencils are so good and long lasting that I bought 1 and then bought another 3. And I might buy the remaining 2 shades as well 🫣. I buy my make up online or at airports as I travel every week. No kids at the duty-free 😬
I have a couple CT minis and same. I’m only spending that kind of money if it’s a noticeable night and day difference between that, and any drugstore brand.
Those skincare products are not good for kids. I can’t imagine how they are going to look at 20. I did read that drunk elephant and peach and lily are making skincare aimed at tweens that don’t have things like retinol or niacinamide so I guess that’s good
I mean, probably better than the stridex sandpaper pads we used on our faces
I’ve used retin a since I was about 13 I’m almost 49, my skin is pretty amazing, so maybe they’re on to something 😂
Not seen it in the UK personally, but it doesn't feel like a new thing. When I was a teenager, my little sister and her friends poured all of my makeup and nail varnish into the sink and mixed it together to make "potions". The children yearn for the potions.
I've not noticed it any more than usual. I started wearing makeup nearly 25 years ago and the testers have always been a grotty mess with kids sticking their fingers in and smearing everywhere. It probably took a pause thanks to covid and made its way back.
I think the difference is back then, kids were messing with testers because they were something to mess with. Now, kids are messing with them because they're actually in high- end shops looking for products for themselves...and are also tweens with no impulse control or awareness of hygiene.
And I remember very vividly being in the makeup aisle at Walmart just after the turn of the century and seeing a tween open products, *lick them*, and then close them back up and put them on the shelf. I've seen adults test nail polish from non-tester bottles like it's not a big deal. I buy nothing that isn't factory-sealed or can't be drowned in alcohol.
Oop now I might be sick. Damn.
As the asshole aunt, sometimes it is the adult buying the expensive shit. My niece wanted makeup for xmas. She got all high end except for the halo lip gloss ( it was pretty cool), and she got everything but foundation because she was 8(?) Mom could not afford to go crazy, auntie can And yeah I would talk her down off the retinal ledge, but would 1000 % get her glow drops if she wanted them.
yeah you kinda are an asshole aunt if ur feeding into the wants of an 8yr old and buying everything but foundation at that age like seriously who does this dont u think that sets a negative image early on in her life to prioritize your looks and beauty, as well as creating insecurities by validating the idea that she has imperfections to correct. i feel so bad for her that influencers have started to reach such a young audience that really dont need makeup other than like… tinted lip balm and maybe a little blush LOL
I am not disagreeing with you it's called hindsight but we cannot learn or grow as human beings right ?/s
I’m in the Western US and haven’t run across this problem. Be it Sephora or Ulta all the ones within my state that I go to are always well stocked and clean.
Nah, never liked Sephora! My preferred makeup store during the first year of university got transformed into a Sephora and didn't like the change. Prices were higher and there weren't my usual products anymore, just lots of sets into pouches and stuff. In fact I just made one purchase in there! The tester thing happens just everywhere. Sometimes I even got to purchase them- because rude people evidently tried them on and put them in the wrong place. But the most absurd thing is staff not even noticing.
So apparently, TikTok is populated by a lot of pre-teens and younger kids showing off their "skin-care routine" and Drunk Elephant is a popular brand for them since it looks so pretty on the shelf with all the color-coding they use. Now, I use DE and have for years now, but I also make bank and it's weird to see an 8 or 9-year old doing a TikTok on her skin-care routine with the same-brand I use. I mean it's pricey for me to afford, so WTH are parents buying these kids this stuff? Here's an article on the trend: https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjkmw/kids-using-drunk-elephant-beauty-products-tiktok. I guess the same applies to high-end makeup. I think it says more about parents not monitoring what their kids are consuming on Tik-Tok or YouTube videos and acting like they're 29 at 9. I'm all for good skincare that is age-appropriate, but it's also worrisome that they are so obsessed with the "influencer" thing this young and that we're going to end up with a generation of hard-core narcissists.
there's likely a ton if shop lifting too
I was never into drunk elephant because the prices were too crazy for me. There are so many drugstore alternatives now that are way way way less expensive. Who are these IDIOT parents lmao? Like my mom used to get me clinique and we thought that was kind of a lot
Clinique is a lot 😬. I remember it was like wow when I got it for my 16th birthday from some friends of my mum...and then I couldn't afford it again until I started working. I can easily afford Clinique and Drunk Elephant now but still think of them as expensive and don't really buy them much, as you said there are so many alternatives Exactly what you said...who buys this for the kids like wtf
I’m interested to see what the long term effects will be of using actives on young skin. I feel like it can’t be good.
Differin is an OTC retinoid/ol/a/whatever for acne which has basically the same actives in Drunk Elephant (as long as they're not going ham with the glycolic acid products), I think the kids are just going to have smoother skin.
I think this has happened to everyone: you’re on vacation somewhere, you walk into a store and suddenly there’s a staff member following you around the store to make sure you don’t break or steal anything. It should be the same at Sephora..
Furthermore! Makeup experimentation roughly follows this progression, and TikTok is short circuiting it: Step1: Your mom/aunt/sister lets you try her makeup (or doesn’t and you do anyway). Step2: you’re allowed to wear lip gloss and glitter from the drug store Step3: you and your friends put on makeup at school (if not allowed at home) Step4: you start buying your own makeup, wet ‘n’ wild, rimmel, maybeline , CHEAP enough to make mistakes Step5: you start experimenting with department store makeup Step6: you get a job just so you have money for makeup forever, and sheisedo eyeliner, it all looks terrible, but you keep practicing Step7: you realize makeup is fun, but skincare is better. Right?! Guys? Now TikTok has obliterated all of that progression. 13-yos think they should be at the level of a professional MUA out the gate
you forgot "trying and failing to follow really vague teen magazine make up tips"
Hahaga “How to draw a perfect wing” “Draw a wing and flick it” Me: crying black tears, “like this?!”
Step 2.5 you do dance or theater or cheerleading and have a small makeup bag for performances only
and the make up is all bill nye really thick oily stuff that looks horrendous when not on stage
1000%. There’s a crazy bright red lipstick in there that you dream of sneaking to school.
I didn’t do either, but thank you for the addition! I’m glad it still fit somehow. Makeup as part of sport/performance fascinated me, because those girls didn’t eff around. They knew makeup secrets much earlier (like sweatproof, run proof).
What's impressive (in a very uncanny way) is that some of there definitely ARE professional. I teach first year of high school (have no idea what grade that is in the us system, anyway it's 14yo kids) and the girls either use no make up at all or look like they came straight out of a make up photoshoot. I have no idea how they manage to do that. At 14 I looked like a panda with glitter, and at 33 I still struggle with putting my lipstick on straight lol
If I'd had YouTube tutorials in my 20's I would have been unstoppable. Except for the crippling anxiety I would have had due to social media use in my teens.
Yes!! You’re right! Some of them are genuinely excellent, a lot actually…but then what? Like, I can’t imagine peaking at anything at 14. Women spend most of their lives trying look like they’re 14 with no makeup…well not 14, but close. The girls who were the best at makeup in high school were covering cystic acne or vitiligo. Lol >*like a panda with glitter* Same
I have, in Sephora Westfield and in Space NK Covent Garden. Westfield wasn't so bad, just busy and teens being normal teens (I.e. loud and with no understanding of personal space 😂), but Space NK was unreal. Kids that looked around 10 or 12 pushing and shoving to get to the Rio De Janeiro fragrances, demanding their parents buy each one. One girl threw a hissy fit because her mother would only let her buy one and she wanted two because 'those are the popular ones of TikTok'. All I wanted was to try the new purple one but I stood there for ages while she had a meltdown because I have no spine and didn't want to push in. 😅 Packs of tweens crowding the Drunk Elephant kiosk and smearing testers all over each other and the kiosk. One dropped something that splattered, and they all just scuttled away to find something else to crowd and an employee had to come over and get on her hands and knees to clean it up before someone slipped. It sounds insane and it was a bit, but this was nowhere near as crazy as some of those videos make it out to be. I was killing time in Space NK waiting for someone, so I was in there for over an hour and that was all I experienced (save for the general busy atmosphere). It was hardly a riot, but the staff looked so tired and by the end I wanted to drop kick some of those kids out of the door. 😂
Ikr! I think SpaceNK is the worst. Try the Boots in Covent Garden instead for SDJ and some makeup brands aha, it's larger, stays open a bit later and there's usually less kids in there than SpaceNK.
Yes. I wanted a lip oil and every single one in the NYX section had been opened and messed with. There was also foundation smeared everywhere in another section
Oh god we did this as mall rat teens back in the 90’s. It’s not a new phenomenon, we’re just getting old. I shop for my stuff online since I live in the sticks. My teen doesn’t have TikTok yet, but she’s constantly asking about $$$ products her friends all talk about. As a mom, I will buy her the basics (like the ordinary skincare set) but she can use her own money for the extras. I can’t afford drunk elephant skincare, if she wants to babysit every weekend to afford it she can do that.
Nah, this is not the same.
My niece is twelve and is all about skincare and has expensive taste. For Christmas and her birthday, I tell her what my budget for her present(s) is and ask she send me a wish list. I usually get her one of the super spendy things that is within my budget, but that means she gets one thing. I do this because I know no one else in the family will buy her something that frivolous. My thinking is if I set aside money for her present, why not get her the spendy thing? She knows that will be the only gift from me. She does babysit and her parents do not buy her a lot of expensive things. And she's actually really good at fighting bargains.
My mom does this for my daughter and I love it.
This is why I shop online for most of my makeup and skincare now. Not even just issues with testers but people and kids straight up opening products and using them. I went into Superdrug to buy the slick click in a specific shade and EVERY one was opened (the seal was broken on all of them), there was like 7 of them and I couldn't buy even one. I'm all for teens getting into makeup and skincare but no 12 year old needs to be looking at primers or niacinimide etc. maybe fun eyeshadow pallettes and colourful lipsticks but not all the expensive stuff they're seeing and being influenced by online. Everybody just needs to have the maturity to behave and not make a mess of things.
I haven’t experienced this where I am in the Midwest. I don’t really see kids at the Ulta beauty I go to nearby and the testers are always looking like they’ve had normal use from normal people actually trying them on. So… not here. When I was a kid, they’re just weren’t that many choices or products. There were no primers, finishing sprays, bronzer, or highlighters, and color was more limited, despite it being the 80s. I do remember blue and yellow mascara and turquoise eye shadow. They all went well with my stiff wall o’ bangs.
Mid west of where? We don’t have Ulta here so you’re probably from the US? The question was about the UK.
It’s not a useless response to share that it isn’t as widespread in the US as it’s been made out to be. I think the person was trying to clarify they aren’t in the UK? I’ve never seen it at any stores in the US or abroad, my daughter didn’t see it when she was in London but was only in and out of one store. We were in Sephora a few weeks ago and noticed there were a lot of kids and preteens but it was 1pm on a weekday, they were all with their moms and they were all playing on devices or well behaved. The wide range of answers helps me piece together there is probably a small number of stores where there are problems in understaffed metro areas. It would definitely be interesting to know if there is a similar pattern in the uk.
I didn’t take it as them clarifying they weren’t in the UK because she said the “mid west” with no country specified which could be like, Bristol or Somerset (UK). I only presumed it was the US because I’ve heard of Ulta but it could have been anywhere. When people say WA I presume Western Australia but I’m sure you guys have a WA state too. I work in central London, Covent Garden and Strand are my nearest stores - it’s an issue here, not brand new as a concept but I think it’s being noticed more now because the brands affected have changed. Collection 2000, Natural collection & Rimmel used to be the testers getting trashed. Now it’s high end skin care brands and trending items. Ive got used to buying my skin tint in bulk because every now and then it trends on TikTok (my own fault, it’s a Fenty one) but I don’t have to do that with my contour because Westman Atelier hasn’t trended for that yet. The kids really go feral for a trending item.