“Tween” beauty products

[QueenOfWeeds]

We need to buy a present for an (almost) 11 year old (but a young one, emotionally). She’s very active and outdoorsy, but starting to be a bit more image conscious and into make up/beauty products. I’m resisting the urge to get her some body spray and blue eyeshadow so she can have an authentic 90s fashion experience…

Any ideas for good brands? I was thinking along the lines of nice hair products or very basic tinted lip balms rather than glittery bath bombs or nail varnish - something to help her feel a bit more grown up - but I have no idea where to look! Will run it past her parents to make sure they’re on board with whatever we get, but obviously don’t want to go too rogue. Budget close to £20, but it is flexible.

My daughters love byoma, was very popular on the Christmas gift boards too

My daughter is 12. Her and her friends are all in to Byoma skin care. Make up wise you could start with a clear mascara (any) and there's lots of tinted lip balms in Superdrug. If you want perfume they're all mad for Sol de Janeiro. Good luck 😊

Great, thanks.

I had a feeling the Christmas board would have had useful info, but couldn’t face trawling through all the different threads.

Hello!

If she's more into the low key, natural side of things, I'd recommend LUSH for hair and skincare. The products often get overshadowed by all the wizzy bath bombs and more novelty items, but their stuff is really good!

American Cream conditioner is always a big hit with teens, as it smells like strawberry/vanilla. Their shampoo bars are great too.

I'd also recommend ELF as a good quality but affordable make up brand. Lots of cute products to play with, but still on the more natural looking end of the beauty spectrum.

Thank you! I do actually use some of the Lush skincare stuff, so I feel a bit silly for overlooking it.

Lush is less popular because it came out they weren't treating staff well

wouldn't it be better not to encourage young girls into addiction to pointless "beauty" products?

The products are not pointless though

It's good to have a simple skin care routine with products made of decent ingredients relevant to their skin type

They need to clean their face nightly if only with a flannel and water to start of with

When skin becomes hormonal then a cleanser or micellar water is good practice

Drier skin can benefit from a moisturiser

SPF is good to protect from sun damage

Expensive products are completely unnecessary but then so are dreadful cheap products that can unnecessarily ruin their skin

When they start to wear make up they need to learn how to remove it properly every night and moisturise skin to care for it and prep it for a applying makeup the next day

It's basic stuff

My DM, her DM, me, my DD we all look after our skin and all wear makeup

All our skin types are different so I had to learn how to look after mine specifically which in turn was really helpful for DD

My DM is very lucky with her skin unlike me and DD.

Garnier Micellar water with cotton pads is a great key staple to use at night and in the morning.

I follow that with a cotton pad of water as my toner

As an adult I then use acids, serums etc but of course young girls do not need that yet unless they're using topical acne cream

As an adjunct to acne antibiotics such as Lymecycline which clears lots of acne if you're lucky as it's a good one for skin. If acne worsens and is persistent no amount of cleansing or topical creams help so if antibiotics hasn't worked after 3 months then you'd need Roaccutane which clears it for good

Spots and stripes is a lovely range but the packaging is not very sophisticated. My 13 and 10 year old DDs use it and their skin glows but I think the 13 year old would prefer more sophisticated packaging…

ELF is excellent for all age groups.
Revolution also.
La Roche Posay Toleriane

Remember if you're getting her something like micellar, it really needs a second cleanse to remove it as it's a make up remover not a cleanser and leaves a film on the skin which can block pores and contribute to congestion.

Avoid ranges like Simple (they're not) and Drunk Elephant (just because it's on Tiktok and heavily marketed at young girls doesn't make it any better than other ranges with the same ingredients or worth the price)

Thanks @Anxhor, that’s exactly it. She’s got a few younger siblings so I’m trying to find something to help her feel a bit more grown up without encouraging to grow up too fast.

Spots and Stripes super balm looks like it might do the trick. Thanks!

None of this is for any reason though, which is the definition of "pointless". You don't need to learn to take chemicals off your face if you don't put any chemicals on. Cleansers or "micellular waters" are not "good practice", just a con perpetrated on women by rich white men sitting around big tables and raking in the profits.

Sun protection is necessary on sunny days but even that is unnatural and down to the damage we have done to the environment.

Why are we passing on these oppressive primitive misogynistic rituals to yet another generation? Why are we not teaching young girls that their faces are beautiful uncovered, and not to cover them up?

Dermalogica Clear Start is brilliant for pre-teens / teens. Would really recommend. You can buy little kits of cleanser/toner/moisturuser and weekly face mask.

Because at the age the child in the OP is, is precisely when hormonal changes occur, breakouts begin, and the child will be miserable if they have a parent who doesn't help them to feel better about themselves.

Whatever sex they are.

The people who always go on about not encouraging their children to use skincare have never sat with a crying child with a face full of angry hormonal breakouts.

And, here's a thing. Why don't we allow them to decide for themselves. The child in the OP is interested in skincare. That's her choice.

PS @sharptoothlemonshark people who talk about "unnatural" and "chemicals" I find know very little about either.

I trust you don't use water? And prefer a fair skinned red haired child to burn in the sun?

Please stop spreading your ignorance.

Boots Natural Collection for makeup

Bubble is good, it's a tik tok fave and seems in demand but les ££ than Drunk Elephant.

I can only find it on Beauty Bay site though atm.

I take it you don’t use soap, toothpaste, shampoo or conditioner since you hate ‘chemicals’ so much ?

For my 10yo who started with hormonal acne recently, I got a miscellar water (the pink Garnier one) cerave cleanser and la Roche posay sunscreen that works as a moisturiser.

It's really helped.

There is no comparison between soap, toothpaste and shampoo, all functional products, and the cosmetics you are talking about, which serve no function other than to unnecessarily cover up women's natural, beautiful faces

We get that for DD and it is really good. She has sensitive skin like me and Dermalogica is great for that. Nice packaging too. I can only afford a day and night moisturiser for myself whereas she has the full teenage range 😁

They're still chemicals though, which you sound pretty afraid of in general. Just because you don’t like makeup doesn’t mean you have to look down on those who do.

Don't even consider drunk elephant, despite its image it's actually serious skin care and shouldn't be used until late twenties early 30. At that age a bar of Dove and a children's sunscreen is all she needs.

For makeup 17 or something like revolution.
Although I wouldn't give her either skincare or makeup at that age

Thanks all - lots of interesting views. As I said in the OP, I’m thinking more like nice hair care or glorified lip balm, but taking note of the skincare brands to pass on to her parents.

I completely agree that she doesn’t need proper make up, but it’s something she’s starting to be interested in, and I feel like it’s an important opportunity to show that I value her interests, rather than projecting what I think she “should” have. For comparison, I was given the “Bobbi Brown Teenage Beauty” book at a similar age and really learned a lot about skincare, and also about valuing myself. I distinctly remember a big, full page photo of a girl with braces, and (regardless of individual views on the fashion/beauty industry), that made me feel better about myself.