A MUM has face backlash after letting her 6-year-old spend £300 on make-up and skincare as an experiment to see what brands she would reach for.
Lauren Berkley, from the US, revealed her daughter didn’t use social media so had no idea which brands were trending at the moment.
She said: “I was really curious, as a marketing girly, if these kids are flocking towards these specific products in drones because of how they look or if it’s because of cultural influences and the social validation they get from using them.”
Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe have become particularly trendy with pre-teen girls and the pricey hobby has left social media users stunned, including Lauren.
She took her little girl to Sephora and let her run free for two minutes, picking up whatever she liked – because she only chose four items, Lauren allowed her to continue shopping.
Lauren added: “This was a bit of a social experiment, I wanted to see if she would purchase Drunk Elephant [skincare range] and glow recipe because of the colourful packaging.
“Grace is only six so I don’t let her watch social media – she doesn’t have her own accounts and I have no intention to let her be on social media until she’s at least 15 or 16.”
The clip showed her daughter wandering the store picking up any make-up or skincare items that caught her eye.
“In two minutes, Grace only picked out four products: A Charlotte Tilbury highlighter, NARS lipstick, a lip gloss that smelled like watermelon and something else,” said the mum.
She continued: “I was a bit disappointed so I actually let her spend more time shopping and I was not surprised that she did not gravitate towards the Drunk Elephant.
“I actually had to steer her in that direction. We did get a Glow Recipe moisturiser but she just wanted face masks and lip gloss.”
Altogether, the six-year-old spent a total of $391.37 – which comes to more than £300.
The video posted to her TikTok account @bahamasyogini has since gone viral with over 2million views and 143k likes.
Social media users were quick to share their thoughts with many slamming the mum for letting her daughter spend so much on items she’s too young for.
One person wrote: “Why are YOU trying to purposely ruin her skin? Drunk elephant, glow recipe, can really ruin her skin barrier.”
Another commented: “the glow recipe moisturiser has Hyaluronic acid. SHE DOESN’T NEED THAT.”
“Whyyyyy?! Mum. Come on. Take her to a toy store,” penned a third.
Meanwhile a fourth said: “People need a parenting license before being allowed to have kids.”
“Thanks for mum shaming,” replied Lauren.
“This is completely fine. We all had glitter chap sticks and lipsticks from Claire’s as a kid and played in mud pretending they are masks,” claimed a fifth.
Someone else added: “Fun face masks & sparkly lip-gloss is what I would expect a kid to choose!”
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