Tiktok, Youtube, Snapchat and many other influenceable apps. But are they starting to influence the wrong age groups? Makeup brands. Drunk Elephant, Dior, Glow Recipe, Makeup By Mario, Saie and so many other brands. There are so many products/brands offered at sephora around three-hundred and forty. There’s quite a variety in makeup products.
The point of influencers is to influence others to buy certain brands’ products. Whether that be clothing, makeup, future, etc. As of the last three-four years influencing has been on the up and rising. Pew Research Center says, “Americans’ views about the influence of the media in the country have shifted dramatically over the course of a year in which there was much discussion about the news media’s role during the election and post-election coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic and protests about racial justice. More Americans now say that news organizations are gaining influence than say their influence is waning, a stark contrast to just one year ago when the reverse was true.” The real question is where is the influence coming from?
Around Hudson High School it was vital to ask the students if they knew what Sephora and if they knew the new term “Sephora Kids” and with no shock out of twenty people that were included everyone said they have. This proves that clearly this is a major issue that has arisen.
When we think of people we want to be like we think of famous movie actors and singers. While this is still true, if you’re on social media you might see Alex Earle (23), making a Get ready with me (grwm) with all of her favorite makeup products she uses when she goes out or another well known and loved influencer Katie Fang. Many people in her comments frequently comment “oh to be katie fang”, For one of many reasons but especially for her well known makeup routine and skincare smoothies. This might have been where issues started to entail. But keep in mind, it’s not the influencers fault.
Skincare smoothies are a mixture of skincare products. For example, Katie Fangs skincare smoothies include: Lala Retro Whipped Cream from drunk elephant, B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum with Hyaluronic acid from drunk Elephant and D-Bronze bronzing drops with Peptides from Drunk Elephant. Sometimes she switches up the products she uses or adds others but these three products are her go to/famous skincare smoothie.
Normally pre-teens, ages 12 in this circumstance and teens start using skincare products around these ages when they start and are still going through puberty. Many people don’t realize that a Cervae and Cetaphil cleanser and moisturizer go a long way, but ever since products from Glow Recipe and Drunk Elephants and others arose many pre-teens and teens reach for these now. Nothing is wrong with these products but studies have been showing from dermatologists that many people are using skincare products that are unnecessary for their face and acne. Resulting in also costing more money than just products you need.
If you’ve been on Tik Tok and realize there isn’t really a way to restrict some videos from their kids for you page. A For You Page includes videos that Tiktok has realized you like seeing more of. So the more you like dog videos, the more dog videos will come up on your fyp. Which means the same thing for skincare products. Kids are getting on Tiktok at a young age of around seven now and being exposed to all of these videos. Which in retrospect seems harmless, but the more incidents happen the more we get worried.
Knowing this information, it opens up the case of young kids trying to obtain retinol. Dermatologists are majorly concerned that if young kids try retinol it could damage their skin for the future. These kids are obtaining products with retinol in them because they are seeing older influencers use these products and thinking they now need these as well. It’s a huge issue.
Sephora kids are young kids most likely under eleven, going into sephora and playing with and making skincare smoothies with tester products. They mix up different products, make a huge mess and leave the store without cleaning up their mess. On Top of this the “sephora kids” tend to be rude to workers when the workers just come over and ask if they need any help. This has all lend to a monstrosity of chaos.
We all are unsure what the future holds for social media apps and new products that will be offered in the upcoming months and years. Knowing this influence is no doubt going to be up and rising. This can be a positive thing but seems like it will be quite a negative for certain age groups.
