LOS ALAMITOS, CA — As adults and teenagers across the country walk into Sephora makeup stores, they witness an unfamiliar sight: young girls ages 10 and younger buying an abundance of adult-marketed products and making a mess in the process. Allured by brands such as Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe, and Dior, many children are blindly buying products simply for the desire to be “on trend.” Without any regard for their personal health or the treatment of the store employees, these 10 year olds labeled “Sephora girls” have been shocking older women. 

What has really been happening in Sephora stores?

Since last Christmas, “Sephora girls” have been trending on various social media platforms as women, both customers and employees, explain the atrocities they see in the makeup stores. From wrecking testers to treating their parents and Sephora workers with pure entitlement, these girls have been acting off the rails.

Without any awareness of the cost of makeup products, many kids are even demanding that their parents buy them certain items. Within the stores, there has also been a recent trend of creating “skincare smoothies” by mixing different products together; however, the girls often do not clean up the messes they make. In an article from Allure, a Sephora employee recounted their experiences with the Drunk Elephant products in particular.

“Their moisturizers dispense differently than typical products, so the packaging itself has that surface area to mix products. Those testers are usually a disaster!” said the anonymous employee.

What caused this sudden obsession?

Swayed by influencers on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, young girls are being introduced to these “must have” makeup products. As social media use continues to increase, the ages of children obsessed with these platforms are rapidly getting younger.

“A lot of our traffic and sales for the demographic surround what’s big on TikTok or who they saw using what,” said the Sephora employee to Allure. “I’ve chatted about this with coworkers who noticed the same thing… The group is much more likely to try something they saw online rather than shopping around for themselves or off of employee recommendations.”

The new Generation Alpha, kids 11 and younger, are even producing their own beauty influencer videos at ages as young as seven. A mom and twin daughter trio on TikTok, Garza Crew (@garzacrew), is one of the many influencer accounts featuring child skincare videos. 

“We’re Gen Alpha influencers, of course our favorite stores are Sephora and Ulta,” said Haven Garza in a recent TikTok video.

With the constantly increasing number of kids on social media — both watching and influencing — the need for makeup also continues to escalate. The pressure for young girls to wear makeup can have genuine effects on their mental health and encourages unrealistic beauty standards.

Lee Elementary School’s psychiatrist Mrs. Julie Foot also commented on the social media scene she witnesses with her elementary schoolers.

“Social media exposure has made children aware of their physical appearance at a much younger age,” said Mrs. Foot. “I’ve seen fourth and fifth graders cry about not being able to wear makeup at school. Being so self-aware before being emotionally ready can bring on challenges, such as heightened anxiety and dysregulation.”

What are the medical effects of skincare use?

Guided by adult social media influencers, many kids are buying products without understanding the damaging implications it can have on their health. The trending items that these girls desire are often catered to adult skin, and it can be harmful for children too young to use these products. According to a UCLA Health Q&A with dermatologists Dr. Cheng and Dr. Galamgam, specific ingredients in the skincare products can have terrible effects on young children.

Although skincare use can create positive habits for girls to utilize in the future, it is not worth harming their skin while they are young. When using products, it is important for children to be aware of the chemicals they are putting on their face and to learn the difference between skincare geared for their age and products that can be harmful.

“On the one hand, it is great that children are realizing the importance of taking care of their skin. But they need to realize that some online advice can be harmful,” said Dr. Galamgam. “Kids need to be educated.”

What does this mean for the next generation of girls?

As the new generation of young girls continues to grow, they are raised in a media-centered environment, feeding them warped perceptions of what beauty is supposed to look like. Simply desiring to fit in, girls as young as seven are driven to extreme extents to acquire skincare products that are said to make them pretty or cool.

“Little kids think that they’ll look prettier with makeup because they see other people use it,” said McAuliffe Middle School sixth grader Emma Oh.

In a world where beauty is so often defined by outward appearances, it is unfair to see these twisted ideals taking root in children so young. As their obsessions change from toys to makeup products, the new generation isn’t given the opportunity to just be kids. They are forced to appear older than their age with the new makeup trends. Little girls deserve to be little girls without social media influencing their beauty standards and forcing them to be desperate for products that can be harmful to them.