\n<\/p>\n
J<\/span>essica, 25, <\/em>was working a shift at Sephora when a little girl who looked about 10 ran up to one of her colleagues, crying. \u201cHer skin was burning,\u201d Jessica said, \u201cit was tomato red. She had been running around, putting every acid you can think of on the palm of her hand, then all over her face. One of our estheticians had to tend to her skin. Her parents were nowhere to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Sephora employee KM, 25, has her war stories too. Like the day a woman was caught shoplifting and told the security guard \u201cshe was trying to steal because her kid was getting bullied because she didn\u2019t have a Dior lip gloss. [The mom] couldn\u2019t afford it but her daughter told her she is going to get made fun of at school.\u201d<\/p>\n When the mom walked away I was like, \u2018Your nose is beautiful, by the way\u2019Sephora employee<\/p>\n Gaby, 26, worked for Sephora for three years during which time, she said ruefully: \u201cI witnessed so much.\u201d One parent asked Gaby whether her tween \u201cshould get a retinol and start preventing anti-ageing now\u201d.<\/p>\n Another mother asked Gaby to contour her daughter\u2019s nose to make it look smaller. \u201cWhen the mom walked away I was like, \u2018Your nose is beautiful, by the way.\u2019 It\u2019s not my place to step in and say that, but I really felt like I had to.\u201d<\/p>\n The phenomenon of \u201cSephora kids\u201d \u2013 a catch-all phrase for the intense attachment between preteen children, high-end beauty stores and the expensive, sometimes harsh, products that are sold within them \u2013 is now well established. In the first half of last year, a third of \u201cprestige\u201d beauty sales were driven by households with tweens and teens, according to the market research firm Circana. The same year, according to Statista, LVMH-owned Sephora racked up around $9bn in US sales, while competitor Ulta Beauty reported sales of $11.3bn.<\/p>\n The trend is driven by skincare content produced by beauty influencers \u2013 many of whom are tweens and teens themselves. The videos they post put kids\u2019 sensitive skin at \u201csignificant dermatological risk\u201d, according to the first peer-reviewed study on the phenomenon, published in June by Northwestern University. Its analysis found that skincare routines posted by teens and tweens on TikTok contained <\/em>an average of 11 potentially irritating active ingredients per routine, which risked causing acute reactions and triggering lifelong allergies.<\/p>\n Sephora has tried to distance itself from the trend (\u201cwe do not market to this audience,\u201d said Artemis Patrick, president and CEO of Sephora North America, in a recent Fortune interview). Being seen to sell anti-ageing products to children is not a good look. Last year, the skincare brand Drunk Elephant became intrinsically linked with the trend, when its brightly packaged creams became a status symbol for tweenage kids, some of whom reported skin reactions to harsh ingredients. It recently reported a 65% decline in sales, which most analysts pegged to the brand losing touch with the adult customers it had been designed for.<\/p>\n Despite this, the situation has dug its neon-pink nails in this summer, according to a selection of current and former Sephora workers the Guardian spoke to. Every single one of these young women expressed concern about what they have witnessed on the shop floor.<\/p>\n Summer is peak time for Sephora kids: school is out and third spaces are notoriously scarce. The high-shine environment of the beauty store \u2013 brightly lit, soundtracked by loud music, full of lotions and tubs in vivid hues \u2013 can feel like a magnet for children.<\/p>\n Toddlers run around unsupervised, wreaking havoc with displays, knocking down banners or filling shopping baskets to the brim with testers while their parents were elsewhere in the store, according to the workers I spoke to. Or parents were pacifying kids with \u201ca full-blast YouTube video\u201d, said KM, who calls her store\u2019s tiniest inhabitants \u201cfree range kids\u201d.<\/p>\n Kennedy works in a Sephora concession within a Kohl\u2019s department store right across from the junior\u2019s clothing section and believes that \u201ccross traffic is very intentional,\u201d she said. Kids stream in all day. \u201cParents will drop their kids in Sephora and then wander the rest of Kohl\u2019s, and I won\u2019t see them until checkout.\u201d At that point, she said, some parents will materialize, often without looking at the specific products their child wants. \u201cI had that happen with a dad recently. He was on his phone the whole time, swiped his card for $200 not even thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Workers I spoke to also said they had tried to dissuade younger kids from buying harsh products from brands designed for more mature skin.<\/p>\n Sometimes, even with a parent present, the advice is not always heeded, said Gaby. \u201cThey\u2019re just like, \u2018<\/em>Well, my daughter really wants this, can you just grab it?\u2019\u201d said Jessica, a former Sephora worker. \u201cI remember one circumstance where a kid who looked about nine wanted to buy a lot of Drunk Elephant products: the retinol, the glycolic acid.\u201d When Jessica warned one mother that the products were too harsh for her child\u2019s skin, she responded: \u201cWell, we just saw it on TikTok,\u201d and \u201cended up buying everything\u201d.<\/p>\n When parents do listen, there are sometimes tense exchanges in store. From tweenagers pleading: \u201cBut I saw this online, it\u2019s supposed to be good!\u201d said KM, to \u201clittle kid type tantrums. You know: \u2018I want a lip gloss!\u2019 And the mom\u2019s like, \u2018You\u2019re six, you don\u2019t need a lip gloss!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n All the workers were sure that many of these products were going unused. Once a beauty product is opened and sits on a shelf for a while, it goes bad, points out KM: \u201cIt\u2019s just landfill.\u201d Overconsumption has been a concern.<\/p>\n Shoplifting \u2013 or \u201cshrink\u201d in store parlance \u2013 is also a big issue. \u201cI find so many empty boxes of product at work all the time,\u201d said Gaby. There was a \u201cwhole trend of \u2018borrowing\u2019 on TikTok\u201d, said Erica, 28, referring to a euphemism for shoplifting she believes has contributed to some kids getting very adept at the practice.<\/p>\n It is common for kids to use their parents\u2019 credit cards. \u201cThey bring out those silver American Express cards, the ones that are metal. And I\u2019m like, \u2018That\u2019s definitely not yours,\u2019\u201d said Gaby. Erica said she has seen little girls who look around eight say casually to their parents: \u201c\u2018I want to get this. Let me just use your card.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n They see everything with filters. They don\u2019t really know what real skin looks likeSephora employee<\/p>\n This behavior has tied into an overall impression of preteen children behaving like little adults. Kennedy described it as as a \u201cweird entitlement\u201d. Kids might come in on their phone, holding a Starbucks cup almost as big as they are. She said she has heard preteen girls say phrases like, \u201cI\u2019m going to have to start anti-ageing soon.\u201d They are almost always joking, she said, yet \u201ceven if it\u2019s said in jest, it is strange. They want to act mature and have the grownup experience of shopping at Sephora, but there is also this deep seated societal fear of anti-ageing permeating the mind of a 10-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n For Joy, a 25-year-old Sephora worker, the trend is \u201call about appearance\u201d. The visual landscape of social media is \u201ca lot of pressure\u201d for girls, she said: \u201cCelebrities and influencers in their 50s still look like they are my age,\u201d and kids notice that. \u201cLittle do they know, it\u2019s probably a doctor involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Erica said baby-faced preteens sometimes approach her in store saying things like, \u201c\u2018Do you think I have pores?\u2019 They see everything with filters. They don\u2019t really know what real skin looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Meghan Owenz, a clinical associate professor at Florida International University and therapist specializing in parenting and anxiety, said that it is normal for preteen girls to start caring about personal hygiene at their age. The pressures, however, have shifted for their generation, as they figure out how to deal with questions like: \u201c\u2018What\u2019s everybody else doing \u2013 and how do I fit in there?\u2019 If we insert social media at that time then they\u2019re flooded with this information.\u201d<\/p>\n Children cultivating a sense of belonging through products \u2013 whether sneakers or Beanie Babies or Pok\u00e9mon cards \u2013 is nothing new. Yet generation Alpha, those born after 2010, is facing a unprecedent amount of marketing messages for years: 43% of gen Alpha in the US had tablets before the age of six and 58% received their first iPhone by age 10, according to one survey. US government research from 2023 described social media use as \u201cnearly universal\u201d at 95% use for those age 13 to 17 and nearly 40% for those age eight to 12 (despite the age limit being set at 13 for many platforms). These are platforms on which the boundary between paid advertising and impartial content is blurred to the point of non-existence, particularly in the world of beauty influencers.<\/p>\n KM has begun to notice an eerie Invasion of the Body Snatchers language among tiny customers who talk in influencer-ese: \u201cI\u2019m here for my back-to-school glow,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m here for my back-to-school lip balm,\u201d they might say. Or they just \u201crepeat the actual product name over and over again, like they saw someone promote it but they have no idea what it actually does\u201d.<\/p>\n Owenz believes the inundation of paid influencers who \u201ctalk about \u2018my skincare routine\u2019 and \u2018get ready with me,\u2019\u201d leads to children mimicking their behavior as a \u201cdevelopmentally appropriately \u2026 way to fit in\u201d. Owenz added: \u201cThe problem is for girls is that they cannot possibly live up to what they see on social media financially, physically or otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has gotten harder to say no, because there\u2019s so much advertising to our kids all the time,\u201d Owenz added. \u201cKids are experiencing a tremendous amount of pressure \u2013 and they\u2019re going to pressure their parents more.\u201d<\/p>\n [The kids] have to have the next new scent, even though they already have six of the same productformer Sephora employee<\/p>\n It remains the case, she said, that it is the parent\u2019s job to \u201cdiscern what\u2019s appropriate for them and say: \u2018No, it\u2019s not appropriate. Here\u2019s the reason.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But California assemblymember Alex Lee believes putting the onus should not solely be on parents, in part because beauty companies are not obligated to feature clear labels or warning \u2013 only very long lists of ingredients. \u201cYour average parent is not a pediatric dermatologist,\u201d he said. Lee has twice tried to introduce a bill stopping stores from selling products containing ingredients such as retinol and glycolic acid to kids under 18. The Personal Care Product Council \u2013 which represents the interests of the beauty industry \u2013 lobbied against the bills, which have both failed to pass. In Lee\u2019s view, the industry is unwilling to do anything to disrupt its relationship with children it believes will be customers for life.<\/p>\n Many of the workers I spoke to believed that many beauty brands stocked by Sephora had started targeting this customer base, whether or not they would admit it. Kennedy has noticed shifts: brands suddenly redesigning packaging to be more colorful, adding tween-friendly products such as lip oils and blushes to skincare lines initially intended for more mature skin. Some brands encourage a collection mindset, said Gaby. \u201cThey will come out with a limited-edition matcha-flavored lip balm, or iced coffee, or pink guava \u2013 and [the kids] have to have the next new scent, even though they already have six of the same product.\u201d<\/p>\n Sephora, Ulta and Drunk Elephant did not respond to the Guardian\u2019s requests for comment for this story. Generally though, the skincare industry\u2019s response has been to launch more product ranges specifically designed for very young skin. Many walk a line between palatable messages for parents and social media-influenced and marketing strategies \u2013 such as drumming fingernails on closeup shots of bottles \u2013 aimed at preteens.<\/p>\n The trend rolls on: children have been hosting birthday parties within some Sephora and Ulta stores on an ad-hoc basis for some time, but last month Ulta made it official with the launch of a $42-per-guest birthday party package, offering \u201c75 \u2013 90 minutes of beauty fun\u201d using \u201chealthy, gentle\u201d products formulated \u201cwith tweens and teens in mind\u201d. As if to underline the sense that such initiatives are about grooming \u2013 in more than one sense \u2013 on their big day, the \u201cguest of honor\u201d will be gifted the opportunity to spend yet more money with the brand, receiving a 20% off coupon to use when they return for their next shopping trip.<\/p>\n Some names have been changed to protect the identities of current Sephora employees.<\/em><\/p>\n Illustrations by Min Heo<\/em> Jessica, 25, was working a shift at Sephora when a little girl who looked about 10 ran up to one of her colleagues, crying. \u201cHer skin was burning,\u201d Jessica said, \u201cit was tomato red. She had been running around, putting every acid you can think of on the palm of her hand, then all over<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[670,10696,681,166,763,313,13429,6426,2411,1438,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-21914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-burning","9":"tag-chaotic","10":"tag-child","11":"tag-children","12":"tag-looked","13":"tag-rise","14":"tag-sephora","15":"tag-shoppers","16":"tag-skin","17":"tag-workers","18":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"