TikTok has exploded with mostly tweens (children between the ages of eight and 12) allegedly ruining isles of beauty products at stores and running wild, disturbing service workers.
Dubbed ‘Sephora kids’ these children who are Gen Alpha (born in or after 2010) are said to ‘terrorise’ the beauty and cosmetic stores owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.
This viral phenomenon has left older netizens puzzled as to why children would want expensive Drunk Elephant products.
Drunk Elephant products are described by the company as embracing clean beauty. These are cosmetics and skincare items devoid of hazardous ingredients. This includes parabens, phthalates, sulphates, and synthetic perfumes.
The packaging is colourful and customers can mix several products together to make a ‘beauty smoothie’. This makes the skincare brand very popular among young people.
In December of 2023, Drunk Elephant released a statement saying, “Yes! Many of our products are designed for all skin, including kids and tweens.”
But according to those that work at Sephora, things are getting out of hand.
In a video titled, “Gremlins, I tell you,” TikTok user peytonxblack showed product after product left with smudges and looking dirty.
@peytonxblack Gremlins I tell you…. GREMLINS #sephorakids #sephoragremlins ♬ Hoist the Colours - Bass Singers Version - Bobby Bass
Megan Lacey, another TikTok user, went viral after detailing her Sephora encounter with a group of pre-teen girls who supposedly took up every single department of the shop messing with items.
@lexislately Honestly the drunk elephant testers at sephora werent terrible but you could tell a 10 year old had just just made a skincare smoothie. 12 year olds dont need retinol that is all 💀✋🏼 #sephorakids #sephora #drunkelephant #omg #relatable #lmao #skincaresmoothie #gross ♬ original sound - MULTIXMARVOS
But who is to blame for these children’s new obsession?
Social commentary YouTuber, Salem Tovar has pointed the finger squarely at parents who ‘enable’ this behaviour.
“As a parent you can just say the word no. The internet and everyone’s grandma is blaming these ‘Sephora kids’ for getting into beauty, make-up and skincare way too early. But it’s not their fault, it is the fault of the parents, companies and society for enabling kids.”
The role that society has placed cannot be understated according to the creator. She said girls are indoctrinated into caring about their appearance above all else On top of this, youth or looking young are highly prized so even children are getting into ‘anti-ageing’ products.
This sentiment echoes American cultural critic and public intellectual Susan Sontag’s writing in her famed essay ‘The Double Standard of Ageing’.
Sontag wrote, “From early childhood on, girls are trained to care in a pathologically exaggerated way about their appearance and are profoundly mutilated (to the extent of being unfitted for first-class adulthood) by the extent of the stress put on presenting themselves as physically attractive objects.
“Women look in the mirror more frequently than men do. It is virtually their duty to look at themselves - to look often. Indeed, a woman who is not narcissistic is considered unfeminine.”
IOL