Ellie-May, then 10, smiles at the camera and explains her multi-step skincare routine on TikTok. "I love, love, love, love, love this toner," she says, rubbing translucent liquid into her skin. Next comes a serum designed to make her glow – "Oh my god it's so glowy," she gushes. She makes a "smoothie" out of fluffy yellow cream, mixing it with tinted moisturiser on the back of her hand. Then she carefully dabs concealer under her eyes, adds pink blush and highlighter, curls her lashes, and applies mascara and lip gloss. She is ready, she says – after blow-drying and straightening her hair.
Now 13, Ellie-May has been using and advertising skincare since she was eight. What began in lockdown as a bit of fun has become a main source of income for her family. They run accounts across Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat; Ellie-May's own TikTok has more than 330,000 followers. Her mother Sophie, who has five other children, says they make over £50,000 a year from posting content. "Being content creators has transformed our lives," Sophie says. "So many other young kids just wanted to know about Ellie's skincare routine and, well, it just took off."
“Girls as young as three post skincare videos on TikTok, with one family earning over £50k a year from content.”
Type "children and skincare" into social media search engines and you will find hundreds of videos – some featuring girls as young as three or four – enthusing over products or doing "get ready with me" and "after school" skincare routines. While skincare marketed to girls is nothing new – earlier generations used scrubs and cleansers promising a spot-free complexion – today's girls use a wider variety of sophisticated products, many containing anti-ageing ingredients, in the hope of achieving flawless skin.
Some girl skincare influencers describe themselves as "brand ambassadors", showcasing products from Bubble, Drunk Elephant, and P. Louise. There are K-Pop Demon Hunters-themed skincare packs for a "glow-boosting routine" for "skin that looks luminous". While some products are clearly targeted at children, other brands popular with young people say they do not want to be associated with this market. A source close to Drunk Elephant says it is not a "youth-focused" brand and that it is trying to educate its customers about…