Face masks, serums and creams topped tweens' holiday wish lists this year, and the craze still seems to be picking up steam in the early weeks of 2024. Sephora has become the hot, new after-school hangout spot, and older customers are not happy.
Young content creators are "getting ready" or "getting unready" while making videos they sometimes call "Storytime about the 10-year-olds at Sephora."
According to these stories, tweens are running wild in Sephora stores, using up all the sample makeup, making a mess, verbally abusing employees and customers, and generally being very Veruca Salt ("I want it NOW!") to everyone within earshot.
Who is getting blamed for the chaos? It's not the kids.
"Part of this is a parenting issue"
Drunk Elephant was one of the most-requested skin care items on wish lists this December, due in no small part to popular content creators like Kim Kardashian’s daughter, North West, touting the products on TikTok. But endorsements like North's don't necessarily happen organically.
In an interview with Ad Age, Drunk Elephant founder Tiffany Masterson admitted as much.
"We did send products to Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, and we wrote their daughters' names on the note. But officially, we don’t gift under 18," she said. Both girls are under 13. An Ad Age editor's note in the story clarified that the company sent “kid-appropriate products, not the acids or retinols.” Even so, Masterson said, "there’s not an effort on our part to target or make money off kids or anything like that."
Acknowledging that younger customers are being "disrespectful" and "leaving messes" in Sephora stores, Masterson said, "We have a responsibility as a brand, but part of this is a parenting issue. When do you allow your kids on social media? Do you allow your kids to storm Sephora with your credit card?"
"It was a free-for-all"
Olivia Vaphiades spent a year as a Sephora employee while she was finishing college, she shares with TODAY.com. "It was night and day from when I started to when I ended," says the 23-year-old.
When she began working at Sephora in 2022, tweens would rarely enter the store unaccompanied, and when they shopped with their parents, they might purchase one $10 Sephora lip gloss. By the time she left her position in May 2023, more tweens were shopping solo or in groups after school ... and they were spending a lot more money on luxury brands like Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro and Rare Beauty.
"It was a free-for-all," she says, mentioning that the young customers would use, mix or destroy all the testers and berate employees if products were out of stock.
"Now I’m not a parent, so I can’t judge," says Vaphiades. "But I think I was raised that when you walk into a store, you don’t really make a mess. If you do, you clean up after yourself. You put things back where they belong. You know what I mean?"
She also points to social media as feeding tweens' appetite for beauty brands. Vaphiades posts and livestreams skin-and-beauty videos on TikTok and has been shocked to receive messages from tweens who use their parents' harsh products on their delicate skin.
"So I think it's a mix of parents and I think it's a mix of social media," she says, "because when you grow up and you see all these pretty influencers who have a large following using these expensive skin care products — and their skin looks great — I think the younger girls see that and they say, 'OK, well I need that so that I could look like them.'"
“These little girls have never heard the word no”
In a TikTok video that has been viewed over 34 million times, Natalia Herrera (@natsodrizzy) tells a story about a 10-year-old customer who was about to purchase almost $900 worth of product while Herrera was working at Sephora. The girl’s younger sister spent $500.
The 10-year-old’s mother appeared at the register and made her daughter remove items from her shopping basket. In the end, she spent $500 on things like Flowerbomb perfume and Glossier lip gloss.
Herrera, who just celebrated her 21st birthday, doesn’t place blame on the girl (who she said had a meltdown when asked to put items back), but on her mother.
“The problem isn’t the kids, it’s the parents,” Herrera said. “Because why aren’t you sitting there holding your ground? Like, these ‘iPad kids,’ these little girls, have never heard the word no and they kind of just get what they want so they can shut up and the parents can move on with their day.”
"'Put it all back!'"
Gianna M. Joyce (@giannamjoyce) tells the tale of her recent trip to Sephora, which included a roving gang of youths who were opening sealed products, being rude to employees, blocking other customers and shoplifting roller perfume.
In this case, Joyce does give credit to one mom who appeared at the checkout counter, clearly frustrated by the amount of products her daughter wanted to purchase. "Low key, her mom slays for this, she said, 'You have five seconds to pick three things or everything's getting put back.'"
But that praise was short lived because the mom ended up apologizing to the cashier and purchasing everything her daughter wanted. Joyce said, "No, girl, you're supposed to say, 'Put all that sh-- back! Put it all back!'"
Of course, stories of the children (and parents) who exhibit the most outrageous behavior are the ones who grab headlines. But I spoke to a handful of parents of Sephora-loving fifth and sixth graders who are respectful, use age-appropriate products and pay for them with their own money. Many are not allowed to view social media — even still, brands like Drunk Elephant filter into their consciousness through advertisements, magazines or older cousins.
So what's the difference between well-behaved skin care fans and wild Sephora tweeniacs? Could it actually come down to parenting?
It's hard to say. But in the meantime, stay safe out there ... and perhaps consider shopping for beauty products online.
