Has Sephora turned into the newest playground for kids?
Towards the end of 2023, Gen Alpha sent shockwaves running through the beauty world, sparking the beginning of the ‘Sephora Kids’ phenomenon.
There is nothing like being a kid or tween playing dress up, finding fascination in the plethora of lipstick shades lining the shelves and the colourful swatches of eye shadow decked in glitter and sparkles. While it is one thing to playfully dabble in makeup or appreciate kid-friendly skincare like sunscreen at a young age, it is a whole new game for kids to be intrigued by retinol and skin acids.
Here is what you need to know about the kids taking over Sephora :
In case you missed it, we have recently seen a rise in the number of kids and tweens, as young as seven to ten years old, streaming the aisles of Sephora and beauty stores, showing profound interest in the world of makeup and skincare. Sephora employees and shoppers have taken to social media to share their experiences and observations. This includes some even highlighting similar instances of disruptive and rude behaviour towards employees and fellow shoppers and a rather amusing selection of products piled into the kids’ shopping bags.
Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe products have been the leading stars of this show. While these are some of the most coveted and popular products on the market that are highly recommended and celebrated for their quality and effectiveness, how far does this matter in the mind of a pre-teen?
There are a myriad of brands and products on the market catered towards young skin, including Drunk Elephant, which recently addressed this entire situation, suggesting children stay away from their “more potent products that include acid and retinol” and instead recommended a list of their products that are safe for kids and tweens to use.
However, in many of these scenarios, it seems as though branding and social media influence trumps the broader idea behind the usage of these products. Hereby, kids want a specific item that perhaps went viral on TikTok but, in reality, do not know much about it or how it works. Dermatologists and skin experts have also expressed concern over this, by showing concerns of the far too harsh ingredients in these products on young skin, bringing us to the irony of kids using anti-ageing products.
Having the correct information to make informed decisions, in general, is much needed in an age dominated by influence, given how much media content we consume on a day-to-day basis without even realising it.
Understandably so, this is something that most kids probably aren’t aware of. This brings us back to the root of these kids’ setting their hearts on these viral products, most likely being from the content seen in the media, swayed by ‘GRWM’ videos, beauty hauls and beautiful branding and packaging, without any awareness of how any of these products actually work.
The ‘Sephora Kids’ debacle has dominated the media on one side as a meme and has also ignited serious conversations that correlate directly to the vast discussions surrounding social media’s influence and its impact on the younger generation.
