A trip to the mall should be enjoyable. You walk in, maybe surrounded by a group of friends, and you grab some snacks or a fun drink from the coffee shop on the corner before browsing around, taking your time at each store in search of the perfect purchase.

You would never expect to be nearly trampled by a horde of 12-year-old girls upon entering the Sephora, but, unfortunately, that has become a reality.

I entered the Sephora at Village Pointe with a simple goal: find a new tinted lip product. I wanted something that I could easily wear as a part of my everyday look.

However, I quickly found that every popular product was out of stock, or in the arms of a middle-school-aged girl. Many of them toted products from brands like Drunk Elephant and Sol de Janeiro around the store as they searched for their next target.

There are numerous problems at play here, but, from my perspective, the main two are as follows: brands marketing products to children that are not appropriate for their age and social media making young girls believe they need advanced skincare and makeup routines.

What many of these girls don’t understand is that the skincare products they want to use will only damage their skin. While the bright colors and fun patterns on the packaging of brands such as Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe may appeal to young customers, the ingredients in most of their products are not fit for tween or teenage users.

According to UCLA Health officials, any products with “active” ingredients, like certain acids, retinol, and peptides, have the opposite effect as intended when used on young skin, and will only irritate it and damage the skin barrier. Instead of these harmful products, doctors recommend a gentle cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen for young people looking to form a skincare routine.

Beyond featuring fun packaging that fits into many aesthetics popular with preteen girls, some brands even deign to send “PR packages” filled with their products to child influencers. This form of marketing is even more shameless than the packaging, as brands are overtly encouraging young people to use their products.

Child influencers aren’t the only problem that resides online. Older, more mainstream influencers and the trends they create can be extremely harmful to the confidence of young girls.

Beyond the obvious example of using apps like Photoshop and FaceTune to give selfies an unattainable, airbrushed finish, influencers have coined terms such as “glass skin” to describe the ideal appearance of one’s skin. It is not uncommon to see a video captioned “Follow this tutorial for glass skin”, or something similar.

The fact of the matter is that “glass skin” does not exist. It’s a product of filters and photos that are only taken on “good skin days”. However, many young girls on the internet lack the ability to realize this and fall into the trap of believing that there are things about their appearance that need to be improved.

Due to this, they turn to the strong skincare products that said influencers recommend, not realizing that they aren’t meant for adolescent skin, and the cycle goes round and round.

However, the consequences of these unrealistic expectations don’t stop at skin care. A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health found that after being exposed to unrealistic body standards, body dissatisfaction increased significantly, especially in girls under the age of 19.

In short, the “Sephora kid” craze is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to self-image and body confidence issues in young girls, specifically when related to social media.

Although I believe that brands should be held accountable for their ethically questionable marketing practices, the real power in this situation lies with the parents, and other mature influences in children’s lives.

It is up to these adults to monitor their children’s screen and social media usage and to help them build intrinsic self-confidence and worth. In order to accomplish this, I personally would make the decision not to allow children social media access before high school, but it ultimately lies with the parents to make that choice for their families.

All in all, while the “Sephora kid” posts that currently plague TikTok and Instagram might provide a good laugh, they represent a much larger issue that should be taken seriously.