Children aged 10 through 12 are ravaging high-end beauty stores across the nation in what some would describe as the takeover of the Sephora Kids.

Employees report cleaning up product testers utilized precariously and being demanded by tweens to restock sold out items. The phenomenon begs a question that, despite being applicable for decades, has not been widely addressed: how greatly are children affected by materialistic superstitions and social constructs?

Tweens first emulate online content creators who use high-end products, especially that of Drunk Elephant. Those who are not influenced online are pressured by their peers to do the same. 

Some claim that it is parents’ responsibility to keep their children off of inappropriate online media so that they are not wrongfully influenced and do not harm other kids. Young TikTok users often blame both children and parents, feeling that tweens should regulate their own behavior and parents should facilitate that. 

“Can’t even approach the Drunk Elephant counter,” TikTok star Michela Sheedy said, in a video while walking through Sephora. “Whose mom is buying them this? Go shop at Claire’s.”

Influencer Jenna Lu dedicated several of her TikTok videos to Sephora Kids, often portraying them as ruthless and ungrateful. The influencer as well addresses parents who condone their bad behavior, in one video recounting a fictional experience at Sephora in which she witnessed a 10 year-old’s mother carelessly “tapping her card on the reader” to buy expensive Drunk Elephant products for her daughter whilst she merely “griddyed” by the register. 

“I feel so bad for young girls growing up in this generation with the pressure they receive from social media,” one user commented on the video. “…these days you get straight up bullied for not having [a] full face and 10 step skin care routine, or the most expensive and trendy products.”

Younger generations understand best the pressure that social media can place upon youth to look or act a certain way. However, dressing and looking a certain way or owning certain items in order to be “cool” is not a concept unique to new generations. 

High school life sciences teacher Jolie Geluk claimed that she began wearing makeup as a child because that is what her friends were doing.

“All the girls started wearing [makeup],” J. Geluk said. “It’s what Gen X was doing.”

Trends, especially relating to style and beauty, have existed throughout human history. In young generations, social media has amplified the detriment of stigmas surrounding beauty and one’s possession of certain items.

“I had a pretty healthy friend group where we did not put pressure on each other,” J. Geluk said. “ I think with social media you certainly see people that you feel are better dressed, and, you know, better hair and better makeup…you just feel that [people] look better in a lot of ways and being young that can certainly weigh on you.”

She later expressed annoyance in Sephora kids’ entitlement, claiming that social media has enabled them to act uncouthly despite the destruction it causes for stores and other customers. 

J. Geluk believes that parents should set online restrictions and establish consequences to regulate kids’ actions. With her teenage daughter, she sets certain limitations to avert harmful behaviors. 

“Sometimes there are times that we feel we need to adjust to what she’s thinking she should have access to,” J. Geluk said. “But I’ll say I’m sure she’s felt it’s been very strict, but what teenager doesn’t feel like their parents are being strict? I have three daughters and I don’t let them get what they want all the time. We’ll do the basics of skincare and makeup, but we won’t always do the expensive stuff.”

Children can be resistant to limitations. Jolie Geluk’s daughter, freshman Amy Geluk, claimed that she no longer feels her parents are strict, but once did. 

As a tween, A. Geluk resisted clothing restrictions as she felt more comfortable in her own fashion choices. Once her parents loosened their limitations, she no longer felt they were overly strict, and became happier because she could fit in. 

“I did want to fit in,” A. Geluk said. “But I feel like I did more with style than makeup…Gen Z values style.”

Generation Z fashion is attributed to TikTok trends just like that of beauty and makeup; 2020, for instance, saw the comeback of Y2K style with popular influencers often sporting it in their videos. However, the scope at which fashion trends affect young kids are less of which makeup and beauty trends can.

“I know people who won’t go to first period if they run out of a certain [beauty] product,” A. Geluk said. “I would say that they are mostly afraid of being judged without it, but social media influences them too because they compare themselves to who they see on it.”

Dermatologists report that tweens’ use of adult products is physically damaging to their skin, an issue that would not have otherwise presented itself if trends had not pertained to physical beauty. 

In general, beauty trends prompt millions of women to permanently alter their bodies and faces in a manner that is incredibly risky and even life-threatening. Using Ozempic to lose weight can cause kidney failure, getting a nose job can and has caused nasal valve collapse, and extreme dieting can lead to eating disorders that will require months of rehabilitation. 

The only difference between tweens’ pursuit of  beauty trends is that they are not evoked by body image, rather the necessity to be deemed “cool.”  

Body image can be attributed to social constructs. One may strive to attain a certain standard of beauty because they fear others will not accept them.  In any circumstance, it is customary to strive for social approval. Not only may it benefit one materially, but it reinforces a person’s sense of belonging. This craving is simply enhanced during adolescence, according to psychologist Mitch Prinstein.

“In adolescence, something happens in our brains –  the neurochemical cocktail of oxytocin and dopamine,” Prinstein said. “… [adolescents] become almost addicted to any type of attention from peers.”

Oxytocin is the hormone that prompts social connection, and dopamine powers the brain’s reward system; this means that adolescents find it rewarding to connect with others, and therefore crave acceptance. 

Most people feel frustrated when they strive for acceptance but fail to obtain it. Privilege uncontrollably makes it harder for some, and beauty trends have exacerbated the concept of privilege for kids.

“If a society builds its foundation on a presumption of the superiority of people with light colored skin, then its legal and social institutions, its implicit biases and social roles,” said priest and TED Talk speaker Andy Wallace.  “All these things…they evolve over time to give certain people power, and to keep certain people from power.”

He went on to emphasize the role of socioeconomic privilege in society. For children, privilege presents itself in the form of parental limitations, with those enabled to post on social media as well as to buy expensive products at an advantage. 

Children create their own societies centered around biases that are rooted in the media: those who use the same products as social media influencers are deemed cool, and therefore make their way to the top of the social hierarchy. Those who do not are not cool, which often prompts them to feel pressured into buying said products. 

How can parents stop their children from decimating Sephora and Ulta Beauty stores, as well as harming their own skin, whilst it is the only method of attaining power in a time of biological necessity for societal supremacy? It seems an impossible venture. 

It will serve parents to at least attempt to devalue social hierarchies by informing children of their role in society. Like it or not, children will always strive to be popular; but, in the words of both Gen X, Jolie Geluk, and Gen Z, Amy Geluk, the makeup craving will dismay eventually. 

For now, in a society plagued by status and social media, it is only logical to tolerate the takeover of the Sephora kids.