10 Year Olds in Sephora

Isabelle Ng

“SO YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU DON’T HAVE THE GLOW RECIPE WATERMELON GLOW TONER???!!! That’s why you don’t have a boyfriend, and you’re ugly.” You double-take to ensure this is Sephora because there’s no reason for a little girl to be throwing a tantrum here. What could they possibly buy here? 

A group of little girls are huddled over the notorious skincare brands: Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe. Interested, you head over to see what’s going on, and to your surprise you see the girls mixing up a storm… One girl aggressively pumps the Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Repair Cream and cues the other girl to squirt in the B-Hydra Intensive Hydration gel along with the A-Passioni Retinol Cream, the next girl drops in some Drunk Elephant O-Bloos Rosi Drops and to top it all off, the last girl tugs on your shirt, looks you up and down and demands, “Give me the Glow Recipe Watermelon Dewdrops.” Reaching for it, she whispers under her breath, “You clearly need it.” Appalled, you don’t know what to say back. Do you fight this 10-year-old or sarcastically smile at her and give her the product? 

You decide to be the bigger person and hand it to her. You can’t help but look at the Charlotte Tilbury, Rare Beauty, Summer Fridays, Saie, and Sol de Janeiro spilling out of their baskets. Just as you think their total has to be more than 400 dollars, they add countless more Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe products. Watching in disbelief, the first girl waves her hand in your peripheral, asking, “Um our hands are full, hold this for us.” As your jaw slowly drops, she adds, “Is it too much for you to hold? You don’t seem that strong but come on, it’s only for a few seconds before Mommy and Daddy come in.” You give her a blank stare and walk towards the Drunk Elephant products. You overhear her say to her friends, “God what’s with her attitude.” You glare at her, but you guys meet eyes so you sarcastically smile at her. As you start to pick up the products they made a mess with, you try to figure out why a 10-year-old needs retinol. People start using that in their 20s to prevent signs of aging, but what aging is a 10-year-old experiencing, other than entering puberty? 

You add the last Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi drops to your basket and continue to browse around, but just when you pick up Hourglass Glossy Lip Balm to check the shade, the second girl comes up to you and points out, “So you have the last D-Bronzi drop! I mean you look a little pale so I guess you need it..!” Jaw dropped, you go to check out because you’ve had enough of these kids. Yet when you place your items on the counter, you find out another girl sneakily stole your Bronzi drops.