Sephora Tween Takeover: The Negative Impact of "Sephora Kids"

When we were younger, Justice, Claire’s, and American Girl Dolls were all the rage among girls. Now, though, young girls are trading their Barbies for lavish makeup products from brands like Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe. This is apparent in Sephoras all over, where such products are out of stock and middle schoolers run rampant. Children and tweens (10-12 year-olds) are taking over Sephora, which is more harmful than we realize. These children are taking makeup and skincare products from people who need them, are growing up too fast, and are ruining the experience for older Sephora shoppers.

To start, Sephora's youngest consumers are taking products away from people who actually need them. About 20% of TikTok users are tweens, and likely even more of them are under 13 years old (many young users lie about their age since TikTok's official age requirement is 13). This is important because these tweens become influenced to buy makeup products from popular “Get Ready With Me” videos. The brightly colored bottles and enticing names such as “Whipped Cream Moisturizer” from Drunk Elephant and "Watermelon Glow Dew Drops" from Glow Recipe shouldn’t fool anyone, though; 10-year-olds have no use for retinol and polypeptide creams. Older shoppers looking to reduce wrinkles, however, are in for a shock when they discover the racks that once displayed these products are now empty because younger children crave them for skincare routines. Some tweens genuinely need certain products, since many of them are just beginning to experience acne and the other facial transformations that come with the early stages of puberty. Buying concealer to cover up blemishes, however, is vastly different from taking anti-aging products off the shelves from people who really need them.

Furthermore, instead of enjoying the last few years of true childhood, the so-called "Sephora kids" are attempting to act like teenagers by using skincare and makeup products intended for a much older audience. With the mindset that these tweens need expensive makeup products to look attractive, teenage insecurities are instilled in children even earlier than they have been in past years. By replacing dolls and Legos with makeup products on their holiday wishlists, tweens are enforcing the belief that they need makeup to be attractive at a younger age than ever before. In the age of social media and consumerism, there is little anyone can do to prevent young girls from comparing themselves to the unrealistic beauty standards they see online. What we can do, however, is discourage them from using the products that were created for a much older, much more mature audience. Instead, such products are readily available for tweens, perpetuating the idea that tweens no longer have the "awkward stage" that we all once suffered through. The Sephora craze amongst young children, therefore, is stripping them of a childhood and potentially giving them confidence issues that will last a lifetime.

Lastly, the young children shopping at Sephora are ruining the experience for other shoppers. Recently, there have been many reports surfacing on TikTok of the ruthless behavior of the children shopping at Sephora. Some common experiences include the tweens pushing shoppers to get to their favorite product shelves and destroying the free testers, amounting to an unpleasant experience for others. This displays the immaturity of these Drunk Elephant-obsessed children, many of whom are still playing with iPads at the dinner table. Sephora doesn’t just sell makeup products - it sells a shopping experience, much like every other store. If it’s known for hosting children who disrespect other customers, then people will be deterred from visiting the store altogether. Therefore, Sephora kids aren’t just ruining the shopping experience for others, they are potentially harming the store’s business.

Overall, tweens shouldn’t be shopping at Sephora because they are taking products away from Sephora’s targeted customers, are wasting their childhood, and ruining the experiences of other customers. There are plenty of age-appropriate stores for tweens to shop at - Claire’s, Pink, Hollister - but, on behalf of many teens and young adults, we are begging them to stop stampeding into Sephora.