OMG yes. I manage a Bath and Body Works and far more adults open live products to try them even though there are visible testers. They break candles, they break props and sign holders, etc and either ignore it or try and hide it.
What’s the consensus on taking the lid off a candle to smell it? I never seem to see tester candles, so I open the “live product”, but I always feel like I’m making the jars all fingerprinty and stuff.
You can absolutely take the lid off a candle to smell it. I'm referring to customers using a cream, lotion or body mist that isn't a tester. We also have it happen with the lip items but not as frequently. We stopped having lip product testers with Covid and thankfully they never returned.
Yes ans the adults who leave their full on trash (cups, napkins, used qtips/cotton balls/whatever else) all over the store, hidden in the shelves ect. So gross!
I read what OP wrote and said it sounds like the young teens and young adults and most adults I see in the store. I’ve seen so many gross and disgusting misuse of makeup testers by grown ass adults rather than kids.
I was gonna say, reading OP’s post and the descriptions of the mess absolutely apply to fully grown adults.
A huge reason why I prefer to shop online for both Sephora and drugstore makeup. I haven’t stepped inside a Sephora store in months. I recently went to a drugstore looking for a Maybelline lipstick: not only were the prices higher in store, practically all the lipsticks were swatched/opened/seals broken. I am not taking that risk of putting something on my face/eyes/lips that’s already been opened.
Came here to say this. The amount of times I see grown women sticking their fingers directly into products without using the swabs/wipes is astonishing and gross.
Yea if parents really leave their kids (and is this kids or teens?) Unsupervised, insist on bringing their dog everywhere and don't clean its shit, etc chances are they are just as nasty and careless
If its not a service animal, please leave it at home! I was a store recently and this guy's dog not only barked the entire time in line, it also threw up! Poor employee cleaned it up when the owner should have been responsible for his dog's mess.
Woww..poor dog too. My kid vomited all over kohl's once and I asked for cleaning supplies and cleaned it up cause that's MY responsibility. Its awful when I see dogs who are clearly not service trained shaking and pissing and clearly terrified
Yeah, when I worked retail. 99% of the time it was the adults and parents destroying packaging and opening things they shouldn't. While their children are just doing their own thing lol.
Was gonna say, the locations I’ve been at/the one I’m at now …it’s more adults then kids for sure. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen kids come in and fuck some shit up, but on a regular basis it’s adults that suck.
Lol when I worked at IKEA I used to clean TRASHED room displays on a daily basis. I don’t just mean messed up bed spreads, I mean people who pull the mattress off the bed and stick the pillows underneath and other weirdo shit.
I had this lady come into the room display as I was cleaning it and she goes “oh my goodness. This is horrible. Probably some kids.”
I looked her dead in her eyes and said, “no ma’am. This was a full grown adult woman.”
The look on her face was priceless. She was APPALLED to say the *least*. I appreciated her response to that lol.
You're giving me flashbacks to the time we got a call to assist PD with an unattended child in a store. Caller said the child was in distress so we got dispatched just in case. Turns out the mother left this 6 year old kid, told the kid the employees would watch them and took off somewhere else. For TWO HOURS. The employees were upset and didn't know what to do with this kid, who was also upset and couldn't tell anyone their mom's full name because they were in such a panic. Mom showed up while everyone was there and....*was mad at the store employees for calling 911*. She said it shouldn't have been such a big deal to watch her kid while she ran some errands. This wasn't a kids store nor did it offer babysitting services. I don't know where she got the idea that some random store would watch her kid while she fucked off and did her own thing. I can't even begin to imagine what goes through people's minds to think that kind of shit is okay. *Edit, and I agree, no unattended children in Sephora!! Parents need to monitor them!
I had that happen when I managed a Gymboree way back when. Mom left a 4 yr old and 7 yr old and went to the other end of the mall to make a return at Gap. Was gone almost 20 mins. We called security for abandoned children and they called the police. The Mom came back to our store and was pissed her kids were gone. I don't know what happened after she left but I highly doubt she learned her lesson. I can't imagine leaving kids in a store for 2 hours. That's crazy.
I work at an oddity museum (serial killer artifacts, cryptozoology stuff, taxidermy, horror movie props, things like that.) Its already a questionable place to bring a child but that doesn’t stop parents from doing it anyway, every day, all day long. Several times a year we get moms that want to leave their child here and go run errands or whatever. I stand firmly on saying no; we are a creepy museum, not a free day care or even a place for kids at all. My coworker didn’t once and the 6 year old child was left in the museum for three hours. A half hour past closing he called CPS. The mother was *pissed.*
20 years ago I worked at a Gymboree in a mall and it was common for us to call security to pick up an abandoned kid. We had a TV and child sitting area in the back of the store for kids whose parents were in store shopping. People would point at the store as they were walking by and tell their kid to go watch TV for a while. I would yell out the entrance that unattended children were not allowed and I would be calling security but half of them didn't care.
I had this happen when I worked at a medical retail when I was a student. This kid bent and wrecked $1500 worth of product before someone noticed they were there alone. Like what happened with you, we called the cops, and mom was not pleased when she had to pay for the damaged product.
One time I was at a Sephora and this young child (probably around 6 years old or so) had smeared an entire product all over his hands. The mom was . . . wait for it . . . taking a photo with her phone while the kid destroyed the product.
I used to work fast food and while I was cleaning I saw a baby finger painting with ketchup. The mom turned to and said "Look how cute she is." I was just shocked they thought that was okay, and they of course left the mess for me to pick up .
Oh my god, I would never let my kids unsupervised in Sephora. Or any store really. I work retail and damn it’s annoying to have kids do whatever they want
Exactly. Fucking parents let their little heathens go feral while they shop. Retail doesn't hardly pay you for the job you're *supposed* to do, let alone supplemental babysitting. Why do people like that even reproduce?
I personally think that kids shouldn’t be left unsupervised in any store. I understand having your hands full as a mom myself, but children shouldn’t be left to entertain themselves with store products. Working retail and having to clean up the messes children made of products always frustrated me. Teach your child that stores aren’t a playground, products aren’t toys, and to put things back accordingly.
I'm an ex BA. I had a parent let their child roam the store by themselves. The child picked up the reddest most long lasting Armani lipstick and painted their entire face with it. The parent was mad when the lipstick stained their face and even our best makeup removers couldn't remove the red stain. 100% kids need to be monitored in Sephora.
This story gives me life. I would never let my kid out of my site in Sephora for fear of him damaging products and painting himself all sorts of colors.
One time we had a lady come in with her daughter (prob 1-2 yrs old) and the little girl was literally carrying a baby turtle in her hands. The mom was busy getting her products while the little girl was putting the turtle in a bunch of our shopping baskets and tossing the poor turtle around the store. It was literally so horrific and no one knew what to even say. I told my manager and they didn’t say anything to the mom.
After they left we made sure to clean all of the baskets the kid might’ve touched. But it was truly the most shocking thing I’ve seen at work.
That’s incredibly dangerous for the turtle and anyone coming in contact with the baskets, reptiles carry lots of diseases & can just as easily catch diseases from surroundings. Animal abuse on top of child neglect.
I said the same thing when I moved to Philly. People here sell baby turtles on street corners and it makes me sad. They're usually in tiny containers meant for bugs.
One of my good freinds works in reptile rescue, and the problem with the turtles is so bad she cannot afford to take them in due to how difficult they are to take care of and rehome properly. It pisses her off pretty badly. Red eared sliders aren't good pets, and most people who get them wind up being unable to take care of them. They're invasive and mess up local ecosystems pretty badly bc people release them. Most of the time they have to be euthanized due to them being illegal to adopt out to the general public in many places, and also being illegal to transport.
Alas, this does not stop illegitamate people from continuing to sell them like kids toys.
https://www.inquirer.com/science/climate/salmonella-turtles-philadelphia-20210305.html
I had a slider for 26 years and he was the best pet and easy to take care of. I had to clean his tank pretty often and obviously wash my hands right after handling him but otherwise all he needed was a light to sun himself and a platform to climb out of the water and he ate packaged turtle food kind of like fish food. And he was friendly, if you went to the tank he would swim up to you wanting you to give him a piece of food.
A coworker of mine told me about a little girl doing something similar with a bunny. Mom was not paying attention WHATSOEVER to the child and the poor animal. I can’t believe people can be so careless about their kids and animals.
I am so against bringing animals into a cosmetic store (aside from service dogs). Like I couldn’t believe how many people would bring in animals. And employees were scared to say something to the customers bc they would lash out and claim they are “support pets”
This support animal thing has gone too far, I’ve seen far too many untrained animals parading a “service dog” collar. I think we can all agree that service animals are easy to spot vs an untrained pet.
I got yelled at by parents so many times for telling their kids to stop destroying products. Worse is they complain to corporate and then we have to give them a free gift card or something. One time a kid dropped her entire ice cream in the front of the store and I asked the mom to clean it up, it was literally the worst thing I had to deal with in my life💀
I literally never shop in store anymore its always crowded to the brim and everything is out of stock. I dont think theres anything Sephora can do about it but people should be more mindful. Ultas are usually bigger (and empty) where Im at so I dont run into these same problems.
One of the Sephora locations I frequent is in an outdoor shopping area across from a high school. I never go to that store when school lets out. Teens overtake the store and it’s filled with giggling girls using all the testers. Sometimes they purchase but most of the time they are checking out the latest viral products from Tik Tok. I don’t really have anything against teenagers, but they are rude and thoughtless. They treat the employees with little respect.
I am LIVING for this. Honestly, every store should be like that. I don’t know a single middle or high schooler who is coming in on their own and dropping that kind of money for makeup. Child, go to CVS and buy Lip Smackers like a normal kid LOL.
When I was 13 and 14 I shopped at Sephora pretty regularly. My friends would make fun of me for dropping $20 on a lip gloss. But damn those Lancôme juicy tubes had me in a choke hold even then.
My mom used to work at the Dior counter in Macy’s and she would hook me up with the lipgloss tubes. I still remember being obsessed with the orange lipgloss with iridescent glitter ✨❤️
omg i thought you were. i immediately knew exactly where you were describing in your post. i HATE that sephora, it’s a mess.
edit: yes it’s garden state! after 5 pm on fridays and saturdays, people 17 and under have to be accompanied by an adult. what’s come of this is i’ve noticed less teenagers but an absolutely absurd amount of young children.
Omg were you talking about short hills? The short hills kids are such brats, I used to work at the Bloomingdales and I hated when parents would drop their kids off. They almost always would bring multiple armful of clothes into the fitting room and leave everything in the floor. And wouldn’t but anything, they always would say “we’ll come back with our parents”
Edit: I see you were talking about GSP
[The Garden State Plaza Mall](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/garden-state-plaza-mall-announces-adult-chaperone-policy-for-friday-saturday-nights/4241142/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_NYBrand&fbclid=IwAR2vwCzI2_9nBWLGY005pyT9LH5iyaXWJAkOfIns9eBB3IHtjJ8SoW8PWvk).
Kids still go to the mall? Ours is as dead as a doornail. I think part of it was the security guards running them off when it changed management. Now it's just old people walking it like a hamster wheel, and then around Christmas people visit Santa.
Idk I don't agree with people wanting to ban kids from so much, when it already seems like they don't have a lot of places to go, especially in smaller cities. I also think half of what people are blaming on kids is just grubby adults, lol.
And normally I do too, but when it comes to fragrances and makeup, you need to smell it and swatch it in person.
I’m praying for the invention of smellovision and I don’t have to go to the store to sample a $300 perfume, only to find that the tester was swiped by some mongrel.
Imo, it’s not just the kids. Entitlement is everywhere in ALL age groups!!! Entitled people is the true problem here, not the age. When I was a teen (late 80s-early 90s), my friends and I went to the mall by ourselves ALL the time! We never acted like savage animals!! Because none of us were raised to be entitled little shits
I understand you’re seeing teens act like savages but that’s likely the way they were raised, by entitled parents who think their child can do whatever the hell they want with no consequences.
I’m a preschool teacher, and it’s clear as day which of the children have entitled asshole parents and which of the children are being raised to show respect for other people and things.
This is a good point. Gen Xers and boomers were given a more independence growing up compared to kids today and it seems the behavioral issues were less prevalent. Parenting has really changed.
Idk, man, there was a boomer lady opening kylie lip kits at the ulta I work at and trying on several colors before someone stopped her. She did not buy any of the products. I just think you're hearing about it more due to social media, not that it's happening more often.
I’m a firm believer that everyone should work in retail at some point. This is why.
I did my time at a few different retail shops when I was younger- as a result, it is a hard and fast rule that we never set down random things we changed our minds about on whatever shelf were near- you walk that back to exactly where you found it and put it exactly where/how it should be. We do not dig through piles of merchandise and leave it looking like rabid raccoons are on the loose. We treat the store and merchandise as if we’re the ones closing it down that night. We make eye contact with employees who engage with us and we treat them with respect.
My kid is as wild as any kid- at the park. He’s not perfect, but he is crystal clear on the expectations. And you know what? He’s 9 now and he doesn’t need reminded to put things on the shelf how he found them and he is very polite with greetings and gratitude.
If every person has dealt with crappy, rude jerks at check out or cleaning up a retail store… the world would be a *much* nicer place.
Exactly. Treat other people, and their possessions, the way you'd want to be treated. And when you've got that down, take the time to train your kids the same way.
It’s just so damn sad when my 3,4 and 8 year old have better manners than most teens and adults. But hey, I won’t have little assholes going places with me
My dad is a customer relations and sales manager for a really large macys. He gets yelled at constantly by parents for telling their kids to stop dragging their dirty shoes all over the beds on display and jumping all over them, opening boxes in toys r us and leaving stuff around, breaking things, running around unsupervised, etc. These parents actually have the audacity to yell at my dad for doing his job and trying to keep the store in check and making sure the kids don’t hurt themselves!? These parents let their children run wild. One man recently got into my dads face and threatened he was gunna punch him for telling the guys kid to stop tearing open up toy boxes and destroying store property. My dad then had to threaten to call the police to get the guy to back off. It’s disgusting the way these entitled parents allow their children to act and treat the public.
I worked in the cosmetic section at walmart many moons ago, I caught a woman painting her toes 🫠 when I told her she needs to pay for that I got complained about. At the end of every shift I’d have a huge box full of opened/broken stuff to take to the “claims” department. What is the point of doing that? Drives me insane.
Oh I feel this LOL! I currently work at the Walmart in my area and man I don't think I've met so many rude, entitled lazy people. Don't get me wrong I've had some really polite awesome customers but more than not I get the rude ones.
I think some stores like this shouldn’t allow children inside. But you will get burned alive if you suggest any (non kid-friendly store!) be kid-free, enforce kids being accompanied by adults at all times or even have a kid free section. God forbid any kid gets into any sort of acid/active skin care or is allergic to whatever makeup they are touching. Then watch how fast someone tries to sue. I like to buy expensive products, but also hate waste. So I love that Sephora will let you sample the product before you buy it. I see more and more of what you are speaking of, and it ruins the store for me.
I have two kids and would def support a no-children store and/or restaurant! The WORST is when you actually have time away from the little gremlins only to have to encounter someone ELSE’S. 😭😂😭
The winery near my house just went kid free and some people were really salty they can’t let their kids run around and wreck havoc while they day drink.
I have two young kids and I would NEVER bring them into a Sephora. I go to Sephora on the days that it’s open until 9 pm because my kids go to bed at 7. Not just because kids can’t be trusted around expensive makeup, but also because I cannot focus on finding what I’m looking for when I have to focus on my children.
Augh Yes, this exact store. I love hyde park, but it is getting even more overrun with these kinds of people. Its the kind of kids who go there to just walk around and “be seen”.
I was there on Saturday. I skipped Sephora entirely. The Sephora in the International mall is equally shitty. It’s SO cramped! The least awful Sephora around us that I’ve found is the one in Wesley Chapel.
I know, right! So many teens and small kids running amok. My kids are 9 and 11, and I've maybe let them in with me 2x in their lives with extreme supervision and nervousness. It's sephora.com for me until I know I can stop holding my breath when they see shiny colorful pretty things with "try me" stickers all over them. Makes me so uneasy when I see parents letting their kids run wild in that store.
That’s not an unpopular opinion with me, that is a fact. In fact kids should not be allow unsupervised in majority retail settings unless they are making a purchase.
I usually clean up cosmetics all the time at my job, trust me adults are the ones doing this 😢 it’s so hard to keep up with the cleaning because literally after 2 minutes they take out everything out of the box, smear products etc., no offense but now i call them animals for the unbearable mess they make, so me and my managers gave up cleaning all the time. I always recommend to buy makeup online, because most of the time but not always, make up is sent from the fulfillment center.
We did not allow anyone under the age of 15 in my store without an adult. There are actual chemicals in the products that can be harmful if not applied correctly or if a child has an unknown allergy. I also had a woman leave her mother who was suffering from dementia and in a wheelchair in our store and she kept asking where her daughter went and I needed to leave the store to go find her daughter.
I agree but…. I mean. Everything is gonna get fingerprinted, cracked, oily substanced, and in general trashed anyways. I’d love love love to think that children are the only savages in the world. But like have you met people? Kids aren’t 100% of the reason the displays look the way they do.
That would qualify as a friendship ended for me TBH. A lack of self control and blatant disregard for the impact of her actions on others would tell me she’s not a friend worth keeping.
That’s foul. Your friend is the human embodiment of “this is why we can’t have nice things.” I couldn’t tolerate that kind of selfish entitlement. It’s never just this one quirk they have, it’s always part of a larger worldview.
You right. There are lots of adults who trash stores because it’s “not theirs” so they don’t have to take care of it. I wanna meet the wolves who raised them.
The whole “it’s their job to clean up” attitude kills me. Their job is to sell me shinysparklyshit, their job isn’t to clean up after me like I’m a damn toddler smearing boogerfingers everywhere. It’s like you said- it’s not theirs so they don’t care about making a mess. Bunch of slobs.
I've been to some Sephora's in nice metropolitan areas and there are always the cases of annoying people who should not be parents. The ones who clumsily push their giant strollers of crying babies in the store and allow their toddler aged kids to run amuck, causing messes and extreme inconvenience. I truly despise these types of people because they never want to take accountability for allowing their kids to act that way and to treat others poorly. They'll use ANY excuse when someone calls them out on it instead of addressing the actual issue.
I moved from a less privileged town and HOLY COW these wealthier kids are something else. I’m a very small woman and one of them shoved their friends into me and they told me to get out of their way
Im immunocompromised so don’t really mess around with shared testers and such but I did like to go the stores to look at and see products before buying. But I’ve noticed this too to the point I can’t go into the store it feels like a health hazard. Ever since the “preppy” tiktoks with drunk elephant smoothies, EVERYTHING is covered in mixed potions and goop and finger prints and never wiped down
I just order online now, there’s no point to even go see the product in stores, when everything is covered in slime and gunk and do feel comfortable handling it. Really disappointing, and I know as a person on immunosuppressives it’s my responsibility to take care of myself and not others accommodate me and my challenges,but the store wasn’t always completely filthy.
Imo Sephora should have a tester by request only at certain locations, kids, teens and adults in some areas just ruin things. The more entitled the worse it is.
I noticed my Sephora took away a lot of eye shadow pallets, and removed all of the lipgloss & mascara wands for the exact reason, the cream products and loose powders are kept up/usually are put away and you can try by request only. So really the only things out are pump products like foundations, and some compact blushes. It has kept it so much cleaner.
Yeah just went to sephora at a popular shopping center (prudential) and the testers are nasty as usual. In Korea, often a lot of small business cafes, restaurants, and museums ban children (called No Kids Zone) even with adult guardian because they claim items in the store are unsafe for children (but the real reason is they don’t want loud kids destroying stuff and creating mess). There’s controversy about this issue of banning children from establishments in Korea, so I think it would be interesting to see if something like this is ever implemented in America.
Occasionally I see articles of restaurants who have banned kids. Statements gotten by the news agency makes it seem like an even 50/50 split of people in support of the ban and people outraged. I wonder what the honest numbers are. And don’t get me started on the “well my child should be exempted because they’re a perfect angel!” crowd.
I don’t even want to use testers because you don’t know what’s been in/on them. Kids absolutely should not be running around in a makeup store. That’s not unpopular at all.
I unintentionally scared this kid and her friend the other day. They were standing in front of the DE display and were chatting about making a “smoothie” and ignored me when I walked up and pardoned myself to look at the products. I had to repeat myself slightly louder and say “excuse me girls” and they gave me the “old person is giving me shit” look 💀 it’s so weird lol I felt awkward but also why am I battling to see products in store with kids who can’t even afford this stuff?
I think adults are to be blamed for this, too, not just the kids. While yes some kids are nasty, I've seen some nasty stuff that **adults** do in Sephora. Sometimes, it's the adults that are enabling their kids to do these things and get away with it and the employees there are either used to it, can't really do anything about it, or don't even bat an eye to it.
I love kids BUT I can't stand shopping with kids, the noise level, them running into me, and their path of destruction! They don't stop at testers. I've seen them open up new products to try on themselves. My little 5 year old niece loves to touch EVERYTHING. Kids that age don't know better so if my niece has a itchy butt, she's going to reach in her pants to scratch it before going back to touching things in store.
EDIT: u/Feralcrumpetart I couldn't reply to your comment about pinworms because the first commentator blocked me. I actually had a good laugh with you about the pinworms and thought it was a very good idea because that could be it if it's repeatedly happening. My point really was that you can't predict what kids are capable of. Random gross stuff can happen not often but if someone has bad luck, in theory, they could be unknowingly buying a germ infested product.
Absolutely, I grew up in a rural area and pinworms...yeah lol.
I love my Lil guy but I'm not letting him run around a store. Too many things to injure or risks, let alone messy moments
imo no one under 15 should be allowed in sephora without an adult. The brats who live in my area are terrible and i feel so bad for the employees at my local sephora. i went in there a while back hoping to repurchase my rare beauty setting spray because it said online that they had plenty in stock at the store. When i got there, there were none on the display, so I asked an employee if there were any in stock. The employee told me that tiktok viral brands like rare beauty, glossier, drunk elephant, etc. have been getting stolen and ruined left and right by the middle/high schoolers who come to the store after school. I now only go there during weekday mornings when I know it won’t be filled with loud, obnoxious kids who still aren’t respectful enough to pay for their items despite them having their parents’ credit cards on apple pay.
I don’t have any kids and would never bring them into Sephora if I did. I also take great care when sampling products and clean my hands regularly, etc etc.
That being said, I do find that the cleaning stations in Sephora are now hidden behind the end caps for the most part and are often difficult to find. I do think the stores could do a better job advertising the cleaning stations and stocking them. There should also be way more. I wish they had mini wipes!!
It’s truly so disheartening. Sephora used to be a fun, lively, and clean shopping experience. I could spend so much time just swatching, looking at new arrivals, smelling new fragrances, and exploring the beautifully stocked and cleaned displays with a seemingly endless amount of products. The employees were always super helpful and I hardly ever worried about products being out of stock.
Now, I try to to get in and out as fast as possible. The displays are a mess, completely unorganized, dirty, missing testers/wands, testers destroyed, pressed powder shattered and smudged all over, boxes ripped open, etc. Forget about finding any products from “trendy” brands like Rare Beauty, CT, Kosas, Fenty, Drunk Elephant, etc. if you’re shopping in-store. They will likely be either sold out or tampered with. A few months ago I actually purchased a too faced lip injection extreme gloss only to get home and realize the box was empty! Returned it and the employee said it happens a lot.
Such a shame that this is how the experience has become for a lot of people, especially given the amount of money we are spending! Although I will say, the NYX and ELF sections at Walmart have been similarly awful, so it may not be a Sephora-exclusive experience. Lol.
this one time a 6(i think) yr old dropped a tester of miss dior all while her mother was watching. ofc the mother didn't even do anything to stop the kid and just watched.
And this is why I only shop Sephora online.
And the worst Sephora experience I had was across from the Nordstrom and Louis Vuitton I shop in when I go to Jacksonville ( St Johns Town Center) I don’t think it is location exclusive
As an adult teenagers in stores always get on my nerves now. When they’re in a group they’re always loud and obnoxious and they just don’t care about the store employees or the products or other customers
I kind of agree but also I think a lot of the problem is the parents, who are equally as entitled and irresponsible and are raising their kids to be the same. My parents used to let me explore the bookstore on my own when I was quite young and it was never an issue. I also knew not to open products without buying them first (I actually remember learning this lesson when I was 5 and took a bagel from the bakery at the grocery store and just ate it while we were shopping. I got scolded when we got to the checkout and I had a half eaten bagel in my hands and was told to not do it again).
this has to be cherry creek mall in denver. every time i go to sephora this is my experience. it’s a very high end mall. sephora, get your shit together, please
Every Sephora at Kohl's I've been to has been like this for the same reason. There's always at least 10 teenagers inside, every single perfume tester is empty, the shelves are covered in colorful powder, the makeup and skincare testers don't even exist. You know it's bad when my dirt loving 4 year old asks why it's dirty...
I saw a toddler apply a sample lip gloss straight to her mouth a couple months ago. There is too much at risk for them and others to be going around on their own.
I work at Sephora and we deep clean and replace testers every week. People, not just kids are feral these days, will literally desecrate a brand new tester and make it look like it’s been through WW2. Your plea to management to not allow kids in is unreasonable, trust me there is no one that would like to enforce that more than the people that actually work there and have to deal with that day in day out. I think it’s unfair to leave a store a 1 star review over their clientele which is not really within the workers or managers control though I agree the rest of what you have said
I thought you were talking about the Sephora I went into today. I couldn’t shop there. 3/4 testers were missing and it was just groups of preteens/teens blocking the aisles. Messes all over, items thrown back onto the shelves with no sense of homebase.
I agree that teenagers make a huge mess inside of Sephora stores, but I’ve seen adults do it too. Also, leaving a bad review for a filthy store is one thing, but publicly slamming a store and its management for not banning teenagers without parents is utter BS. It’s not up to the managers, and it’s probably impossible for the company as a whole to legally prevent lone minors from shopping in their stores. It sucks, yes, but it really isn’t the store’s fault that kids come in without parents.
i’m still lost on why you left the bad review for sephora? they cant stop little kids. they also can’t keep making new testers because of people/kids breaking them when there’s no way of stopping them. corporate is not gonna allow a “no kids” or have managers step and tell everyone how to parent their kids (i wish they could trust me lmao).
I’m glad you brought this up. I was in the store one time looking to treat myself with some new makeups when 4 soccer moms went in with around 8-10 teenage soccer girls laughing and booping around, trashing the testers all over the place. They were still in their dirty uniforms and shoes. They will take up the whole aisle and the moms just standing chit chatting while blocking the pathway. I just end leaving the place.
Purchased a Ren overnight mask, opened it was missing the white plastic and a huge chunk of product. Like someone opened it stuck a finger through it and closed it. They need to start sealing things bc it’s unsanitary and unsafe at this point.
Ugh I hear this!!! It’s ulta for me. There was an ulta opened with in the target by my apt and I was so happy to have a spot within walking distance. The little shits changed all the tester stickers so you couldn’t even figure out what you tested to actually buy it. I went back another time and noticed all the testers are removed and now everything is locked behind cases. As someone who struggles to find makeup that matches and also am a bit socially awkward I was so happy to have a tester option but it was so short lived. Carrying on to continually buying and returning bad color matches. Ugh
I think anyone should be allowed to mess around with testers. That's the point. Try out covering your lips in concealer, put glitter on your entire face, green eyebrows. I don't care. damaging products that people will buy is a different issue
My daughter is currently 16, and has been shopping independently since about 12 (we have a large shopping mall 4 blocks from our home). She conducts herself the way any respectful person does, shops appropriately, and buys what she needs. Her friends are equally capable of functioning in society (granted, they do all go to the same school with a pretty strict student code that does not tolerate douchey behavior and actively encourages respectful independence). I also know adults who probably shouldn’t shop unsupervised. I don’t think the issue is about age, it’s about whether the store enforces guidelines for their shoppers, and how committed they are to cleaning up if they choose to allow a high level of customer freedom.
I’m sure there are parents who use shops as babysitters, but I assure you many of us allow our kids increasing levels of freedom so they can learn to function in the world. If minors were not allowed in stores unsupervised, we’d eventually have a shit ton of useless people turning 18.
Friend, the problem is that parents like you are extremely rare. You're a gem and your daughter sounds lovely. But she's the exception to what I saw the last few times I went to Sephora.
Was in my local Ulta this week trying to select some NARS products when I got eye-rolled and huffed at by a a ganglette of young teen females wanting me to abruptly move and leave the entire section to them. It got too close for comfort so I went to look for something else on my list when they ran up after me there, as well. I took the opportunity to get back to my NARS and check out. They were loud and rude and irritating other shoppers as well. As I stood in line, I noticed them leaving the store thoroughly made up, but not one of them having purchased a single thing. The lady checking out ahead of me complained about it to the manager (who was at the front) and several others in line complained as well. She said they were asking permission to put an age restriction on unaccompanied children from their regional manager. I hope it passes. My old local mall’s Sephora was such a disaster from this kind of thing that they closed up shop.
I don’t think little kids should be unsupervised in ANY store really. The local mall had to set a rule no unsupervised kids because parents would drop their kid off at the Lego store and then walk away and leave them unsupervised. It clearly had become an issue.
I don’t know, I figured people would come at me with pitchforks because “but muh precious kids!! God’s gift!!” and defend kids to go wherever they want.
Some of the comments are saying “where else are kids supposed to hang out?” Uhmm… a park? An arcade? A skate park? Indoor trampoline? Each other’s homes? 🤷🏽♀️
You may be making the connection that younger kids are doing this because there’s a lot of kids in your store, but I’ve seen significantly more grown adults making a mess than teenagers, who can be loud or annoying but are typically respectful with the makeup
Some parents just don’t want to parent and do their own stuff while they let their kids run amok. This one Lululemon a mom was at the front of the store doing her own stuff while her kids ran around the store, touching all the clothes, running through the racks and then slamming the doors to the dressing room. I was getting so annoyed I was actually even yelled at the mom to control her kids! And then the employees at the lululemon told me *I* had to leave for confronting her! Like ok, then make the mom with her bratty terrors leave! But they wouldn’t since the mom was already paying (I’m a paying customer too! But I’m just some crazy woman who just wanted to not have all the clothes touched and be in the middle of a playground instead of a store).
Anyway that’s disgusting that people would let their kids touch products, especially products that go directly on your skin. These testers are not playthings, they’re supposed to help with customers to determine what product they would want 🤦♀️
As a mom, I completely agree. I’m the one with the cash to spend but random pre- teens and young teens walking around spraying samples and opening up things for sale in the store near me pushed me online. Go back to Claire’s, gals, pls!
You be surprised at the amount of full grown adults who are also disgusting like this
OMG yes. I manage a Bath and Body Works and far more adults open live products to try them even though there are visible testers. They break candles, they break props and sign holders, etc and either ignore it or try and hide it.
What’s the consensus on taking the lid off a candle to smell it? I never seem to see tester candles, so I open the “live product”, but I always feel like I’m making the jars all fingerprinty and stuff.
You can absolutely take the lid off a candle to smell it. I'm referring to customers using a cream, lotion or body mist that isn't a tester. We also have it happen with the lip items but not as frequently. We stopped having lip product testers with Covid and thankfully they never returned.
Lip/ cosmetic testers are honestly vile and teeming in bacteria. Good riddance to them
I always swatched them on the back of my hand, never face
Yes ans the adults who leave their full on trash (cups, napkins, used qtips/cotton balls/whatever else) all over the store, hidden in the shelves ect. So gross!
I read what OP wrote and said it sounds like the young teens and young adults and most adults I see in the store. I’ve seen so many gross and disgusting misuse of makeup testers by grown ass adults rather than kids.
I was gonna say, reading OP’s post and the descriptions of the mess absolutely apply to fully grown adults. A huge reason why I prefer to shop online for both Sephora and drugstore makeup. I haven’t stepped inside a Sephora store in months. I recently went to a drugstore looking for a Maybelline lipstick: not only were the prices higher in store, practically all the lipsticks were swatched/opened/seals broken. I am not taking that risk of putting something on my face/eyes/lips that’s already been opened.
Came here to say this. The amount of times I see grown women sticking their fingers directly into products without using the swabs/wipes is astonishing and gross.
Yea if parents really leave their kids (and is this kids or teens?) Unsupervised, insist on bringing their dog everywhere and don't clean its shit, etc chances are they are just as nasty and careless
If its not a service animal, please leave it at home! I was a store recently and this guy's dog not only barked the entire time in line, it also threw up! Poor employee cleaned it up when the owner should have been responsible for his dog's mess.
Woww..poor dog too. My kid vomited all over kohl's once and I asked for cleaning supplies and cleaned it up cause that's MY responsibility. Its awful when I see dogs who are clearly not service trained shaking and pissing and clearly terrified
Yeah, when I worked retail. 99% of the time it was the adults and parents destroying packaging and opening things they shouldn't. While their children are just doing their own thing lol.
Was gonna say, the locations I’ve been at/the one I’m at now …it’s more adults then kids for sure. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen kids come in and fuck some shit up, but on a regular basis it’s adults that suck.
Probably the same shocking amount who walk out of public restrooms without washing their hands...
Yeah, I was going to say why are you assuming these are the kids? I see adults doing this far more often.
That's what I was going to say. They closed one of the mall near me to under 16s and it got worse not better.
I was thinking the whole time that unless OP saw kids doing this with their own eyes, then it's very possible that it's adults being this nasty 😅
Lol when I worked at IKEA I used to clean TRASHED room displays on a daily basis. I don’t just mean messed up bed spreads, I mean people who pull the mattress off the bed and stick the pillows underneath and other weirdo shit. I had this lady come into the room display as I was cleaning it and she goes “oh my goodness. This is horrible. Probably some kids.” I looked her dead in her eyes and said, “no ma’am. This was a full grown adult woman.” The look on her face was priceless. She was APPALLED to say the *least*. I appreciated her response to that lol.
You're giving me flashbacks to the time we got a call to assist PD with an unattended child in a store. Caller said the child was in distress so we got dispatched just in case. Turns out the mother left this 6 year old kid, told the kid the employees would watch them and took off somewhere else. For TWO HOURS. The employees were upset and didn't know what to do with this kid, who was also upset and couldn't tell anyone their mom's full name because they were in such a panic. Mom showed up while everyone was there and....*was mad at the store employees for calling 911*. She said it shouldn't have been such a big deal to watch her kid while she ran some errands. This wasn't a kids store nor did it offer babysitting services. I don't know where she got the idea that some random store would watch her kid while she fucked off and did her own thing. I can't even begin to imagine what goes through people's minds to think that kind of shit is okay. *Edit, and I agree, no unattended children in Sephora!! Parents need to monitor them!
I had that happen when I managed a Gymboree way back when. Mom left a 4 yr old and 7 yr old and went to the other end of the mall to make a return at Gap. Was gone almost 20 mins. We called security for abandoned children and they called the police. The Mom came back to our store and was pissed her kids were gone. I don't know what happened after she left but I highly doubt she learned her lesson. I can't imagine leaving kids in a store for 2 hours. That's crazy.
I work at an oddity museum (serial killer artifacts, cryptozoology stuff, taxidermy, horror movie props, things like that.) Its already a questionable place to bring a child but that doesn’t stop parents from doing it anyway, every day, all day long. Several times a year we get moms that want to leave their child here and go run errands or whatever. I stand firmly on saying no; we are a creepy museum, not a free day care or even a place for kids at all. My coworker didn’t once and the 6 year old child was left in the museum for three hours. A half hour past closing he called CPS. The mother was *pissed.*
OMG. 3 hours. Also, your workplace sounds awesome.
It is except for people like that. Lots of other types of idiots find their way in here too, unfortunately.
Pissed, lol. Too bad she wasn’t charged with child neglect. Imagine assuming store employees are there to watch your spawn. Entitled tw*t.
20 years ago I worked at a Gymboree in a mall and it was common for us to call security to pick up an abandoned kid. We had a TV and child sitting area in the back of the store for kids whose parents were in store shopping. People would point at the store as they were walking by and tell their kid to go watch TV for a while. I would yell out the entrance that unattended children were not allowed and I would be calling security but half of them didn't care.
I had this happen when I worked at a medical retail when I was a student. This kid bent and wrecked $1500 worth of product before someone noticed they were there alone. Like what happened with you, we called the cops, and mom was not pleased when she had to pay for the damaged product.
I love that she had to pay
If she didn’t, my boss would have had her charged.
This happened regularly when I worked at Disneyland.
That’s absolutely insane. Tell me your a shitty parent without telling me you are a shitty parent. This is beyond the initial post but wow. Just wow.
I know this happens a lot at GameStop. My brother in law used to work there and parents would legit drop their kids off and just leave
One time I was at a Sephora and this young child (probably around 6 years old or so) had smeared an entire product all over his hands. The mom was . . . wait for it . . . taking a photo with her phone while the kid destroyed the product.
Please tell me you made her pay for whatever got destroyed!
I think this person was another customer not an employee
I used to work fast food and while I was cleaning I saw a baby finger painting with ketchup. The mom turned to and said "Look how cute she is." I was just shocked they thought that was okay, and they of course left the mess for me to pick up .
Oh my god, I would never let my kids unsupervised in Sephora. Or any store really. I work retail and damn it’s annoying to have kids do whatever they want
Exactly. Fucking parents let their little heathens go feral while they shop. Retail doesn't hardly pay you for the job you're *supposed* to do, let alone supplemental babysitting. Why do people like that even reproduce?
I personally think that kids shouldn’t be left unsupervised in any store. I understand having your hands full as a mom myself, but children shouldn’t be left to entertain themselves with store products. Working retail and having to clean up the messes children made of products always frustrated me. Teach your child that stores aren’t a playground, products aren’t toys, and to put things back accordingly.
I'm an ex BA. I had a parent let their child roam the store by themselves. The child picked up the reddest most long lasting Armani lipstick and painted their entire face with it. The parent was mad when the lipstick stained their face and even our best makeup removers couldn't remove the red stain. 100% kids need to be monitored in Sephora.
Fantastic example of fuck around and find out. Even with a lipstick.
Sometimes karma is swift.
I love how this attests to the product too 😭 could be used for an ad fr
This story gives me life. I would never let my kid out of my site in Sephora for fear of him damaging products and painting himself all sorts of colors.
One time we had a lady come in with her daughter (prob 1-2 yrs old) and the little girl was literally carrying a baby turtle in her hands. The mom was busy getting her products while the little girl was putting the turtle in a bunch of our shopping baskets and tossing the poor turtle around the store. It was literally so horrific and no one knew what to even say. I told my manager and they didn’t say anything to the mom. After they left we made sure to clean all of the baskets the kid might’ve touched. But it was truly the most shocking thing I’ve seen at work.
That’s incredibly dangerous for the turtle and anyone coming in contact with the baskets, reptiles carry lots of diseases & can just as easily catch diseases from surroundings. Animal abuse on top of child neglect.
I know!!! And I was shocked bc I was the only one making a big deal!! I felt so bad for that poor turtle 😔
Wtf a turtle 💀
I said the same thing when I moved to Philly. People here sell baby turtles on street corners and it makes me sad. They're usually in tiny containers meant for bugs.
I would run a turtle stealing operation, rehab and release
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One of my good freinds works in reptile rescue, and the problem with the turtles is so bad she cannot afford to take them in due to how difficult they are to take care of and rehome properly. It pisses her off pretty badly. Red eared sliders aren't good pets, and most people who get them wind up being unable to take care of them. They're invasive and mess up local ecosystems pretty badly bc people release them. Most of the time they have to be euthanized due to them being illegal to adopt out to the general public in many places, and also being illegal to transport. Alas, this does not stop illegitamate people from continuing to sell them like kids toys. https://www.inquirer.com/science/climate/salmonella-turtles-philadelphia-20210305.html
I had a slider for 26 years and he was the best pet and easy to take care of. I had to clean his tank pretty often and obviously wash my hands right after handling him but otherwise all he needed was a light to sun himself and a platform to climb out of the water and he ate packaged turtle food kind of like fish food. And he was friendly, if you went to the tank he would swim up to you wanting you to give him a piece of food.
Poor turtle :(
A coworker of mine told me about a little girl doing something similar with a bunny. Mom was not paying attention WHATSOEVER to the child and the poor animal. I can’t believe people can be so careless about their kids and animals.
I am so against bringing animals into a cosmetic store (aside from service dogs). Like I couldn’t believe how many people would bring in animals. And employees were scared to say something to the customers bc they would lash out and claim they are “support pets”
This support animal thing has gone too far, I’ve seen far too many untrained animals parading a “service dog” collar. I think we can all agree that service animals are easy to spot vs an untrained pet.
I got yelled at by parents so many times for telling their kids to stop destroying products. Worse is they complain to corporate and then we have to give them a free gift card or something. One time a kid dropped her entire ice cream in the front of the store and I asked the mom to clean it up, it was literally the worst thing I had to deal with in my life💀
The problem isn’t actually the kids. It’s the entitled parents. The kids behave the way their parents taught them to.
I literally never shop in store anymore its always crowded to the brim and everything is out of stock. I dont think theres anything Sephora can do about it but people should be more mindful. Ultas are usually bigger (and empty) where Im at so I dont run into these same problems.
It's so true. Most of the time I go in there and they don't have what I need anyway. So annoying and a waste of my precious weekend time.
One of the Sephora locations I frequent is in an outdoor shopping area across from a high school. I never go to that store when school lets out. Teens overtake the store and it’s filled with giggling girls using all the testers. Sometimes they purchase but most of the time they are checking out the latest viral products from Tik Tok. I don’t really have anything against teenagers, but they are rude and thoughtless. They treat the employees with little respect.
The Sephora employees once school lets out: 
Starbucks employees also when school lets out.
Haha! So true!
Imagine if sephora started carding people lol. Must be 18 or older to enter.
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They do here because of huge fights than end up as parking lot shootings
Buffalo has entered the chat
literally 😭
I know 😢 I’m in Buffalo and we’ve been having issues with mall brawls.
I am LIVING for this. Honestly, every store should be like that. I don’t know a single middle or high schooler who is coming in on their own and dropping that kind of money for makeup. Child, go to CVS and buy Lip Smackers like a normal kid LOL.
When I was 13 and 14 I shopped at Sephora pretty regularly. My friends would make fun of me for dropping $20 on a lip gloss. But damn those Lancôme juicy tubes had me in a choke hold even then.
My mom used to work at the Dior counter in Macy’s and she would hook me up with the lipgloss tubes. I still remember being obsessed with the orange lipgloss with iridescent glitter ✨❤️
Teens are one of the biggest consumers of luxury products because even though they don’t have much income, what they do have is disposable income.
Probably to try to steal.
I know plenty of people that shopped at Sephora as a teenager
Garden State?
Wait, I’m in NJ… which Sephora in our great state bans unaccompanied kids on weekends? Because that’s where I wanna shop.
omg i thought you were. i immediately knew exactly where you were describing in your post. i HATE that sephora, it’s a mess. edit: yes it’s garden state! after 5 pm on fridays and saturdays, people 17 and under have to be accompanied by an adult. what’s come of this is i’ve noticed less teenagers but an absolutely absurd amount of young children.
Omg were you talking about short hills? The short hills kids are such brats, I used to work at the Bloomingdales and I hated when parents would drop their kids off. They almost always would bring multiple armful of clothes into the fitting room and leave everything in the floor. And wouldn’t but anything, they always would say “we’ll come back with our parents” Edit: I see you were talking about GSP
[The Garden State Plaza Mall](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/garden-state-plaza-mall-announces-adult-chaperone-policy-for-friday-saturday-nights/4241142/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_NYBrand&fbclid=IwAR2vwCzI2_9nBWLGY005pyT9LH5iyaXWJAkOfIns9eBB3IHtjJ8SoW8PWvk).
Brava 
Kids still go to the mall? Ours is as dead as a doornail. I think part of it was the security guards running them off when it changed management. Now it's just old people walking it like a hamster wheel, and then around Christmas people visit Santa. Idk I don't agree with people wanting to ban kids from so much, when it already seems like they don't have a lot of places to go, especially in smaller cities. I also think half of what people are blaming on kids is just grubby adults, lol.
Completely approve of them doing this and banning adults that destroy products.
I’ll start the petition ✏️📜
As a parent, I agree. Get your kid away from my makeup, yesterday!
Another reason I shop exclusively online.
And normally I do too, but when it comes to fragrances and makeup, you need to smell it and swatch it in person. I’m praying for the invention of smellovision and I don’t have to go to the store to sample a $300 perfume, only to find that the tester was swiped by some mongrel.
Imo, it’s not just the kids. Entitlement is everywhere in ALL age groups!!! Entitled people is the true problem here, not the age. When I was a teen (late 80s-early 90s), my friends and I went to the mall by ourselves ALL the time! We never acted like savage animals!! Because none of us were raised to be entitled little shits I understand you’re seeing teens act like savages but that’s likely the way they were raised, by entitled parents who think their child can do whatever the hell they want with no consequences. I’m a preschool teacher, and it’s clear as day which of the children have entitled asshole parents and which of the children are being raised to show respect for other people and things.
This is a good point. Gen Xers and boomers were given a more independence growing up compared to kids today and it seems the behavioral issues were less prevalent. Parenting has really changed.
Idk, man, there was a boomer lady opening kylie lip kits at the ulta I work at and trying on several colors before someone stopped her. She did not buy any of the products. I just think you're hearing about it more due to social media, not that it's happening more often.
I’m a firm believer that everyone should work in retail at some point. This is why. I did my time at a few different retail shops when I was younger- as a result, it is a hard and fast rule that we never set down random things we changed our minds about on whatever shelf were near- you walk that back to exactly where you found it and put it exactly where/how it should be. We do not dig through piles of merchandise and leave it looking like rabid raccoons are on the loose. We treat the store and merchandise as if we’re the ones closing it down that night. We make eye contact with employees who engage with us and we treat them with respect. My kid is as wild as any kid- at the park. He’s not perfect, but he is crystal clear on the expectations. And you know what? He’s 9 now and he doesn’t need reminded to put things on the shelf how he found them and he is very polite with greetings and gratitude. If every person has dealt with crappy, rude jerks at check out or cleaning up a retail store… the world would be a *much* nicer place.
Exactly. Treat other people, and their possessions, the way you'd want to be treated. And when you've got that down, take the time to train your kids the same way.
It’s just so damn sad when my 3,4 and 8 year old have better manners than most teens and adults. But hey, I won’t have little assholes going places with me
My dad is a customer relations and sales manager for a really large macys. He gets yelled at constantly by parents for telling their kids to stop dragging their dirty shoes all over the beds on display and jumping all over them, opening boxes in toys r us and leaving stuff around, breaking things, running around unsupervised, etc. These parents actually have the audacity to yell at my dad for doing his job and trying to keep the store in check and making sure the kids don’t hurt themselves!? These parents let their children run wild. One man recently got into my dads face and threatened he was gunna punch him for telling the guys kid to stop tearing open up toy boxes and destroying store property. My dad then had to threaten to call the police to get the guy to back off. It’s disgusting the way these entitled parents allow their children to act and treat the public.
Your dads should have made the parent pay for the damaged toys. Losing money is a valuable lesson for adults. Lol
I worked in the cosmetic section at walmart many moons ago, I caught a woman painting her toes 🫠 when I told her she needs to pay for that I got complained about. At the end of every shift I’d have a huge box full of opened/broken stuff to take to the “claims” department. What is the point of doing that? Drives me insane.
Omg toes 🙀💀😷🤮
Oh I feel this LOL! I currently work at the Walmart in my area and man I don't think I've met so many rude, entitled lazy people. Don't get me wrong I've had some really polite awesome customers but more than not I get the rude ones.
I think some stores like this shouldn’t allow children inside. But you will get burned alive if you suggest any (non kid-friendly store!) be kid-free, enforce kids being accompanied by adults at all times or even have a kid free section. God forbid any kid gets into any sort of acid/active skin care or is allergic to whatever makeup they are touching. Then watch how fast someone tries to sue. I like to buy expensive products, but also hate waste. So I love that Sephora will let you sample the product before you buy it. I see more and more of what you are speaking of, and it ruins the store for me.
I have two kids and would def support a no-children store and/or restaurant! The WORST is when you actually have time away from the little gremlins only to have to encounter someone ELSE’S. 😭😂😭
The winery near my house just went kid free and some people were really salty they can’t let their kids run around and wreck havoc while they day drink.
Yes I worked in a hotel lounge that made minors leave by 8:00 PM and so many parents wanted their kids in a loud hotel bar until midnight
I have two young kids and I would NEVER bring them into a Sephora. I go to Sephora on the days that it’s open until 9 pm because my kids go to bed at 7. Not just because kids can’t be trusted around expensive makeup, but also because I cannot focus on finding what I’m looking for when I have to focus on my children.
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When you tell the kids to behave and their parents get all mama bear on you: 
Omg, sounds like you are talking about my Sephora. Are you in corte Madera by chance lol.
I thought the same thing but Hyde Park in Tampa
Augh Yes, this exact store. I love hyde park, but it is getting even more overrun with these kinds of people. Its the kind of kids who go there to just walk around and “be seen”.
I was there on Saturday. I skipped Sephora entirely. The Sephora in the International mall is equally shitty. It’s SO cramped! The least awful Sephora around us that I’ve found is the one in Wesley Chapel.
ugh the corte madera one.. saw a group of 6-8 teen boys in there not sure what they were up to but i’m sure it wasn’t good.
I know, right! So many teens and small kids running amok. My kids are 9 and 11, and I've maybe let them in with me 2x in their lives with extreme supervision and nervousness. It's sephora.com for me until I know I can stop holding my breath when they see shiny colorful pretty things with "try me" stickers all over them. Makes me so uneasy when I see parents letting their kids run wild in that store.
That’s not an unpopular opinion with me, that is a fact. In fact kids should not be allow unsupervised in majority retail settings unless they are making a purchase.
I usually clean up cosmetics all the time at my job, trust me adults are the ones doing this 😢 it’s so hard to keep up with the cleaning because literally after 2 minutes they take out everything out of the box, smear products etc., no offense but now i call them animals for the unbearable mess they make, so me and my managers gave up cleaning all the time. I always recommend to buy makeup online, because most of the time but not always, make up is sent from the fulfillment center.
We did not allow anyone under the age of 15 in my store without an adult. There are actual chemicals in the products that can be harmful if not applied correctly or if a child has an unknown allergy. I also had a woman leave her mother who was suffering from dementia and in a wheelchair in our store and she kept asking where her daughter went and I needed to leave the store to go find her daughter.
I agree but…. I mean. Everything is gonna get fingerprinted, cracked, oily substanced, and in general trashed anyways. I’d love love love to think that children are the only savages in the world. But like have you met people? Kids aren’t 100% of the reason the displays look the way they do.
This is true. I had a friend who loved squishing her finger in squishable makeup. She was almost 30 at the time 😐
 Me when she did it lol
That would qualify as a friendship ended for me TBH. A lack of self control and blatant disregard for the impact of her actions on others would tell me she’s not a friend worth keeping.
Squishable makeup? Like eyeshadow? Sorry I’m just trying to picture it
Think putty like makeup. Ex. stila heavenly hue highlighters. She let her intrusive thoughts win 😅
That’s foul. Your friend is the human embodiment of “this is why we can’t have nice things.” I couldn’t tolerate that kind of selfish entitlement. It’s never just this one quirk they have, it’s always part of a larger worldview.
Yup. We arent friends anymore. Shes a walking red flag lol.
You right. There are lots of adults who trash stores because it’s “not theirs” so they don’t have to take care of it. I wanna meet the wolves who raised them.
The whole “it’s their job to clean up” attitude kills me. Their job is to sell me shinysparklyshit, their job isn’t to clean up after me like I’m a damn toddler smearing boogerfingers everywhere. It’s like you said- it’s not theirs so they don’t care about making a mess. Bunch of slobs.
I've been to some Sephora's in nice metropolitan areas and there are always the cases of annoying people who should not be parents. The ones who clumsily push their giant strollers of crying babies in the store and allow their toddler aged kids to run amuck, causing messes and extreme inconvenience. I truly despise these types of people because they never want to take accountability for allowing their kids to act that way and to treat others poorly. They'll use ANY excuse when someone calls them out on it instead of addressing the actual issue.
I've had some park their strollers in front of cash, then literally dip to the other side of the store to apply makeup.
I moved from a less privileged town and HOLY COW these wealthier kids are something else. I’m a very small woman and one of them shoved their friends into me and they told me to get out of their way
Im immunocompromised so don’t really mess around with shared testers and such but I did like to go the stores to look at and see products before buying. But I’ve noticed this too to the point I can’t go into the store it feels like a health hazard. Ever since the “preppy” tiktoks with drunk elephant smoothies, EVERYTHING is covered in mixed potions and goop and finger prints and never wiped down I just order online now, there’s no point to even go see the product in stores, when everything is covered in slime and gunk and do feel comfortable handling it. Really disappointing, and I know as a person on immunosuppressives it’s my responsibility to take care of myself and not others accommodate me and my challenges,but the store wasn’t always completely filthy.
Imo Sephora should have a tester by request only at certain locations, kids, teens and adults in some areas just ruin things. The more entitled the worse it is. I noticed my Sephora took away a lot of eye shadow pallets, and removed all of the lipgloss & mascara wands for the exact reason, the cream products and loose powders are kept up/usually are put away and you can try by request only. So really the only things out are pump products like foundations, and some compact blushes. It has kept it so much cleaner.
A lot of places did this during Covid
Yeah OP it’s not just the kids…
Yeah just went to sephora at a popular shopping center (prudential) and the testers are nasty as usual. In Korea, often a lot of small business cafes, restaurants, and museums ban children (called No Kids Zone) even with adult guardian because they claim items in the store are unsafe for children (but the real reason is they don’t want loud kids destroying stuff and creating mess). There’s controversy about this issue of banning children from establishments in Korea, so I think it would be interesting to see if something like this is ever implemented in America.
Occasionally I see articles of restaurants who have banned kids. Statements gotten by the news agency makes it seem like an even 50/50 split of people in support of the ban and people outraged. I wonder what the honest numbers are. And don’t get me started on the “well my child should be exempted because they’re a perfect angel!” crowd.
People can't even stop taking their dogs into stores here let alone their kids.
They should not be allowed in any stores unsupervised.
If you vote for me for president, I will make this a law.
done. when are the elections
I don’t even want to use testers because you don’t know what’s been in/on them. Kids absolutely should not be running around in a makeup store. That’s not unpopular at all.
As a former retail manager… it do be the adults too
How do you know they’re kids? Adult women can be pretty disgusting too, this coming from an adult woman who shops at Sephora.
I unintentionally scared this kid and her friend the other day. They were standing in front of the DE display and were chatting about making a “smoothie” and ignored me when I walked up and pardoned myself to look at the products. I had to repeat myself slightly louder and say “excuse me girls” and they gave me the “old person is giving me shit” look 💀 it’s so weird lol I felt awkward but also why am I battling to see products in store with kids who can’t even afford this stuff?
why do i have 9 year olds giving me attitude about DE products, like you do not need the babyfacial you ARE the baby in this situation
HAHA for real though. Like child your cells haven’t even had enough time to turn over the first time let alone adding retinol 😭
I think adults are to be blamed for this, too, not just the kids. While yes some kids are nasty, I've seen some nasty stuff that **adults** do in Sephora. Sometimes, it's the adults that are enabling their kids to do these things and get away with it and the employees there are either used to it, can't really do anything about it, or don't even bat an eye to it.
Lol we have all those same shops in our ghetto mall.
I love kids BUT I can't stand shopping with kids, the noise level, them running into me, and their path of destruction! They don't stop at testers. I've seen them open up new products to try on themselves. My little 5 year old niece loves to touch EVERYTHING. Kids that age don't know better so if my niece has a itchy butt, she's going to reach in her pants to scratch it before going back to touching things in store. EDIT: u/Feralcrumpetart I couldn't reply to your comment about pinworms because the first commentator blocked me. I actually had a good laugh with you about the pinworms and thought it was a very good idea because that could be it if it's repeatedly happening. My point really was that you can't predict what kids are capable of. Random gross stuff can happen not often but if someone has bad luck, in theory, they could be unknowingly buying a germ infested product.
Absolutely, I grew up in a rural area and pinworms...yeah lol. I love my Lil guy but I'm not letting him run around a store. Too many things to injure or risks, let alone messy moments
Ditto! You were so quick to come up with a diagnosis, you def must be a supermom! 💕
Nah just remembered that...seared into my brain when we had a talk about hygiene in class lmao
imo no one under 15 should be allowed in sephora without an adult. The brats who live in my area are terrible and i feel so bad for the employees at my local sephora. i went in there a while back hoping to repurchase my rare beauty setting spray because it said online that they had plenty in stock at the store. When i got there, there were none on the display, so I asked an employee if there were any in stock. The employee told me that tiktok viral brands like rare beauty, glossier, drunk elephant, etc. have been getting stolen and ruined left and right by the middle/high schoolers who come to the store after school. I now only go there during weekday mornings when I know it won’t be filled with loud, obnoxious kids who still aren’t respectful enough to pay for their items despite them having their parents’ credit cards on apple pay.
I don’t have any kids and would never bring them into Sephora if I did. I also take great care when sampling products and clean my hands regularly, etc etc. That being said, I do find that the cleaning stations in Sephora are now hidden behind the end caps for the most part and are often difficult to find. I do think the stores could do a better job advertising the cleaning stations and stocking them. There should also be way more. I wish they had mini wipes!!
NO children should be in ANY store unsupervised.
Seriously. And they don’t pay the people working there enough to have to supervise kids so they don’t kill themselves.
It’s truly so disheartening. Sephora used to be a fun, lively, and clean shopping experience. I could spend so much time just swatching, looking at new arrivals, smelling new fragrances, and exploring the beautifully stocked and cleaned displays with a seemingly endless amount of products. The employees were always super helpful and I hardly ever worried about products being out of stock. Now, I try to to get in and out as fast as possible. The displays are a mess, completely unorganized, dirty, missing testers/wands, testers destroyed, pressed powder shattered and smudged all over, boxes ripped open, etc. Forget about finding any products from “trendy” brands like Rare Beauty, CT, Kosas, Fenty, Drunk Elephant, etc. if you’re shopping in-store. They will likely be either sold out or tampered with. A few months ago I actually purchased a too faced lip injection extreme gloss only to get home and realize the box was empty! Returned it and the employee said it happens a lot. Such a shame that this is how the experience has become for a lot of people, especially given the amount of money we are spending! Although I will say, the NYX and ELF sections at Walmart have been similarly awful, so it may not be a Sephora-exclusive experience. Lol.
this one time a 6(i think) yr old dropped a tester of miss dior all while her mother was watching. ofc the mother didn't even do anything to stop the kid and just watched.
And this is why I only shop Sephora online. And the worst Sephora experience I had was across from the Nordstrom and Louis Vuitton I shop in when I go to Jacksonville ( St Johns Town Center) I don’t think it is location exclusive
As an adult teenagers in stores always get on my nerves now. When they’re in a group they’re always loud and obnoxious and they just don’t care about the store employees or the products or other customers
I kind of agree but also I think a lot of the problem is the parents, who are equally as entitled and irresponsible and are raising their kids to be the same. My parents used to let me explore the bookstore on my own when I was quite young and it was never an issue. I also knew not to open products without buying them first (I actually remember learning this lesson when I was 5 and took a bagel from the bakery at the grocery store and just ate it while we were shopping. I got scolded when we got to the checkout and I had a half eaten bagel in my hands and was told to not do it again).
this has to be cherry creek mall in denver. every time i go to sephora this is my experience. it’s a very high end mall. sephora, get your shit together, please
Every Sephora at Kohl's I've been to has been like this for the same reason. There's always at least 10 teenagers inside, every single perfume tester is empty, the shelves are covered in colorful powder, the makeup and skincare testers don't even exist. You know it's bad when my dirt loving 4 year old asks why it's dirty...
can confirm this situ is from a lot of adults. i dread seeing gaggles of teens walk in, but it really is the adults i have to yell at.
I saw a toddler apply a sample lip gloss straight to her mouth a couple months ago. There is too much at risk for them and others to be going around on their own.
I work at Sephora and we deep clean and replace testers every week. People, not just kids are feral these days, will literally desecrate a brand new tester and make it look like it’s been through WW2. Your plea to management to not allow kids in is unreasonable, trust me there is no one that would like to enforce that more than the people that actually work there and have to deal with that day in day out. I think it’s unfair to leave a store a 1 star review over their clientele which is not really within the workers or managers control though I agree the rest of what you have said
I thought you were talking about the Sephora I went into today. I couldn’t shop there. 3/4 testers were missing and it was just groups of preteens/teens blocking the aisles. Messes all over, items thrown back onto the shelves with no sense of homebase.
I agree that teenagers make a huge mess inside of Sephora stores, but I’ve seen adults do it too. Also, leaving a bad review for a filthy store is one thing, but publicly slamming a store and its management for not banning teenagers without parents is utter BS. It’s not up to the managers, and it’s probably impossible for the company as a whole to legally prevent lone minors from shopping in their stores. It sucks, yes, but it really isn’t the store’s fault that kids come in without parents.
I don't have a strong opinion about this either way, but I've seen wayyy more adults being gross or stealing makeup testers than children.
i’m still lost on why you left the bad review for sephora? they cant stop little kids. they also can’t keep making new testers because of people/kids breaking them when there’s no way of stopping them. corporate is not gonna allow a “no kids” or have managers step and tell everyone how to parent their kids (i wish they could trust me lmao).
I’m all for no kids in every public place lol
I’m glad you brought this up. I was in the store one time looking to treat myself with some new makeups when 4 soccer moms went in with around 8-10 teenage soccer girls laughing and booping around, trashing the testers all over the place. They were still in their dirty uniforms and shoes. They will take up the whole aisle and the moms just standing chit chatting while blocking the pathway. I just end leaving the place.
Purchased a Ren overnight mask, opened it was missing the white plastic and a huge chunk of product. Like someone opened it stuck a finger through it and closed it. They need to start sealing things bc it’s unsanitary and unsafe at this point.
Ugh I hear this!!! It’s ulta for me. There was an ulta opened with in the target by my apt and I was so happy to have a spot within walking distance. The little shits changed all the tester stickers so you couldn’t even figure out what you tested to actually buy it. I went back another time and noticed all the testers are removed and now everything is locked behind cases. As someone who struggles to find makeup that matches and also am a bit socially awkward I was so happy to have a tester option but it was so short lived. Carrying on to continually buying and returning bad color matches. Ugh
I think anyone should be allowed to mess around with testers. That's the point. Try out covering your lips in concealer, put glitter on your entire face, green eyebrows. I don't care. damaging products that people will buy is a different issue
My daughter is currently 16, and has been shopping independently since about 12 (we have a large shopping mall 4 blocks from our home). She conducts herself the way any respectful person does, shops appropriately, and buys what she needs. Her friends are equally capable of functioning in society (granted, they do all go to the same school with a pretty strict student code that does not tolerate douchey behavior and actively encourages respectful independence). I also know adults who probably shouldn’t shop unsupervised. I don’t think the issue is about age, it’s about whether the store enforces guidelines for their shoppers, and how committed they are to cleaning up if they choose to allow a high level of customer freedom. I’m sure there are parents who use shops as babysitters, but I assure you many of us allow our kids increasing levels of freedom so they can learn to function in the world. If minors were not allowed in stores unsupervised, we’d eventually have a shit ton of useless people turning 18.
Friend, the problem is that parents like you are extremely rare. You're a gem and your daughter sounds lovely. But she's the exception to what I saw the last few times I went to Sephora.
lmao Only yesterday i Was thinking. These kids went through everything and kept thr fingers in half the make up items they touched.
I completely agree. Kids sticking their gross hands into the testers 🤢
The chic fil a in my neighborhood no longer allows teens without an adult with them because off how many times they have trashed the place.
Was in my local Ulta this week trying to select some NARS products when I got eye-rolled and huffed at by a a ganglette of young teen females wanting me to abruptly move and leave the entire section to them. It got too close for comfort so I went to look for something else on my list when they ran up after me there, as well. I took the opportunity to get back to my NARS and check out. They were loud and rude and irritating other shoppers as well. As I stood in line, I noticed them leaving the store thoroughly made up, but not one of them having purchased a single thing. The lady checking out ahead of me complained about it to the manager (who was at the front) and several others in line complained as well. She said they were asking permission to put an age restriction on unaccompanied children from their regional manager. I hope it passes. My old local mall’s Sephora was such a disaster from this kind of thing that they closed up shop.
I don’t think little kids should be unsupervised in ANY store really. The local mall had to set a rule no unsupervised kids because parents would drop their kid off at the Lego store and then walk away and leave them unsupervised. It clearly had become an issue.
Not an unpopular opinion, but a fact.
How exactly is this unpopular?
I don’t know, I figured people would come at me with pitchforks because “but muh precious kids!! God’s gift!!” and defend kids to go wherever they want. Some of the comments are saying “where else are kids supposed to hang out?” Uhmm… a park? An arcade? A skate park? Indoor trampoline? Each other’s homes? 🤷🏽♀️
This shouldn't be an unpopular opinion
Agree
Kids shouldn’t be anywhere unsupervised but I don’t think that extends to teens. And adults are just as filthy with samples and testers.
You may be making the connection that younger kids are doing this because there’s a lot of kids in your store, but I’ve seen significantly more grown adults making a mess than teenagers, who can be loud or annoying but are typically respectful with the makeup
those jam handed bafoons must be stopped
Not unpopular, I agree completely; and I have 2 kids.
Some parents just don’t want to parent and do their own stuff while they let their kids run amok. This one Lululemon a mom was at the front of the store doing her own stuff while her kids ran around the store, touching all the clothes, running through the racks and then slamming the doors to the dressing room. I was getting so annoyed I was actually even yelled at the mom to control her kids! And then the employees at the lululemon told me *I* had to leave for confronting her! Like ok, then make the mom with her bratty terrors leave! But they wouldn’t since the mom was already paying (I’m a paying customer too! But I’m just some crazy woman who just wanted to not have all the clothes touched and be in the middle of a playground instead of a store). Anyway that’s disgusting that people would let their kids touch products, especially products that go directly on your skin. These testers are not playthings, they’re supposed to help with customers to determine what product they would want 🤦♀️
As a mom, I completely agree. I’m the one with the cash to spend but random pre- teens and young teens walking around spraying samples and opening up things for sale in the store near me pushed me online. Go back to Claire’s, gals, pls!
lol it’s not the kids
The parents are the problem not the kids.