By ANNALEIGH DE LA ROSA

The trend of Sephora 10 year olds blew up this year with social media platforms like TikTok since December 2023. 

As seen on TheCut, Tiktoker Chloe Grace made a video asking her audience if anyone has noticed the increase of young girls coming into the stores. 

The trend still is going on to this day and TikTok users have called it an “epidemic.”

One of the main arguments about this whole situation would have to be whether or not young kids should be allowed to use makeup, but the conversation also includes store behavior, social media influence and using age-specific products like retinol.

Store Behavior

Or even if they should be shopping for it since many workers of Sephora have come out with statements talking about them being rude and some saying they are leaving things really messy and running the store samples. Employees have claimed that these younger girls are coming in and ruining samples as well as being absolutely rude to some of the workers.

A commenter in the online community forum for Sephora, wrote “Everything from kids mixing skincare and makeup testers together to make “smoothies” to opening new makeup packages and using them only to leave them on the shelf. and these are expensive products being contaminated and wrecked. I’ve been seeing a lot of people posting online who are having similar experiences. Either Sephora needs to enforce an age restriction, or they need to be supervised and have to pay for the products they destroy.”

Social Media

Many of these young kids have come into the store just to buy viral products that they have seen on social media.  Some brands that many of these young people are gravitating towards are Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe, Saie, Rare Beauty, and more. 

According to an article in CNN, “At a Sephora store in New York City, a store employee told CNN that tweens are frequently flowing in, not really asking for advice or recommendations from staff, and making a beeline for trendy and pricey skincare brands, such as Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe and Laneige, that are hyped up by influencers.”

These are the brands that these kids show all other the internet. Many of these kids also use very high end products that are expensive, but others also use drugstore makeup that is affordable. 

Retinol

What I don’t think is right or agree with is all of the skin care these children use, especially because most of these young girls use products that they don’t even need. For example, some are using retinol products which aren’t recommended for young skin like theirs. An article from usatoday.com states how Dermatologist Dr. Brooke Jeffy had an 11 year old patient who had a rash around her eyes due to using retinol.It is recommended that you don’t use retinol until you’re above your twenties since it’s not necessary any earlier. Retinol is usually used as an anti-aging tool. Another thing I don’t think is right about these young kids is the price of the products they use. 

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As a teenager who loves doing makeup, I am on the fence on whether younger kids should be buying all of these products. I started wearing makeup when I was 13 and even then I would only wear mascara, a little bit of blush, and lip gloss. But as I started to become more into makeup and become older, I expanded my makeup range and pallet. Now, I wear primer, concealer, powder, blush, contour, highlighter, mascara, lip liner, and lip gloss. 

Many teenagers and young adults believe that all of these young girls just want to grow up really fast and forget about being a child. But I don’t really believe that, because a lot of them are doing it to just have fun, or at least I know I love doing makeup. Doing makeup is meant to be fun and doing my makeup really helps to take my mind off of things. It’s also very peaceful for me especially when I have enough time to do my routine and not in a rush. Many of the teenagers and young adults that agree with that statement, don’t want to grow up as fast anymore and they would like to relive their childhood.

At the end of the day, it is up to their parents about whether or not they should be getting into makeup at their age.

Featured image: A photo of the Sephora store at Mountain Grove shopping center in Redlands, California (ANNALEIGH DE LA ROSA/ Ethic News photo)