The Tweens Descend on Sephora

By Patricia Patnode

After accidentally leaving my makeup at my parents’ house during Christmas vacation, my friend and I made an expensive pilgrimage to the nearest Sephora. For a Saturday, there was a decent amount of foot traffic. While browsing, we noticed a handful of young girls, probably around eleven years old, stomping around the store with baskets. They were testing out and chatting about products just like we were. 

“These must be the TikTok Sephora tweens I’ve heard so much about,” I whispered after we walked past.

“What does a kid need with a $40 foundation brush and Retinol anyhow? Where are their moms? Why are parents enabling this?,” I wondered. 

Over the past few months, the Sephora tween phenomena has been documented on social media, debated by beauty Youtubers, and discussed on TV morning shows. 

Sephora employees and shoppers across the country have been complaining about flocks of little girls descending on stores, messing up the makeup testers and disrespecting employees. Some Sephora staff have said that they attempted to explain to the juvenile shoppers that using anti-aging products isn’t necessary but were quickly rebuffed.

The kids I saw weren’t acting as unhinged as what I saw on the viral reports, but it was still unsettling to see them shopping for extremely advanced, chemical cosmetics. Why are little girls worried about wrinkles and dark spots? Preteens are gravitating to skincare technologies that are way too mature for them.

I wore makeup when I was in middle school, and I don’t think it meaningfully harmed my confidence or self image. It’s normal for tween girls to experiment with makeup. Chapsticks, tinted moisturizers, and concealers for acne aren’t terribly noticeable or invasive products. Especially with puberty breakouts and oily skin, makeup boost a girl’s confidence for when she has to interact with peers.

It is possible for brands to market to pre-teens in an age-appropriate way. Young actress Millie Bobby Brown, renowned for her role as Eleven in Stranger Things, co-founded feminine beauty brand Florence by Mills. 

Named after her great-grandmother, Florence by Mills provides clean and cruelty-free beauty products that cater to a younger audience. The brand, featuring skincare and makeup items such as cleansers, moisturizers, and eye creams, emphasizes a positive, whimsical approach to beauty for teens and pre-teens. Though clearly makeup, the products are modest and light, with no anti-aging components.

There aren’t enough stores just for young girls - that celebrate their girlhood while shielding their innocence. Limited Too, an early 2000s tween store, doesn’t exist anymore. This is similar to how tween entertainment content and fashion have also largely melted into adult culture.

Young adult clothing in Target are indistinguishable from women’s clothing. Many old-school teen magazines, such as J-14 and TigerBeat, have fallen out of circulation. Those remaining, namely Teen Vogue and Seventeen, have fallen to political activism.

The onramp from Lip Smackers chapstick and tinted sunscreen to full-coverage foundation, matte lipstick, and contour sticks is much steeper than it used to be because of social media. Instagram is always feeding scrollers new, fun products to try from influencers and creators. This fall, it was Hailey Bieber’s Rhode peptide lip gloss.

Lengthy skincare routines, originally inspired by the popular 12+ step skincare regimens in Korea, are all the rage on TikTok. They’ve trickled down to elementary school.

This makes sense when you consider how many kids surf the internet unsupervised. Girls are bombarded with YouTube tutorials and TikTok hauls about new products. Penelope Disick and North West, children of Kardashian sisters Kourtney and Kim, generated a small scandal after they, as little girls, posted makeup tutorials on TikTok.

Now, a 6th grader talking about her moisturizer routine and dabbing on blush is hardly something worth reporting on. In fact, it’s the standard. Many tweens and teens have become influencers in the space, which only encourages their peers and even younger kids to follow their advice. 

Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro, Glow Recipe, and Summer Fridays. Drunk Elephant seems to be the preferred skincare brand for teenage influencers. To the brand’s credit, they did recently release an Instagram post clarifying what products are and are not safe for children to use. This post was seemingly in response to the epidemic of teen influencers posting about products with anti-aging ingredients.

Sephora’s tween products page similarly clarifies, “The tween years are a time of great transition. Kids are no longer kids, but they're not teens either. They're still growing, and their skin is still changing. That means that parents have to keep up with their skincare needs as well. Here are some skincare products for tween.”

Former Real Housewife Bethany Frankel shared her frustrations with the behavior she’s noticed in her own teenage daughter.

Frankel said on social media, “Now, girls that are my daughter’s age, that are her peers, talk to me like I’m their peer. ‘So what do you think of the Dior? Do you have the Drunk Elephant? Do you have the Charlotte Tilbury?’ And I’m like, ‘Bitch, you’re 14’….It’s psychotic that kids think they could spend $50 on a blush or hundreds of dollars at a beauty store.”

She is absolutely right to point out how awkward it is to watch children be parented in a way that you disagree with, even if they are strangers. I don’t like the iPad babies, and I feel bad for the Sephora 10 year olds. 

It goes without saying that most children do not need to be buying products that target wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, or dullness. Young girls also shouldn’t, for example, exaggerate their lips with liner and plumper or apply heavy makeup to make themselves appear older. Such practices likely contribute to the sexualization of young girls.

Back in the 2010s when lightweight BB and CC creams had only just hit the shelves, the options were a light-colored powder or a thick foundation. Today, there is a kaleidoscope of tinted sunscreens, sunscreen skincare hybrids, and lightweight moisturizers that should allow girls to gradually start using makeup without being too aggressive.

Creating a beauty routine when you’re a young girl can be fun. Doing face masks, painting your nails, and learning about makeup and the creative world of beauty is a meaningful part of the transition from girlhood to womanhood. 

Skincare for tweens could be a way to play with the experience of makeup without any meaningful alterations to one’s face. Unfortunately, what should be the long onramp is actually the cop-free toll road. Girls are running into age-obsessed cosmetic consumerism faster than ever before.

Parents need to set stricter rules for social media use, or perhaps prohibit access altogether, and watch for red flags in their kids’ behavior. Older sisters, cousins, and relatives should share their thoughts and experiences with makeup and social media use with family members raising young girls.

A lot of moms may not notice that their daughter’s Christmas ask for Drunk Elephant illuminating drops or Vitamin B serum could signal a bigger problem with her self image.

Patricia Patnode is a columnist at The Conservateur and a Junior Fellow at the Independent Women's Forum. She can be found on Twitter @IdealPatricia.