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Marketing Toxic Beauty to Girls

Pink, sparkly and…synthetic.  The nasty ingredient filled cosmetics being marketed to young girls may be cute but are they worth it?

My daughter, like most 9 year olds, loves to shop at store like Claire’s Boutique. It is a little girl’s dream: jewelry, accessories, makeup.  That last one is where I have the problem…you know I have to go there.

When we are in that store and my little girl is busy looking at the fingerless gloves and best friend necklaces I can’t help but dive into the cosmetics section.  Little lip glosses and glitters packaged in cute containers few girls could resist, smelling like a synthetic version of fruits and flowers and candy, all pink and purple and sparkly.  So tempting I kind of want to buy them myself and surely can’t blame girls for wanting them.

It’s when I turn these products over and read the ingredient listings that I feel sick.  Then sad.  Then mad. How dare stores and cosmetic manufacturers market their toxic junk to young girls? Sure, many woman do not realize that their department store cosmetics are full of toxic ingredients either, but there is just something really wrong with selling them to little girls, especially when they come in such sweet packaging.

Finding Non-Toxic Beauty Supplies for Girls

There are some cute nontoxic lip gloss/balms out there in fun flavors and colors, like Crazy Rumors.  They may not come in an ice cream cone or lip shaped package, but they also don’t come with hazardous ingredients.

I know that there are a few organic skin care lines for teens.  Now we need a fun product line for our younger beauties – the ones who like sparkle and shine in super fruity flavor.  If anyone knows of a brand already doing this please let me know and I will promote the heck out of them.

The last time we were at Claire’s Boutique, my daughter came over to where I was scouring ingredient labels and picked up a particularly intriguing lip gloss, opened the cap, gave it a sniff and said “this one smells like…polish remover”.  Probably not that far off.

[Image via Liz Thompson]

Written by Liz Thompson

I am an organic beauty expert, writer, and mom of two young environmentalists who can already spot a toxic product when they see one. Read more about me at Organic Beauty Source.com, and find me on , Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.

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