When Beauty Culture Goes Too Far: A New Beauty Launch Makes Me Queasy
Just because we can monetize childhood insecurity doesn’t mean we should.
Hello, Gorgeous!
Have you heard about Rini, a new skincare line marketed to children as young as four? Let that sink in for a moment.
Co-founded by actress Shay Mitchell, the brand offers sheet and hydrogel masks designed specifically for kids - complete with puppy, unicorn, and panda designs. Priced at $7 or under, these products are positioned as “gentle introductions to self-care” and opportunities for “mini-me moments” between parents and children. The brand promises Korean-formulated products that are dermatologist-tested and free from harmful ingredients. These are nice product ideals if you’re old enough to understand what they’re promising.
In theory, it sounds harmless. In reality, it makes me question every single person involved in this launch.
And let’s be honest about something else: Rini’s aesthetic. The pastel colors, the cartoon animals, the breathy marketing language about mini-me moments. This isn’t just marketed to children - it’s tapping into a broader cultural obsession with infantilizing women. The babification of beauty culture, where grown women are sold products in baby pink packaging with cutesy names, is now being sold back down to actual babies. It’s a closed loop of diminishment. Simply looking at the product packaging I’d have no idea whether these are targeting children or adults in search of something cutesy.
I know a thing or two about marketing new beauty launches. I’ve spent decades in the beauty industry - as a beauty historian, journalist, consultant, copywriter, educator, and former celebrity makeup artist. I’ve developed products and designed looks for people like Christina Aguilera and Mary J. Blige. I’ve worked with major brands including Coty and Allergan. I’ve taught on the graduate and undergrad levels at FIT, Parsons (in partnership with LVMH), and NYU, including courses on marketing cosmetics and skincare. I’ve keynoted on multiple occasions for the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. And on a daily basis I get to hang out here with thousands of you who share my passion for beauty.
I love this world.
But marketing face masks to four-year-olds crosses a line no one should cross.
The ugly truth about pretty babies
As any Gen X kid once obsessed with Brooke Shields will tell you, sexualizing children is wrong. The controversy around a prepubescent Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby carried over for decades. In 2023 director Lana Wilson made a documentary, also called Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, examining that exploitation and Shields’ journey from a sexualized young girl to a woman discovering everything wrong with her movie debut and the industry that spawned it.
But somehow a few decades later someone thinks nudging four-year-olds — who are basically one step above toddlers — into beauty culture is acceptable?
One of the most treasured people in my life is nearly two and a half years old. She has so much curiosity, wit, personality and confidence, and I pray she never loses that. Of course, she mimics her mom, but it's done in a way that’s okay for children - natural, playful, developmental. I can’t even imagine what this precious girl might think if I handed her a product that hinted she was lacking in some way or could be better…if only.
Lessons learned along the way
In addition to the rest, I’m an internet pioneer. In the very early days of the web, I helped create one of the first beauty websites ever (we partnered with Xtina on her first national concert tour). Young girls from around the world would write to me, asking for advice, though way too often they would tell me they felt ugly. I remember being shocked at the depth of their self-despair after being convinced of their own inadequacy by magazines, the cosmetics industry or their peers, (and more shocking for me back then - the fledgling internet). My early mission became what it still is today: You are beautiful as you are. No changes needed.
And I don’t mean it in a disingenuous everyone-gets-a-trophy way. The reason I had tremendous success as a makeup artist is because I could zero in on any person’s best feature and enhance it until that became the focus of their face. That’s where real beauty work begins - from a foundation of acceptance, not inadequacy.
Children mimic their parents. I remember watching the transformation of my mother from everyday mom to glam mom - putting on her Almay eye shadow and becoming an Elizabeth Taylor ringer. I filed it away, fascinated. For as long as I can remember, I would give my friends makeovers, on sleepovers, when babysitting, makeovers were always part of our plans. Terrible makeovers, but we loved it. It was play. It was creativity. It was exploration. And even as a tween I read about history and emulated my style and beauty idols (Feel free to ask my family about my Gibson Girl era in sixth grade). But there’s a vast difference between that natural curiosity and a marketed product push.
If a child has eczema, or allergies or is in need of SPF, products geared to kids exist to address that. It makes sense to create different formulations and packaging to match. But a hydrating sheet mask for a preschooler? That’s not addressing a need - it’s creating one while distorting their self-perception.
I remember Johnson & Johnson’s No More Tears shampoo and No More Tangles spray-in product. It felt special to me as a child to have products geared to my specific needs, and I still remember them fondly. But it was a once or twice a week ritual. It didn’t tell me there was something wrong with me that needed fixing. It told me we’re gentle enough for you. It built comfort, not insecurity.
I feel like we can edit down the No More Tangles tagline to kids today being targeted for insecurity. From “Helps prevent damage to children’s hair,” to “Helps prevent damage to children.”
Stop chasing inappropriate spending power
According to Numerator research, Gen Alpha’s beauty spending surged 70% in a year-in 2024, building on the $4.7 billion they (or likely their parents) spent in 2023. They’re also driving 49% of mass market skincare sales growth. Where the money flows, marketers follow. Brands see these numbers and smell opportunity. But just because we can monetize childhood insecurity doesn’t mean we should.
It’s okay to say no to kids. It’s okay to set boundaries. It’s okay - necessary, even - to protect them from messages they’re not developmentally ready to process.
As someone who has built a career celebrating beauty, I’m okay making this declaration: Children deserve to exist in their bodies without intervention, without product, without the message that they need fixing. They deserve the purity of childhood, that brief window where a face is just a face, not a DIY project.
I feel like we can edit down the No More Tangles tagline to kids today being targeted for insecurity. From “Helps prevent damage to children’s hair,” to “Helps prevent damage to children.”
That’s not anti-beauty. That’s pro-child. That’s pro-confidence. That’s hoping we help Gen Alpha make better choices.
So what do you think of this new launch and do you think more will follow? Let’s meet in the comments to discuss!
Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋
This is a great column.
Well, yuck. But frankly, they missed a chance. They could’ve marketed this for kids who wanted to be just like Mommy.