Plenty of women are heading into stores hoping to buy their regular products, yet they appear to be raided by 12-year-olds. Why are teenagers suddenly putting so much effort into their appearance?
The “Sephora Kid” trend is the new epidemic that’s draining the shelves of adult makeup and skincare products. Much of this can be explained by the amount of time these youth spend on TikTok today. According to Business Insider, the average child spends about 2 hours on TikTok each day. All different kinds of art like makeup, dancing, and music are shared through the social media platform, where top influencers can gain fame and fortune and artists can gain popularity. “TikTokers” with large platforms have found a way to make profits by creating short-form entertainment videos and using their influence to advertise products.
University of Miami student Alix Earle became popular in “get ready with me” videos, where she goes through her nightly makeup routine and mesmerizes viewers with her active social life. She quickly began getting deals with name brands such as Rare Beauty, Rhode Skin, Tarte, and Too Faced, which according to Forbes accumulated a $5 million profit in only a year’s work. Girls look to Earle as a trustworthy source, informing them on what to do to look their best and do makeup correctly. Instead of struggling to find the right products and do their makeup, young girls now have a role model. Earle uses her knowledge of makeup to share her skills with others, and this has become a career for her. Many other content creators are also a part of the “creator economy”, which is an industry now valued at $250 billion according to Business Insider.
Charli D’amelio was a regular 16-year-old from Connecticut who was a competitive dancer at a local studio. Her TikTok dancing videos went viral in 2019, and her videos gained even more popularity during COVID in 2020. She joined with other content creators to form the “Hype house”, where a group of TikTokers such as Addison Rae, Avani, and her sister Dixie make dancing videos together and collaborate on content as a business model. While her TikTok dancing started as a casual hobby, it has allowed her to accumulate 155 million followers as of 2024, making her the second most followed person on the platform. As a young girl who spent hours every day practicing, D’amelio had big dreams of becoming a dancer, but it seemed far-fetched and not achievable. Her hard work combined with the luck of going viral paid off as she now has tremendous opportunities through her work on TikTok. After competing on Dancing with the Stars and winning, she is set to perform in the Broadway show & Juliet. In an interview, D’amelio shares “I’m beyond excited to join the Broadway community — it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a little girl. To be able to make my Broadway debut, especially in the cast of & Juliet, is truly a dream come true, and I can’t wait to share this experience with everyone,” (Broadway News). As D’amelio’s story demonstrates, Tiktok unites people of all backgrounds to freely express their passions, which opens new possibilities for their talents and careers.
Music provides joy and connects people like nothing else, and TikTok enables users to spread the joy of music. Horace Greeley sophomore Phoebe Pliskow shares, “I have always been interested in pop music, and TikTok has helped me discover new rap artists that I now listen to on a daily basis such as Yeat and Ken Carson.” Ken Carson’s song Overseas was released in April of 2024 but has grown in popularity this fall through TikTok with over 440,000 videos using his song. As users discover new popular sounds and artists on TikTok, they can expand their playlists and discover new music tastes. This is why artists and labels often reach out to TikTok influencers and pay them to create content with their music. For instance, Tyla’s viral song “Water”, grew in popularity on TikTok through a dancing trend. Charli XCX, a pop singer, released her album Brat this past summer. Her song Apple became a dance on TikTok, which led to celebrities such as Glen Powell, Brooke Shields, and Cara Delevigne performing her song. The Brat album became such an internet sensation that it led to the idea of “Brat Summer”, inspired by the album’s influence to live freely and unapologetically. Even presidential candidate Kamala Harris recognized this trend, as shown by online photos of her overlaid on the lime green album cover.
Whether makeup, performing arts, or music, TikTok not only informs us of trends but also encourages us to explore our interests. As Greeley Junior Jocelyn Brolin shared, “When I come across people creating on TikTok, it inspires me to get off my phone and create myself.”
