Do you ever wonder what happened with those stores we used to see during childhood? Justice, Claire’s, Toys-R-Us? With stores like Justice and Claire’s, I remember the excitement I got from getting a new shirt with rhinestones and those spiky rubber earrings. I know trends always die off, so I never questioned why I stopped seeing them. After we grew out of that phase, I did expect tweens to be still obsessed with bright, tacky accessories like my friends and I were. But now, instead of rubber band bracelets and collecting EOS lip balms, girls my age during that phase care about Drunk Elephant and collecting Stanleys.
The tween phase. Something I do not wish to go back to, but I think it was an important part of my life that helped me figure out who I am. The tween phase is that awkward phase between being an older kid and going into being a teenager. Those ages between 11 and 13 are crucial for a kid. That’s the time when they can be cringy and figure themselves out. Around this time, lots of people discover their sense of style and their passions and learn about the world around them. Kids are growing up faster than they used to.
Kids who are between the ages of 11 to 13 (the later Gen-z and Gen-Alpha) are the first generation to completely grow up with phones and social media around them. They do not know a life without that technology, which I believe has to do with how the later Gen-Z and Alpha behave. “There is increased exposure to violent or sexual content at a younger age, which causes a desensitization and normalization because children’s brains aren’t fully developed to process this in a way that an adult brain can,” says Dr. Willough Jenkins, an inpatient director of psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego. Euphoria, an HBO original following the lives of high school juniors, is a highly popular show among high school and middle school students, even though it was originally intended for young adults due to its mature content and topics.
I asked some students on campus about their thoughts on the show and its impact it had.
Caitlyn Wilson (12) recounted the time she watched Euphoria, “My mom said there was a new show, and I said, Oh, let’s watch it together, and so we started watching it together.”
Did the content of the show shock you?
“Yes. It was the first show I’ve seen that showcased any of that, and I wasn’t prepared.”
Do you think the content of the show desensitized your generation to drug use and violence?
Neve Pedersen (10) added, “I think Euphoria HEAVILY normalized the use of drugs to our generation. I believe the media consumption has such an impact on our mindset, and Euphoria seems a bit excessive with their drug use and how normal it was.”
The show had a great impact on teenagers in the way we dress and throw parties. Girls were putting gems on their faces for homecoming and editing their Instagram photos to match the color grade of the show. Neve said, “The plot is outlandish, but the fashion and makeup are so inspiring and different. It like is so cool to see the character’s looks in every episode.”
Although young girls became influenced by young adults in my generation, it is still happening to tweens to this day. TikTok and famous influencers on the platform, such as Alix Earle, Monet McMicheals, and 12-year-old Evelyn_grwm, created a name for themselves by putting on makeup and skincare in front of a camera and recommending products. The high influence these social media personalities have was able to get a whole generation of girls to copy them. Videos of 12-year-old girls curling their hair and putting on Drunk Elephant bronzing drops go viral on TikTok and Instagram. Over the Christmas holiday, adults and teenage girls noticed the surge of tweens in beauty stores like Sephora and Ulta.
A TikTok influencer, Chloe Grace, posted a grwm talking about her local Sephora being run through by tweens. In her video, she said she spotted a “cute girl” who appeared very young, maybe seven or eight years old, yelling at her mom, begging for a concealer. Another person on TikTok named Megan explained her frustration in one of her videos. She recalled the last time she visited Sephora and saw groups of young girls bothering employees. Megan said, “That employee is literally like: ‘It’s actually retinol, like, you don’t actually need that.'” And it’s true. Not only are these skincare smoothies messy, but they are harmful to kids. They use products that are not made for kids, like retinol (made to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles), that could be harming their young and pretty much flawless skin. It is just a big jump from when I was their age, and getting excited to get my first Maybelline BabyLips, to see those girls who I was once their age too, but know they’re excited to get a Dior lip oil.
An employee who works at Sephora said the top products those girls go after are Glow Recipe, Drunk Elephant, Rare Beauty, and Sol De Janeiro. Drunk Elephant is a high-end skincare brand known for being in the makeup vanities of 12-year-olds. Senior Matthew Price talked about his cousin, who he considers a Sephora kid. He said, “She loves her lip balms and her oils… We went to Sephora for her birthday, and she spent a hundred dollars on four things and a whole hour in that store. She didn’t have no clue what she was buying either.” Because these girls are so young, many misbehave in the stores and cause a mess. The social media team of Drunk Elephant posted on TikTok, advising kids to clean up after several accounts of young girls messing up the testers, leaving them a mess, and making skincare smoothies- a result of a TikTok trend made by influencers.
Bianca Cuellar (11) shared her experience with these Sephora kids, “I walked into a Sephora one day to spend the card I got for Christmas…2 little girls were standing there (at the Rare Beauty display) who looked no older than ten, and they would not move out of the way. They kept giving each other the side eye, and I was like, ‘Girl, be so for real, you’re 10, you don’t need this stuff’.”
Sephora regulars have gone far enough to start a petition to have Sephora implement an age restriction upon entry into the stores. “Sephora stores are experiencing an increase in destruction of product testers, primarily due to unaccompanied children.” Said the creator of the petition, Janelle Gilkson. “We demand that Sephora implement age restrictions for entry into their stores – making it accessible only to individuals aged 18 and above. This will help maintain the integrity and cleanliness of the store while ensuring a more satisfying work environment for employees. Sign this petition if you agree that age restrictions should be put in place at Sephora stores nationwide.”
Bianca pointed out an observation, saying, “The chemicals in the products are just not good for young girls, period. So, like the fact that these little girls think it’s ok to come into Sephora and not only waste their money on products that aren’t gonna benefit their skin but also be completely snobby and rude to employees and honestly disrespect the store… I don’t disagree with the restrictions.”
Another Senior, Mabel Pettit, said, “I don’t think there should be an age restriction…I think it’s the new age of kids that have grown up online, and it’s weird to see, but if we try to actually control it, then we become worse than millennials.”
Since then, Sephora has acknowledged the problem of young girls being an annoyance to the rest of the people in Sephoras nationwide. They created a page of products in Sephora that are appropriate for that age group. Although we wish there were a simple solution, it seems like many factors to this problem are getting out of hand. You could blame the children’s parents or the social media they are consuming. But either way, I think an age restriction is not a bad idea. I wish Tween-related things came back, like Justice and boy bands, not just for Sephora shoppers’ sake but also for those girls who seem to be missing a simple and memorable time right before real responsibilities take over.
