Have a daughter or niece in the 8-12 year old age range? Walmart has their sights set on her and her tween friends. A trend has emerged in the beauty niche for the last year specifically singling out this demographic of young girls...catering to them with spa treatments, spas and salons that only service the under 18 crowd and now Walmart looks to cash in with their own line of cosmetics named GeoGirl.
The eco-friendly line is said to be an attempt to promote natural beauty products to a younger generation. Not only are the ingredients natural, the packaging is as well. However, this seems to be a bit of a contradiction to me. Promoting "all natural" shouldn't also mean that when you are 8 years old that your face is au naturale as well...not dolled up with mascara, blush and eyeshadow?
The launch of this new line, coming February 25th, seems to parallel recent sentiment that we sexualize our daughters at such a young age, as I recently wrote about when discussing Peggy Orenstein's book Cinderella Ate My Daughter. While Walmart states that they worked in partnership with parents to provide an age appropriate way to wear makeup, I ask, age appropriate compared to what? Toddlers and Tiaras?
While I don't doubt that a little clear lipgloss here and there is OK sometimes, and I'm sure GeoGirl will do well with the tween market, I don't really look forward to seeing girls as young as my niece donning lipstick and a face full of makeup. What are your thoughts on this?
*Photo Source: Become Gorgeous
