This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Kelly Xiong. Find her on Instagram at @k.3lly. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
If you’ve been on TikTok recently then you might have seen people talk and complain about the happenings inside Sephora recently. Young girls are taking over Sephora. Now, that isn’t inherently a bad thing but older Gen Z and Millennials are starting to notice a pattern of behavior from these younger girls shopping in Sephora. And this is where the problem and concern arise.
Many of the young girls who are coming into Sephora have been called “rude” and described as having no manners or social etiquette when shopping in a store by Sephora employees and other customers who have witnessed this behavior. TikTok user @mamaa.arii posted a skit about what it’s like working at Sephora now that it is being swarmed with elementary and middle-school-aged girls. Though this video was exaggerated for some laughs, it’s not too far off from reality. Many Sephora employees shared their personal experiences on TikTok talking about how these young girls would act very disrespectfully in the store whether that be speaking to an employee rudely or demolishing the testers.
Many users on TikTok wondered “How are they getting their hands on these expensive products?” These tweens and pre-teens are either going into the store with a parent’s card completely unsupervised, or their parents would just follow them around letting their girls get whatever they want to be on trend. This also raised many concerns and issues as many Millennials and older Gen Z users on TikTok argued that parents should do some research on what their kids are putting on their faces and start being more strict.
This issue got so big that it even caught the attention of Allure Magazine. They referenced one Sephora employee on Reddit who recounted the girls treating the store like a playground.
Another thing that many Sephora employees and TikTok users noticed was that the girls would immediately run to the brands Drunk Elephant, Summer Fridays, Sol de Janeiro, and Glow Recipe. All of these brands are very popular on social media amongst the younger audiences and something from each of these brands is always going viral. They have gained a massive following for a reason, the products are good. Though they might be expensive, I see why some justify the price point.
However, not all the products by these brands are made for all ages. One example of this is the Drunk Elephant Retinol Cream. It contains 1.0% retinol, which is pretty strong. I have seen numerous TikTok stitches and reactions to the little girls having that serum in their skincare routine. Retinol is typically used in anti-aging products. Though it can also be used to treat acne, there are much gentler options such as tretinoin or adapalene at lower percentages. They are also very unnecessary for girls who are 7 to 13 years old. At that age, your skin does not need such strong actives and exfoliants.
Many of the products that the tween girls are using are specifically made for adults and many dermatologists on TikTok have expressed their concern. These young girls are using such strong ingredients that adults with mature skin are using and that could lead to their skin barrier being severely damaged in the future.
This Sephora kids controversy boils down to social media and capitalism. As some TikTok users have pointed out, the reason we’re seeing this surge of little girls wanting to use “big girl products” as we’ll call them, is because that’s what their favorite influencers are using. If they see influencers such as Alix Earle use something, they’re more inclined to want it as well. But Alix is a 23-year-old woman, her skin concerns and needs will be drastically different from that of a, say, 10-year-old girl.
Wanting to be like your favorite influencer or beauty guru or whatever is completely normal. I remember when I used to want to have whatever MannyMua or Jeffree Star — before I knew about him being problematic — used and approved of. Though my parents were not buying it and didn’t let me get most of the items I saw and wanted. Which, looking back, as they should have. There was no reason why I, a 7th grader, needed to have a $70 foundation when my Tarte Amazonian Clay one worked just fine.
This is all to say, the problem that many TikToker users have isn’t that younger kids are shopping in Sephora. It’s that their behavior in store is very disrespectful and the products they’re getting are not age appropriate. And they of course don’t know better. They want what they see trending or going viral on social media. But many have said that the parents should not be letting these things slide. From the behavior to excessive spending to age-inappropriate products. That is the consensus of why the Sephora kids controversy sparked so much conversation online.
Have you seen this happen at your local Sephora? Let us know below!
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