[Applause] [Music] [Applause] woo this was Kylie Jenner when she was 12 this was Selena Gomez when she was 12 this was James Charles when he was 12 and now this is a new age of beauty gurus at 12 scratch that seven get ready with us to tell you the proper way to shop at Sephora I mean we've been shopping there since we were six welcome to the baby boom of beauty junkies young enough to have a bedtime but will spend $300 on an anti-aging night routine oh my go so much cheers to the age of
not just pretty but Jen Alpha pretty just stab it on your cheeks oh my gosh yes yes oh go this amazing yes [Music] yes do you already see that glow no one wants to be ugly duh so is it bizarre that some jenes struggle to pay rent while the average 10-year-old spends $300 on Cosmetics not really because this is a new Norm I'm for my Sephora haul this one says 155 and then 106 and $84 perhaps a little different from the girlhood where many had different Hobbies such as film Sports breeding the modern girlhood seems
to have unified into one word Sephora where much like the movie Neon demon stated beauty is no longer everything it is the only thing true beauty is the highest currency we have without it she would be nothing and kids starting the age of six Are Climbing a social hierarchy a hierarchy defined by the scale of how pretty you are it's the beauty Olympics that begin as soon as Mommy gives you an iPad showing you who you should be as a young young woman it's not enough to just be pretty you need to be Jen Alpha
pretty oh my gosh how looks so good so let us talk about how gen Alpha pretty is not just gen Z pretty on steroids but much scarier than you think and how the future of girlhood is decaying into only two things that matter appearance and maintaining that appearance welcome to the face card economy where beauty comes from money but money also comes from beauty Alpha pretty versus jenz pretty now you might be wondering what is Jen Alpha pretty and how is it different from jenzy pretty before jumping into that we need to understand the context
of the two generations through the wild wild internet made better by Opera's desktop browser now you may be thinking aren't all browsers the same well if you're someone like me who spends a good chunk of my time on the internet because I love you guys and need to research for the video essays and my marketing besti series switching to Opera could save hours of your time because the Opera browser is personalized to serve you with a bolon AI feature Arya to give you instant answers generate ideas in a few clicks you can highlight any text
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of the world and therefore how we perceive ourselves come from a hybrid of online online and offline interactions whereas for Jen ala gosh yes yes many met their first friend Coco melon on the iPad before interacting with any real human friends touching grass now means going to Sephora and spending $11,000 on the new drop you saw on your for you page despite being young Jen Alpha is becoming the strongest consumers in the face card economy remember that Gucci heart ring that that girl didn't give me in Sephora well guess what I'm still winning thanks Dad
and it gets scarier jenzi is already known as one of the most narcissistic generations of all and I am speaking as a jenzi myself we are hyper obsessed with our own quote unquote uniqueness where everyone thinks they are a special Snowflake and care more about how they look online with a bougie aesthetic Instagram story than paying back their compiling student debt what jenzy considers as pretty is always a little controversial and a little countercultural going very minimalist for the no makeup makeup look when glam makeup is in to grunge beauty that defies the quote unquote
stereotypical feminine beauty in other words what jenzy cares about most is proving ourselves as the most unique most creative thus creating a chaotic Loop of non-stop micro beauty trends as we search for a new identity that makes us different every few months to be genz pretty is to be conventionally attractive yet with an unconventional twist think Billy eyh gorgeous woman but often with very bold looks that contrast with her very soft feminine traits it girl Emma Chamberlain stunning yet with a Carefree aura that accentuates her beauty this explains why Brands like glossier and Fenty were
able to resonate with this generation they facilitated self-expression through Beauty even though conventional beauty standards still lay as a fundamental Foundation but when it comes to gen ala the face card economy is more ingrained the minute that gen ala has gained a conscious thought about their identity they have already been exposed to a flood of media influence that will be shaping who they are as a person their Community is not just the other six-year-olds in class it's everyone and anyone including the most surreal insanely beautiful humans on the internet who may or may not have
gained the face card through skin-like Beauty filters procedures lighting all that being said what is J alha pretty before we answer that question it would be much easier if we first ask who does gen ala look up to when it comes to the ideal this is not an easy answer because everyone's for you page is a little different but whether or not the Tik Tok algorithm has done a good parenting job we can all agree that at least it is consistent in its little biases in the sense that being pretty is all you need to
get 50 million likes and 800 million views in 2024 not that shocking given the record Miss Bella porch broke in 2020 it's the type of pretty that can change your life from being an ordinary school girl to multi millionaire the beauty on steroids that is teaching a new set of values to the future generation that the only card you'll ever need is your face cuz apparently it looks more natural and you have a face lift you need a face lift and the only type of pretty that matters is the one that Tik Tok agrees on
the type of pretty you aspire to be at 10 so you wake up an hour early to put on a full face makeup literally I make S the type of pretty that raises your social status so you spend $1,000 in Sephora every time you try to quote unquote invest in yourself let's make these eyes shine welcome to the new age of the face card economy if beauty is all about self expression for Gen Z the new wave of gen Alpha pry is all about status it is true that gen Alphas are the magnifying glass of
the Tik Tok Beauty algorithm but there is so much more the Aesthetics and brands that 10-year-olds are obsessed with at this moment speak more about status and class that consume their identity for instance the vanilla girl aesthetic that leads into Lux cozy minimalism Kashmir Cardigans and all white understating expensive and elevated all the while achieving this look at 10 with zero disposable income and all the soldout preppy Beauty Brands from drunk elephant glow recipe the ordinary say slda Jero and kosas are now 10-year-old favorites drunk Elephant Love Drunk elephant the drunk elephant bronzing drop a
gen alha favorite is $38 which isn't bankrupt level expensive compared to to a car a bag but when it comes to skincare and cosmetics this is something that needs to be repurchased every so often and considering that many young stands out there buy every new drop that comes out it does add up to a few hundred to over $1,000 which is a good chunk of a new College grad's monthly salary and when we consider the function of the products it is even more bizarre how the highlight of future says it is good for antii loss
of firmness addresses the concerns of dark spots fine Lin sprinkles and dullness can care time baby but the best part is it is quote trending on social when most 10-year-olds Have Faces bouncier than a basketball and may or may not still have a bedtime one cannot help but ask why on Earth are J office spending money they do not make on products they don't need do you see those wrinkles I bet you do why does it feel so necessary to wear full-faced makeup to school I need red lipstick when you're just learning about fractions is
it simply an expression of pure interest for makeup and skin care from a hobby perspective or is there something more ingrained from Modern culture that makes it almost as essential as wearing clothes the 2023 Piper Sandler report shows a significant increase in annual spending on makeup and skincare among teens with 45% of them wearing makeup every day indeed J Alpha's economic footprint is estimated to reach $ 5.46 trillion before the end of the decade I do have freckles but I just like to use this pen to highlight them even more it is no surprise that
according to the robin report 53% of 12 to 14 year olds in the US who use social media say they are interested in interacting with Beauty Brands online and the same demographic is spending nearly $300 a year on cosmetic skincare and fragrances remember the oldest Alpha is only 14 years old you might be wondering what is their parents take on this in a very interesting ABC News article a parent revealed quote my daughter is empathetic she gets good grades if she wants to spend her hard-earned money to go to Sephora I'm going to let her
do it I'm not exactly sure what this parent means by hard-earned money but it is very alarming to hear a parent attitude to support that the purpose of going to school getting good grades studying and earning money is to spend money on Sephora and this is assuming the hard-earned money comes from allowances from the parent because gen alas are still under the legal age of Labor how is it normal now for 10 12 year olds that the sole purpose of studying hard and quote unquote earning money is to buy makeup and I don't even want
to open another can of warms on on family content and kid influencers I did make a video on pikme mom so feel free to check that out but very briefly zero hate using the garak crew as an example I can see how the intention is creating a variety of quote unquote wholesome videos but it is a little Eerie to me to wonder how did two seven-year-olds gain the awareness to start putting makeup on their faces and posting that to the internet to Millions ions of strangers obsessing over probably over hundreds of different newest cosmetic products
over their feed yall have said we should try ever Eden today is the day this looks so pretty it is a value system that has to be learned from somewhere the question is where and more apparent now than ever appearance is the value system that gen Alphas run on and even more severe than Jen Z's the worth of oneself and one's social standing especially for young girls is all rooted in the face card they might not understand compounding or floating interests but they sure are invested in the one and ultimate asset that seems to promise
a bright future seeing on Tik Tok the face card Beauty trust fund babies after years of wooing jenz brands are tapping gen ala as ambassadors and influencers terrifying the girls clothing brand FC created an ambassador program for those ages 7 to 14 meanwhile skincare brand bubble lets anyone at least 13 years old to apply to be a brand ambassador except my bubble moisturizer never too early to moisturize right bubble the initiative is so popular that it had a weight list of some 41,000 people as of July last year the value that Brands and the overall
social media landscape are screaming is that look pretty and your life will be pretty awesome no wonder while tons of gen elas cannot read they understand retno well and can probably do a full face makeup much better than I did after college next we're going to go in with a little freckles the undertone of today's PP culture is facei is more important than education and this ethos has forever changed the zy and is manifested in how even more appearance obsess every new generation has become and who can blame them the Internet only celebrates and rewards
those who play the face c car game well with no lack of aspirational Rags to Riches stories about lives changed by a sudden gain of virality not saying that there is a lack of talent but very clearly the poster children of these Sensational successes all have a very similar look also known as Tik Tock pretty now equated with Gen Alpha pretty it seems extremely use useless you go through 12 years of school then College then maybe grad then postgrad to work a 9 to5 you may or may not hate and only make pennies of what
a pretty girl can make on a Tik Tok in a split second nothing pays better than being pretty or does it as someone who is passionate about beauty and skincare I just want to say I am absolutely Pro self-care and props to everyone doing things within their means to feel healthy beautiful and confident but relying on the privilege of being pretty or the validation from looking a certain way is a huge slippery slope sure some of us definitely have won the genetic Lottery by looking a certain way that fits exactly into the conventional standards at
the moment but it is the same thing as having a trust fund it will not last forever unless if you keep investing in yourself and the beauty trust fund can eventually run out when you no longer look conventionally attractive or the standard changes aka the currency of your trust fund crashes and becomes valueless a trust fund might get you through many years in life but unless if you create any additional values for yourself your whole worth will be based on your beauty trust fund and it will deplete perhaps that is why consciously or subconsciously the
diligence towards Beauty for every generation of women is somewhat fear-based to the point that beautiful babyfaced 8-year-olds are beginning their anti-aging routines wanting to increase the value of their face cars while fearing to lose the Privileges that come along them instead of being an asset the face card has become a debilitating prison where the worth of us of not just being women but human got reduced to the face we show on a tiny screen to strangers who do not know and do not care about us there is absolutely nothing wrong with loving and embracing in
the fun of beauty and skincare but the line between passion and obsession is more and more blurred by how we are valued and ranked on social media according to our appearances that translated to a new value system not based on ethics morals thoughts but who has the face that the Tik Tok algorithm prefers and gen of us being the generation with the most amount of their lifetime influenced by such algorithms is paying the price of becoming the newest and largest supporters of the face card economy although it is impossible to escape the economy where wealth
and social status are highly tied to appearances the beauty trust fund is not the only source of wealth for girls and women it's like that trend of being obsessed with a guy that has a trust fund is 65 in finance with blue eyes if you tie your Worth to something or someone so external just like a trust man the beauty conventions can turn against your favor any single single day life has no shortcuts and trust fund might not last a lifetime investing in yourself means so much more than just investing in your face go invest
in exploring topics you're interested in authentic relationships with others and experiences that expand your awareness beyond your current Circle the wealth of living is so much more than just looking good for people online who don't know or care about you so whether you're 12 22 32 4 to or whatever age you are I sincerely hope you get to embrace that beauty in you beyond just your face you are so much richer than just a face card hope you like this chat please share this episode so more people can be aware of the impact of the
rising face card culture share the series with a loved one it will mean the world to me subscribe I will see you next week [Music]
