The nightmare of the 'Sephora tweens': Young skincare-obsessed girls who are DESTROYING the aisles of beauty retailer spark fury online - as critics rage against their parents for allowing 'vile' behavior

Tweens and teens are going wild in Sephora and testing expensive products'Sephora tweens' love Drunk Elephant, used by Alix Earle and Hailey BieberShoppers call the tweens 'feral' and beg their parents to supervise them

Tweens and teens are going wild in Sephora, as they test out expensive skincare products and make a major mess.

Many of the teenagers are flocking to Drunk Elephant, a beauty brand beloved by stars like Alix Earle, Hailey Bieber, and Kourtney Kardashian.

Now, beauty lovers are taking to TikTok and Reddit to complain about the ‘Sephora tweens’ and blame their parents for their bad behavior.

Sephora employees and shoppers are calling the young women ‘feral’ and begging their parents to supervise them at the high-end beauty store.

Tweens and teens are going wild in Sephora, as they test out expensive skincare products and make a major mess

TikTok content creator and aesthetician Cassandra Bankson, 31, investigated the rumor in Los Angeles and was shocked by her findings

Cassandra told her 437,000 followers the Drunk Elephant section was ‘disgusting’ and shared footage of the destroyed department

TikTok content creator and aesthetician Cassandra Bankson, 31, investigated the rumor in Los Angeles and was shocked by her findings, telling her 437,000 followers the Drunk Elephant section was ‘disgusting’ before sharing footage of the destroyed department.

The model found ‘a lip balm with a literal hair in it’ and that ‘someone put the bronzing drops all over one of the moisturizers and couldn’t even be bothered to put them back.’

Cassandra found products from the more affordable Sephora Brand Inkey List mixed in, and said clean skincare brand Glow Recipe was also impacted by the teens, but not quite as intensely.

‘Pre-tweens kept slamming into me and crowding the section… There were so many teens unsupervised,’ Cassandra announced. ‘The Drunk Elephant section was foul.’

Drunk Elephant is wildly popular with teens and tweens because of its colorful packaging, with prices ranging from $16 for the jelly cleanser to $98 for the cult favorite Protini Polypeptide Firming Refillable Moisturizer.

While it’s not specifically marketed towards teens, after young celebrities started using the brand on social media, Gen Alpha quickly became obsessed with the skincare products.

‘Where are your parents? Someone needs to be grounded. I thought it was all rumors. I’m speechless,’ Cassandra continued – but since some of the prices are high, many parents don’t allow their tweens to buy the products. Instead, teens test out the lotions and serums at Sephora stores.

Followers weighed in with how they thought the brand should handle the constant mess around their department.

The model found ‘a lip balm with a literal hair in it’ in the destroyed Drunk Elephant department, where teens flocked to try out the pricey products

Cassandra found ‘someone put the bronzing drops all over one of the moisturizers and couldn’t even be bothered to put them back,’ which is popular as people make slime or smoothies

In the TikTok comments, people joked about the tweens loving the overpriced products and said the area often looked like a ‘war zone’

‘They are drawn to Drunk Elephant the same way babies are drawn to colorful toys. Like their brains are still developing normally but wrong products,’ a commenter quipped.

‘I work for Ulta [and] we like to say the reason for the Drunk Elephant’s name is because it always looks like a drunk elephant went through the section,’ another joked.

‘They are going to ruin sampling for all of us,’ a commenter complained.

Another TikTok beauty lover explained they first got into skincare at 14 but added, ‘I was never this destructive, it really comes down to parents.’

Other commenters said the Drunk Elephant section at their local Sephora looked like a ‘war zone.’

‘Drunk Elephant should just switch gears and make overpriced do-nothing products for kids at this point,’ one suggested, as the products can be harsh on young skin, like the Protini Powerpeptide Resurfacing Serum with Lactic Acid ($82).

They’re not the first person to point out that the products can be unsafe for tweens.

Kourtney Kardashian’s daughter Penelope Disick caused quite a controversy when she shared her skincare routine on TikTok, using many of the brand’s products. The 11-year-old has a 10-step, $500 beauty routine that could be hurting her young skin.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based board-certified dermatologist Dr. Brooke Jeffy explained in a video that ‘tween skin deserves gentle care, not a pricey, extensive skincare routine,’ adding that ‘harsh chemicals aren’t meant for those in-between years.’ 

‘Drunk Elephant products may be fine for adult skin but for kiddos, it is definitely not!’ the dermatologist, who specializes in tween skincare, explained.

Sephora employees complained bitterly about the teens who are obsessed with Drunk Elephant in an anonymous Reddit community

In the Sephora Workers Reddit community, the response was much the same.

One commenter wrote they saw ‘TONS of elementary and middle school aged kids coming in a making a mess of the display, then throwing actual fits when mom says they can’t have a $90 serum.’

Another Sephora employee wrote, ‘TikTok and some of these brands are vile for marketing their products towards young kids who just see the pretty packaging and want to slap products on their faces like Meredith Duxbury.’

In another Reddit thread, a Sephora lover wrote, ‘Feral children are going to get the entire beauty section locked up for everyone, everywhere.’

A commenter agreed, ‘I wish the store could implement a rule that they can’t enter the store without a parent.’

Drunk Elephant products aren’t the only ones being destroyed by teens – the Inkey List, Fenty Beauty, and  Glow Recipe are also popular options

Drunk Elephant’s founder Tiffany Masterson talked to Ad Age about the ongoing Gen Alpha controversy and explained that she thinks social media is partly to blame for the popularity of the products.

‘I think TikTok pushed it over the edge, but that feels like it’s been in the last two years or so,’ Tiffany said.

‘I don’t think it’s such a new thing with kids wanting nice things that are expensive and that are out of their reach.’

And much like the TikTok creators, Tiffany also places the blame on parents who leave their tweens unattended at the makeup store.

‘We have kids coming in being disrespectful to Sephora employees, they’re being disrespectful of the space, they’re leaving messes, they’re upsetting other customers, they’re upsetting the employees,’ Tiffany said.

‘We have a responsibility as a brand, but part of this is a parenting issue,’ Tiffany proclaimed, asking, ‘Do you allow your kids to storm Sephora with your credit card?’