Blaring cries, deafening screams and glass containers crashing on the floor. These are the sounds that have overtaken the generic pop music that fills local Sephora makeup stores. The epidemic of obsession with makeup and skin care has spread far past just the preteen population and has now reached a whole new demographic: babies.
The issue first began at the Sephora in Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD. when a baby shopping with his mom got his hands on a large bottle of Nars foundation. After opening the bottle up and spilling some on the floor, he decided to chuck it straight toward the ground to see what would occur. After experiencing the thrill, he threw a second bottle at an employee, covering her in the sticky substance.
The baby, whose InstaBabies username is “Lilfeisty,” detailed the experience in a post. He posted a picture of the mess, along with the employee, and wrote about how amazing it felt to cause such a ruckus with makeup. The last line of his caption, the most controversial part of the post, even called on other babies to follow his lead and find ways to trick their parents into taking them to Sephora in order to have “Sephora Baby Meet-Ups.”
“After seeing Lilfeisty’s post, I knew I had to find a way to get myself to Sephora and join the fun,” a local baby said. “I hid my mom’s concealer so that she would need to go to the mall to replace it. Once I got there, I had a great time. After smashing some bottles of perfume and applying tanning drops on other babies, I tried some retinol cream to make sure I keep my soft peachy baby skin forever.”
Despite hearing about the Sephora baby epidemic, many WCHS students did not know the severity of the situation until they saw it with their own eyes. Getting students to report on their experiences was difficult due to fear of becoming the next victim of the babies’ make up terrorism, but one student agreed to be interviewed with the condition of anonymity.
“When I walked into the store, I could not believe my eyes,” the student said. “I saw one baby covered in blush crawling on the checkout counter and another licking a mascara wand. After seeing what was happening, I no longer wanted to even look for a birthday gift for my friend and just decided to leave, but one of the babies stabbed my leg with a contour stick.”
The babies have adopted Sephora stores as their own and prefer it over typical baby activities like going to the park or watching “Sesame Street.” In order to ensure that their parents keep taking them back despite their poor prior behavior, the babies have started putting on what Lilfeisty referred to on his InstaBabies account as “mega tantrums.” They scream at the top of their lungs and cry constantly until their parents finally agree to take them back to Sephora.
“I am worried about how my baby’s mental health will be affected by this,” Cassandra Rhodes, a local mother, said. “Taking my daughter to a Sephora Baby Meet-Up is one of my biggest regrets. After seeing other babies orange with fake tan and covered in foundation and blush, she thinks that she needs those products to be pretty. I have caught her in my bathroom a couple times stealing my makeup and applying it before posting it on InstaBabies for her friends to see how many likes she could get. This epidemic is not only hurting babies, but also Sephora employees and customers. Parents, I beg you to stand up to your babies and not take them to Sephora under any circumstances.”
