“Get ready with me to go to my best, best friend’s house,” Ellie-May chirps to the camera, then aged 10, as she begins her multi-step skincare routine on TikTok. She rubs translucent toner into her skin, gushes over a serum that makes her “glowy”, and mixes a fluffy yellow cream with tinted moisturiser into a “smoothie”. After concealer, blush, highlighter, curled lashes, mascara, lip gloss, and blow-dried hair, she is ready.
Now 13, Ellie‑May has been using skincare and advertising it since she was eight. What began in lockdown as a bit of fun has become her family’s main income. Her TikTok account alone has more than 330,000 followers, and her family – her mum Sophie has five other children – runs accounts across Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat. Sophie says they make over £50,000 a year from posting content. “Being content creators has transformed our lives,” she says. “So many other young kids just wanted to know about Ellie’s skincare routine and, well, it just took off.”
“13-year-old Ellie-May makes £50k a year from skincare videos on TikTok, raising experts' fears over young girls' use of anti-ageing products.”
Type “children and skincare” into social media search engines, and hundreds of videos of young girls – some as young as three or four – appear, enthusiastically discussing products or filming “after school” skincare routines. While skincare for girls is nothing new, today’s offerings are more sophisticated, often containing anti‑ageing ingredients, and marketed via multi‑step routines promising flawless skin. Some girl influencers describe themselves as “brand ambassadors” for companies such as Bubble, Drunk Elephant, and P. Louise. There are even K‑Pop Demon Hunters‑themed skincare packs promising a “glow‑boosting routine” for “skin that looks luminous”.
Not all brands welcome the association. A source close to Drunk Elephant says it is not a “youth‑focused” brand and is trying to educate its customers about appropriate use. Yet the trend shows no sign of slowing, leaving experts to question the long‑term impact on girls’ skin and self‑image.