It's Just Lip Gloss, Mom
Marketers Work to Take The Rebellion Out of Makeup for Preteens
By ANJALI ATHAVALEY
It starts with flavored lip gloss, maybe strawberry or bubble gum, then shimmery blush and before long, a mascara wand.
Well before they hit their teens, American girls are wearing makeup. As much as this may elicit groans, it's also probably not a terrible surprise to anyone with preteenage girls in the house.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. this month is set to sell a line called geoGirl, filled with the products tween customers are clamoring for such as sheer lip glosses, light-pink blushes, light-pink and -purple eye shadows and mascara priced in the $4 to $6 range. Products have names based on texting such as BCNU ("be seeing you") powder shadow, F2F ("face to face") moisture tint and SWAK ("sent with a kiss") lip treatment.
The geoGirl line contains natural ingredients and is free of phthalates and parabens, chemicals many adult consumers have grown suspicious of. "In this case, we're providing something that's very natural and is more of a glow than anything else," says Carmen Bauza, Wal-Mart vice president of beauty and personal care. The retailer decided to launch the line after hearing customers asking "I really need to help and educate my child on how to take care of our skin," she says.
A website for girls and their parents, geoGirl.com, will provide information on the environment and tips on skin care and body care, Ms. Bauza says. "This generation is so concerned about the environment."
The retailer's marketing is designed for parents, too. "At the end of the day," says Wal-Mart's Ms. Bauza, "mom is the one who makes the decisions."
A Wal-Mart spokesman, Ravi Jariwala, says, customers of the line "can range from adults to younger than that."
New product lines from retailers such as Wal-Mart are taking aim at tween girls who want to wear makeup. A professional makeup artist gives some tips to a young model.
</div> Target Corp., meanwhile, last year began selling Hello Kitty cosmetics priced from $2 to $10, including lip gloss, eye shadow, nail polish and gift sets. In March, Target plans to expand the e.l.f. makeup line to most of its stores, with individual items priced at a tween-friendly $1 to $3.
Makeup is "fun for them," says Bobbi Brown, founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, owned by Estée Lauder Cos., and author of the book "Beauty Rules," which offers makeup advice for teenagers. "They like it. I think it's not a big deal. Making it taboo is the problem."
Through the recent recession, tweens were a bright spot for the beauty industry, the only age group to increase spending. Their average monthly spending on beauty products rose to $9.20 in 2009 from $8.50 a month in 2007, according to market research firm NPD Group Inc. It surveyed some 1,500 girls online, 400 of them ages 8 to 12 who use beauty products at least once a month.
Sixty-four percent said their parents or guardians buy cosmetics for them, and 75% said parents and siblings influence what they buy. Regular use, defined as at least once a month, of lipstick, eyeliner and mascara increased from 2007.
"Girls start cosmetics usage really as young as 6," with items like clear lip gloss and nail polish, says Leslie Gibbs, marketing director at Aspire Brands Inc., marketer of Bonne Bell and Lip Smacker makeup lines. Often, girls get these products as gifts from a family member, she says. "Then, at a certain age—and that's becoming younger and younger—she begins to want to enter real cosmetics as an enhancement."
Typically, girls "graduate to sponge-on lip gloss" first, then to shimmery blush, Ms. Gibbs says. "There is a natural curiosity that has gotten younger."
This year, Aspire plans to add 12-color lip and eye-shadow palettes, as well as eye makeup kits with application instructions, to the Bonne Bell line. It is also expanding the Lip Smacker line to add more press-on nail designs and a glittery "shimmer spray" fragrance. Bonne Bell sales grew at double-digit rates at Wal-Mart last year, Aspire Brands says. Products like the eye kits are intended for teens, not tweens, Aspire says. "We don't need to recruit them into cosmetics any earlier than they want to," Ms. Gibbs says.
Boys are showing increased interest in personal care products, too, such as "Dark Temptation" chocolate-scented deodorant body spray, from Unilever's Axe line, or Old Spice "Swagger" body wash, from Procter & Gamble.
Much attention has been paid in recent years to girls' self-image as they near their teenage years. Some child-development experts say makeup on a young girl screams of too much emphasis on appearance. Others, though, say a little lipstick is nothing to be alarmed about, if there are no accompanying problems like bad grades or lack of friends.
"When they get to be 14 or 15, they're going to be wearing clothes you don't like either," says Vivian Seltzer, professor of human behavior and development at University of Pennsylvania.
Marketers are working to take the rebellion out of makeup. Makeup use today is more likely to be seen by parents as a bonding opportunity. "A lot of the brands the mother is using are actually what we see the young girls using, too," says Karen Grant, NPD vice president and beauty-industry analyst.
Heidi Seigel-Laddy, of Fair Lawn, N.J., has purchased makeup for her daughters, Alyssa, 12, and Kayla, 11. "The majority is MAC," she says, the same brand she wears. "I know that's not what I started off with," she adds. "They don't have a lot of it, so what they have should be good, and I feel honestly the quality is better."
Alyssa, who is in middle school, uses a MAC lip gloss and maybe some sheer eye shadow for school. For parties and other special occasions, she says, "I'll wear some brighter colors and eye liner." Kayla keeps it simpler. "Sometimes my sister and I will share some eye shadow and liner," she says. "She'll help me put it on. But usually I just wear my lip glosses."
Procter & Gamble Co.'s Cover Girl—which has been featuring country-music star Taylor Swift in ads—is the top makeup brand in terms of tween awareness, according to the NPD survey.
"All the girls love Taylor," says Shannon Petree, vice president of the beauty division at retailer Walgreen Co. "She's got such a fresh clean look and she's someone they look up to, so that's a good brand for them to lean toward." In an email, P&G spokeswoman Paige Marcel Cali said Ms. Swift is the face of Cover Girl's NatureLuxe collection, aimed at women who want a "luxurious" look "without the heavy traditional makeup feel." P&G says Cover Girl doesn't target 8- to 12-year-olds.
For retailers, it's a delicate balancing act. Justice for Girls, part of Ascena Retail Group's Tween Brands unit, stays away from "heavy duty eye shadows and mascara" in its beauty line, says Georgia Fox, vice president of merchandising for lifestyle and accessories. New products in recent months include temporary glittery tattoos and the Glitter Star Girls fragrance collection.
wsj.com
Marketers Work to Take The Rebellion Out of Makeup for Preteens
By ANJALI ATHAVALEY
It starts with flavored lip gloss, maybe strawberry or bubble gum, then shimmery blush and before long, a mascara wand.
Well before they hit their teens, American girls are wearing makeup. As much as this may elicit groans, it's also probably not a terrible surprise to anyone with preteenage girls in the house.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. this month is set to sell a line called geoGirl, filled with the products tween customers are clamoring for such as sheer lip glosses, light-pink blushes, light-pink and -purple eye shadows and mascara priced in the $4 to $6 range. Products have names based on texting such as BCNU ("be seeing you") powder shadow, F2F ("face to face") moisture tint and SWAK ("sent with a kiss") lip treatment.
The geoGirl line contains natural ingredients and is free of phthalates and parabens, chemicals many adult consumers have grown suspicious of. "In this case, we're providing something that's very natural and is more of a glow than anything else," says Carmen Bauza, Wal-Mart vice president of beauty and personal care. The retailer decided to launch the line after hearing customers asking "I really need to help and educate my child on how to take care of our skin," she says.
A website for girls and their parents, geoGirl.com, will provide information on the environment and tips on skin care and body care, Ms. Bauza says. "This generation is so concerned about the environment."
The retailer's marketing is designed for parents, too. "At the end of the day," says Wal-Mart's Ms. Bauza, "mom is the one who makes the decisions."
A Wal-Mart spokesman, Ravi Jariwala, says, customers of the line "can range from adults to younger than that."
New product lines from retailers such as Wal-Mart are taking aim at tween girls who want to wear makeup. A professional makeup artist gives some tips to a young model.
</div> Target Corp., meanwhile, last year began selling Hello Kitty cosmetics priced from $2 to $10, including lip gloss, eye shadow, nail polish and gift sets. In March, Target plans to expand the e.l.f. makeup line to most of its stores, with individual items priced at a tween-friendly $1 to $3.
Makeup is "fun for them," says Bobbi Brown, founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, owned by Estée Lauder Cos., and author of the book "Beauty Rules," which offers makeup advice for teenagers. "They like it. I think it's not a big deal. Making it taboo is the problem."
Through the recent recession, tweens were a bright spot for the beauty industry, the only age group to increase spending. Their average monthly spending on beauty products rose to $9.20 in 2009 from $8.50 a month in 2007, according to market research firm NPD Group Inc. It surveyed some 1,500 girls online, 400 of them ages 8 to 12 who use beauty products at least once a month.
Sixty-four percent said their parents or guardians buy cosmetics for them, and 75% said parents and siblings influence what they buy. Regular use, defined as at least once a month, of lipstick, eyeliner and mascara increased from 2007.
"Girls start cosmetics usage really as young as 6," with items like clear lip gloss and nail polish, says Leslie Gibbs, marketing director at Aspire Brands Inc., marketer of Bonne Bell and Lip Smacker makeup lines. Often, girls get these products as gifts from a family member, she says. "Then, at a certain age—and that's becoming younger and younger—she begins to want to enter real cosmetics as an enhancement."
Typically, girls "graduate to sponge-on lip gloss" first, then to shimmery blush, Ms. Gibbs says. "There is a natural curiosity that has gotten younger."
This year, Aspire plans to add 12-color lip and eye-shadow palettes, as well as eye makeup kits with application instructions, to the Bonne Bell line. It is also expanding the Lip Smacker line to add more press-on nail designs and a glittery "shimmer spray" fragrance. Bonne Bell sales grew at double-digit rates at Wal-Mart last year, Aspire Brands says. Products like the eye kits are intended for teens, not tweens, Aspire says. "We don't need to recruit them into cosmetics any earlier than they want to," Ms. Gibbs says.
Boys are showing increased interest in personal care products, too, such as "Dark Temptation" chocolate-scented deodorant body spray, from Unilever's Axe line, or Old Spice "Swagger" body wash, from Procter & Gamble.
Much attention has been paid in recent years to girls' self-image as they near their teenage years. Some child-development experts say makeup on a young girl screams of too much emphasis on appearance. Others, though, say a little lipstick is nothing to be alarmed about, if there are no accompanying problems like bad grades or lack of friends.
"When they get to be 14 or 15, they're going to be wearing clothes you don't like either," says Vivian Seltzer, professor of human behavior and development at University of Pennsylvania.
Marketers are working to take the rebellion out of makeup. Makeup use today is more likely to be seen by parents as a bonding opportunity. "A lot of the brands the mother is using are actually what we see the young girls using, too," says Karen Grant, NPD vice president and beauty-industry analyst.
Heidi Seigel-Laddy, of Fair Lawn, N.J., has purchased makeup for her daughters, Alyssa, 12, and Kayla, 11. "The majority is MAC," she says, the same brand she wears. "I know that's not what I started off with," she adds. "They don't have a lot of it, so what they have should be good, and I feel honestly the quality is better."
Alyssa, who is in middle school, uses a MAC lip gloss and maybe some sheer eye shadow for school. For parties and other special occasions, she says, "I'll wear some brighter colors and eye liner." Kayla keeps it simpler. "Sometimes my sister and I will share some eye shadow and liner," she says. "She'll help me put it on. But usually I just wear my lip glosses."
Procter & Gamble Co.'s Cover Girl—which has been featuring country-music star Taylor Swift in ads—is the top makeup brand in terms of tween awareness, according to the NPD survey.
"All the girls love Taylor," says Shannon Petree, vice president of the beauty division at retailer Walgreen Co. "She's got such a fresh clean look and she's someone they look up to, so that's a good brand for them to lean toward." In an email, P&G spokeswoman Paige Marcel Cali said Ms. Swift is the face of Cover Girl's NatureLuxe collection, aimed at women who want a "luxurious" look "without the heavy traditional makeup feel." P&G says Cover Girl doesn't target 8- to 12-year-olds.
For retailers, it's a delicate balancing act. Justice for Girls, part of Ascena Retail Group's Tween Brands unit, stays away from "heavy duty eye shadows and mascara" in its beauty line, says Georgia Fox, vice president of merchandising for lifestyle and accessories. New products in recent months include temporary glittery tattoos and the Glitter Star Girls fragrance collection.
wsj.com
