Latest news with #SephoraKids'
Metro
08-08-2025
- Business
- Metro
The Claire's downfall proves it: girls are skipping the ‘tween' phase
An entire generation of tweenagers could be missing out on a rite of passage: getting your ears pierced by a 20-year-old behind a Claire's shop window, while your mum hovers nervously nearby, and you agonise which studs are worth your pocket money. Claire's – the glittery, purple hued accessory wonder emporium – has filed for bankruptcy in the US for the second time in seven years. The retailer, which still has more than 2,700 stores globally, including in the UK, Spain and France, says a cocktail of factors are to blame including mounting debt, a slowdown in consumer spending, rising costs and tariffs, and the relentless shift from high street to online shopping. Although US stores remain open for now, plans are already underway to close up to 1,300 in America alone. But the slow demise of this once-ubiquitous tween mecca isn't just about money, it also speaks to a sad cultural shift. The tweenage stage is shrinking, if not disappearing entirely. These days, instead of hanging around Claire's debating which rainbow spike earrings to buy with their pocket money, many pre-teens are skipping straight to Sephora. They're filling their baskets with £40 serums, retinol-infused eye creams and dermatologically approved facewashes – often before they've had their first breakout. They're known as the 'Sephora Kids' – members of Gen Alpha, born from 2010 onwards, and they're a huge demographic. In 2023, a report by data firm NielsenIQ showed that US households with six to 12-year-olds spent nearly $4.7 billion on beauty products – more than any other age bracket and 27% more on skincare than the previous year. Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have turbocharged the movement. They've turned beauty aisles into playgrounds for nine year olds. Earlier this year, the LA Times interviewed 10-year-old Naiya White, a tweenage Skinfluencer who spends hundreds of dollars on products and posts reviews to her TikTok followers. Rather than barbies and friendship bracelets, her wish lists include hyaluronic balms and $28 avocado cleansers. She's one of the growing number of children who speak fluently in skincare, sharing double cleansing methods on TikTok before they've even entered high school. Type 'get ready with me' into TikTok's search bar and you'll find primary school age children filming elaborate 10-step nighttime routines, nestled between millions of similar posts from adults. Parents might be shocked to see such young faces on the apps, but tweens are already firmly established in the digital world. In the UK, there were an estimated 1.1 to 1.4 million children under 13 with TikTok accounts in 2020, despite the platform's age restriction. International studies show that 30% of children aged 5-7 use TikTok, and among kids aged 8–12 who do use social media, approximately 51% have their own TikTok profile, according to Ofcom. For older generations, the contrast is striking. Millennials and Gen Xers regularly post online about how grateful they are to have grown up without social media, without the pressure of filming a morning routine for public viewing, or needing to justify why they opted for a £2.25 Simple cleanser rather than a £50 one. Today's kids will never know the thrill of walking out of Claire's with a tiny bag of spare studs, ears throbbing slightly from the piercing guns and feeling like you've become a real teenager. Claire's bankruptcy is more than just a decline of bricks-and-mortar retail – it feels like the end of a whole generation of tweenagers. Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: Sleepgasms are real — my climax wakes me up in the mornings MORE: Shocking photo reveals 'putrid' melon-sized hairball removed from teen's stomach MORE: I was 16 when the coercive control started – I want to keep teens safe
Telegraph
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Inside the child beauty salons ringing alarm bells across France
Amira, six, gawps at the symphony of pink as she steps into France's self-proclaimed first beauty parlour devoted entirely to children. Here, the 'princesses' are not just teens or even tweens, but toddlers. 'Immerse yourself in a fairy-tale princess world where dreams come true. We are proud to offer a complete range of beauty services for kids as young as three,' trumpets its website. With Let It Go from Disney's Frozen blasting at top volume, the young Parisienne is shown to a heart-shaped 'throne'. She dons a pink gown as her feet are given a scrub before they are plunged into a purple effervescent foot bath for a massage. A fake tiara is placed on her head, which soon falls off. She is handed a flute of what looks like rosé champagne but turns out to be harmless 'grenadine' – pomegranate cordial. 'We'll give you a foot and finger beauty treatment, a scrub, moisturiser and nail varnish. Then you'll have a snack. How does that sound?' asks the beautician struggling to make herself heard through the Disney din. Psychological and physical impacts The salon in the Hauts-de-Seine west of Paris is just one of a snowballing number of 'instituts de beauté pour enfants' (children's beauty salons) that have popped up around France in recent months, apparently fuelled by a so-called 'Sephora Kids' social media craze for underage beauty care, supercharged by influencers such as Kim Kardashian's daughter, North. Doctors, however, have sounded the alarm. Dermatologists have warned of the potential risk posed by some substances to children's skin, while other experts are concerned about the psychological impact on body image. Paris is not the only place where the kids' beauty fashion is catching on. The federation of beauty companies told Le Parisien that kids wellness, beauty care and salons was 'an emerging trend'. In Nice one salon offers 'beauty-kids parties', a children's salon opened in July in Ploërmel in Brittany, and a ' baby spa ' opened in Lyon at the end of December. In Verdun, the Secrets d'Ange salon, which opened last September is 'full until 2026', according to its owner. In Langon, near Bordeaux, the founder of a similar establishment told Sud Ouest she got the idea from the United Arab Emirates. 'I discovered the beauty centres for children in a report on Dubai five years ago, and I loved them,' she said. Salons booked for months in advance Back in Paris, Amira – the daughter of Telegraph photographer Bruno Fert – is joined by two other young customers, sisters aged four and nine. Their parents have all forked out €70 (£59) for a one-hour 'Bella' care package. Beauty packages can rise to €619 for a group of eight who are treated to a 'collective beauty activity', such as donning garish face scrubs. Others end in a catwalk show in taffeta and tulle. After the foot bath, Amira's toenails are cut and filed and a warm face mask applied with cucumbers placed over the eyes. Five minutes later, and with the six-year-old's patience running thin, the beautician removes the cucumbers and produces an array of nail varnish of different hues. 'Do you want water-based or adult?' she asks. 'We offer 'adult' from three up as before that they put their fingers in their mouths,' she tells the parents by way of reassurance. Then it's tea time, complete with raspberry cake. Management says the salon is booked up months in advance for groups and insists it uses 'only natural products that respect children's delicate skin'. 'It's a bit of fun. I don't see the problem,' says the mother of the two sisters. 'It turns them into princesses for the afternoon. They get the feeling they're real-life ice queens.'
