In the heart of any Sephora around the globe (most notably in the United States), lies the now forbidden skincare section. A place that once fostered peace and prosperity now rains hellfire on Earth, and in the process, popularized brands such as Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe, and Rare Beauty are being raided and destroyed by a new, younger generation of girls. But why?
Many argue that the root cause is the commercialization of these products and making them look more inviting by adding fun packaging techniques as well as newer and brighter colors. Many products such as retinol serum, hydration serum, and even eye serums have intricate square-shaped packages with twist-up tops. Fun dispensing mechanisms for products like the Protini™ Polypeptide Cream where you push down to dispense the product make the product more appealing to younger generations. It is an irrefutable fact that these packages are interesting. However, the major issue at hand is that the parents of these children are quick to blame these big branding companies for their marketing. In all essence are they really to blame?
The parents of these children are truly the root of all of this. Many new parents in recent years have raised their children in a world where the boundary between technology and traditional learning does not exist. These children on social media are being exposed to the culture of “get ready with me” videos and it seems enticing to want to model after these influencers. It’s not these creators’ fault though, it’s how these children decide to interpret it and are learning by example. I know from my childhood that many of us had our own tailored experience regarding trends with things like slime, temporary tattoos, and dyed hair. It’s the same thing when you boil it down but again, with these children being exposed to not only ‘get ready with me’ culture, it brings this new frame of mind with these girls being stereotypically ungrateful and bratty.
Something that these newer parents struggle with, maybe due to personal experience or the societal pressure to ‘do what’s best for the kids’, is saying“no”. When I went to see this for myself in my local Sephora, I saw many of these parents scrambling around to look after their children. When they went up to the checkout with full baskets of Drunk Elephant and Rare Beauty products, the total racked up to around $300, and to my surprise, the parents swiped their cards. That’s just outright ridiculous. It’s not these brands’ fault, it’s the parents’ inability to say no, as well as a lack of etiquette from the children.
When conducting research, I visited the skincare section at the Valley Fair location near Santana Row for myself and frankly, it was disgusting and gross. This isn’t just from me, but many others on social media have taken note of this outbreak. The Protini™ Polypeptide Cream, in particular, was a hot commodity and it was completely destroyed and mixed into ‘skincare smoothies’—mixtures of different serums and other skin care products mixed together. Not only are these not effective for your skin at all, but when you mix products, it downgrades the purpose of the product and makes them less effective; it also makes an unnecessary mess for the employees as well. Brands use the testers to do exactly what they’re meant to, to test a product. When these children are using them for full faces, it defeats the purpose of testing something and wastes money for not only the store, but also the brand itself. The attitude of these girls makes it so much worse. Seeing this first-hand, these children were yelling at their moms about not getting the correct product, or having to put something back.
Using skincare products is a completely natural thing that many teenagers (including myself) use. Things like face wash, serums, moisturizers, masks, oils, etc. But with the ever-growing consumption of product-advertising social media content as well as these new parents not drawing a line with the infinite world of social media around them, and not regulating what their children are buying and not buying. Like children purchasing retinol even though they have baby skin that doesn’t need anything. How the parents of these children shouldn’t be pointing fingers but rather educating their children about the dangers of overusing skin care products on such young skin. However, this cycle of skincare will eventually die out and a new trend (whatever that may be) will take the internet by storm which is going to be just another trend.