The children's cosmetics market is hot, but there are loopholes in supervision, and some products are unclear or sold across categories.
"Pure Lust Wind", "Cutting Male Color", "Star Eyes", "Peach Makeup"...... As the "beauty term" continues to be segmented and the beauty market continues to grow, it is the needs of children in beauty that are being tapped together.
At present, on social media, lifestyle communities and e-commerce platforms, people are becoming more and more enthusiastic about "children's makeup". When searching for "children's makeup" on Xiaohongshu, the content is mainly divided into two categories, one is "primary school beauty blogger", she/they use children's makeup boxes and makeup suitcases printed with cartoon images such as Princess Elsa and Barbie, and show their skillful makeup techniques through videos just like adults. The other type is adult beauty bloggers who open the box and plant grass for children's makeup boxes or "learn makeup with children's sisters". The number of likes on popular videos has reached more than 100,000.
Related children's makeup products are also selling well on major e-commerce platforms. According to the data released by cross-border e-commerce koala overseas shopping, domestic children's makeup consumption in 2020 increased by 300% year-on-year compared with 2019, and post-85 mothers have become the main force to take the initiative to buy cosmetics for their children.
They are often sold in boxes and contain powder, eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, nail polish, and more. The price of the product ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan.
Children's makeup requires higher ingredients and standards than adult makeup. This is the biggest selling point of such products, and it is also a point that merchants want to try to guide consumers to believe - according to statistics, in the TOP10 list of children's makeup, 90% of the products including nail polish, perfume, and eye shadow are labeled as "safe", "non-toxic" and "non-irritating".
However, the reporter found that the current children's makeup market products are mixed. Some makeup products are marked as "children's only" and "professional children's stage makeup", but the appearance of the products is almost the same as that of adult cosmetics, and the adult makeup standards are also used, and there is no children's cosmetics logo. Other dress-up toy sets contain make-up products, but only as standard as toys.
Offline visits: There are loopholes in supervision, and there are children's makeup and toys "rubbing the edges"
Recently, the reporter visited a number of well-known large-scale toy chain stores and large-scale toy wholesale markets located in Yide Road, Guangzhou, and found that offline sales of children's makeup are rare, but there are still some makeup products are packed into toy boxes for sale, and product information shows that the product implements toy standards.
"You guess it's hard to find [children's makeup products] here." A number of toy store merchants in the wholesale market told reporters.
As the merchant said, after the reporter visited nearly 30 toy stores in the wholesale market, he found that only one toy store sold a children's makeup set, and the upper left corner of the product's outer packaging was clearly marked with the "Little Golden Shield" (children's cosmetics) logo.
This is partly due to regulation.
On August 31, 2021, the Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation on the Handling of Public Opinion Related to Children's Cosmetics" (hereinafter referred to as the "Disposal"), in response to the media reports at that time that there were problems such as the sale of children's cosmetics with unlabeled cosmetics production licenses in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation immediately carried out supervision and inspection of more than 1,800 online and offline toy business units and nearly 20 wholesale markets, and carried out supervision and inspection on the legality of products, source traceability, A total of about 1,400 products (sets) were inspected, about 400 children's cosmetics (sets) were inspected, and nearly 40 (sets) of problematic cosmetics were found.
The "Disposal" also revealed that in the next step, Guangzhou will continue to strengthen the special inspection of cosmetics, reduce the risks and hidden dangers in the production and operation of children's cosmetics through daily inspections, unannounced inspections and product sampling, and strictly investigate and deal with illegal production and operation behaviors in accordance with the law.
"I used to sell it", but due to the stricter supervision, a merchant who is mainly engaged in stationery in the wholesale market told reporters, "I don't dare to sell it now, because I am worried about allergies or something." ”
But the problem has not been completely solved. When the reporter visited, it was found that the current offline market problems are mainly focused on the cross-category supervision of "seemingly children's makeup, but in fact toys".
The reporter found in the well-known chain toy store Toys "R" Us that two of the five children's makeup products sold here have the above situation.
One of the Disney Frozen makeup suitcases showed a comb, necklace, mirror, etc., as well as two lip gloss and three bottles of nail polish. The product name is marked as "Play House Toy Series", and the implementation standards are GB6675.1-2014, GB6675.2-2014, etc., which are all national standards for toy safety.
Another product, called the "Dresser Toy Series", also shows that the box also contains two lip gloss, three bottles of nail polish, etc. However, the implementation standard GB6675.1-2014 is also a national standard for toys.
The reporter asked the salesman of the store as an ordinary buyer, "Whether this product is the same as the outer packaging, including makeup products, and the salesman made it clear that there is."
When the reporter further confirmed that the lip gloss and nail polish shown in the picture were not toys, nor were they applied to dolls during the play, but the kind of lip gloss that could be applied to children's mouths, the salesman also made it clear that he was sure.
However, neither product clearly stated that the box contained makeup, nor did it label the ingredients of the makeup product.
The State Food and Drug Administration has issued an announcement on its official website to clearly state that according to the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics", cosmetics refer to daily chemical industry products that are applied to the skin, hair, nails, lips and other human surfaces by rubbing, spraying or other similar methods for the purpose of cleaning, protecting, beautifying and modifying. A product is cosmetic if it meets the definition of a cosmetic product, whether it is sold alone or in conjunction with other products such as toys.
And what is the problem when these makeup products are not managed as cosmetics, but as toys?
The "Scientific Identification of "Children's Makeup" issued by the Guangdong Provincial Drug Administration clearly points out that "lipstick toys" and "blush toys" produced in accordance with general toy product standards may contain substances that are not suitable for use as cosmetic raw materials, including colorants with relatively high safety risks, etc., which may irritate children's skin if used by children." In addition, such "makeup toys" may have the problem of excessive heavy metals, such as excessive lead. When absorbed from excess lead, it can damage many systems in the body, for example, affecting children's mental development. ”
Online observation: The proliferation of unqualified children's makeup products
A more prosperous market for children's makeup products is online. The reporter searched for "children's makeup" on the e-commerce platform and found that the sales of related products were considerable, and the number of sales repurchases of popular products reached 100,000+.
At present, there are not many domestic brands specializing in children's makeup, and the more well-known brands include make it real and Miss Nella in the United Kingdom, Diel in South Korea, Lesso Rabbit in China, and Red Elephant, a brand under Shanghai Shangmei, the parent company of Han Shu. None of these brands have offline physical stores, and only have flagship stores on major online e-commerce platforms.
Judging from the sales data ranking presented by the e-commerce platform, the products produced by Disney authorized manufacturers and some unknown small brands are selling better. Most of them are produced in Chenghai District, Shantou City, which has the title of "China's Gift and Toy Capital", but the merchants who sell them are very diverse, including "xxx mother and baby franchise store", "xx toy store" and "xxx skin care and beauty store". It is clear from the product information and the comment section that these products are sold to and used by children.
According to the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Children's Cosmetics, which came into effect on January 1, 2022, products that are marked with words such as "suitable for use by the whole population and the whole family" or that use trademarks, patterns, homophonies, letters, Chinese pinyin, numbers, symbols, packaging forms, etc., to imply that the product users include children shall be subject to the management of children's cosmetics.
However, in the course of the investigation, the reporter found that some of the products claimed to be "for children", but they were actually adult cosmetics and did not have the "Little Golden Shield" logo.
For example, a "children's stage makeup eyeshadow palette makeup set" sold in a store on Taobao, including powder, highlighter, blush, eye shadow, eyebrow powder, contour and other products, with monthly sales of more than 4,000. But when the reporter asked the customer service whether the product had a small gold shield, the customer service directly said "no".
Another store sells a "Children's Day Cosmetics Set" that includes a base cream, liquid foundation, blush, setting powder, lipstick, a 30-color eyeshadow palette, eyeliner, mascara and more. The product is known as "customized for children's professional makeup, safe and harmless, and suitable for multiple scenarios." Natural plant extracts, mothers are more at ease".
Regarding whether the product has a small golden shield logo, the customer service said that "the main products in the set, isolation, foundation, makeup remover, baby cream, lipstick, blush, loose powder, others are still under application, and other product ingredients are also very mild, safe and non-toxic, we have done sensitivity testing." According to customer service, the products in the box that do not have the Little Golden Shield logo include sequins, eye shadows, eyebrow pencils, eyeliners and mascaras. However, the reporter did not see any clear instructions on the product details page and product parameter column.
"Little Golden Shield" is a mark issued by the State Food and Drug Administration to clearly distinguish it from other confusing products such as adult cosmetics, disinfectant products, and toys. From May 1, 2022, children's cosmetics that apply for registration or filing must be labeled with "Little Golden Shield"; Children's cosmetics that have previously applied for registration or filing shall be labeled with "Little Golden Shield" before May 1, 2023.
On the other hand, many children's makeup products claim to be "Disney genuine authorization", the reporter randomly selected six top-selling stores on Taobao, and asked to see the Disney authorization letter of related products, and only two stores were able to show the authorization letter.
The customer service of the other three stores refused to show the authorization letter on the grounds that "the products are only sold with qualification certificates, and (the authorization letter) is only provided to the platform and government agencies, and is not provided to individuals for the time being", "I did not find a manufacturer to open the authorization letter in this store".
Is the above behavior of the merchant in violation? Does the platform have relevant regulations for the listing of children's makeup products? In response to these problems, the reporter sent a letter to Taobao, but did not receive a relevant reply as of press time.