Sephora tweens are spending big on beauty products

Between the lines: The brands popular with the tween demographic have historically been relatively cheap, as befits their lower purchasing power. Thanks in part to TikTok, that's now changing — especially when it comes to beauty products.

What they're saying: "We are a little young," one tween admits to Axios. "Honestly? I don't even need makeup. I just love applying it. I love my skincare routine."

• Any given evening, she says, she's likely to use a face wash, a facial scrub, a lip exfoliant, a hydrating serum, a moisturizer, a highlighting serum, an eyelash serum and a lip mask.
• Some of those products will come from relatively affordable brands like CeraVe. But many will be from Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe, Laneige, and other high-end labels.
• "Sometimes I use Kosas facial spray," adds the tween. "It smells really good. I don't really know what it does, but it probably doesn't need to do anything."

Zoom out: Naturally, there's a morning skincare routine as well, on top of a makeup routine and an even more elaborate hair-care routine.

Be smart: The routine is mostly a ritual for ritual's sake. "I don't need my skincare routine," she says. "But I feel weird if I go to sleep without doing my skincare. It's so fun to do."

• "What adults don't understand is that it's not even to look good," adds her friend. "It's just really fun to have a routine and stick to it."

The big picture: Tweens are clearly no stranger to spending power. Some of that comes from larger allowances or price-insensitive relatives. But it's also a function of the way that pay for things like dogsitting or babysitting has risen.

• Food inflation means lunch-price inflation, which in turn means more money freed up if you skip lunch and save the cash instead for this weekend's shopping trip.

The bottom line: Perhaps the cocktail craze is being driven by adults seeking out the last tween-free space.