GLUED to the make-up tutorial on TikTok, Harriet Parkinson studied how the beauty blogger contoured her face, then painstakingly tried to replicate it.
Though just seven, Harriet is a dab hand with make-up.
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Her mum Natalie, 39, says: “Harriet absolutely loves make-up. She’s better at applying eyeshadow than I am.
“She’ll watch tutorials, pause them, copy what they’re doing and press ‘play’ again. I do her mascara because I’m worried she’ll stab herself in the eye but she does her lipstick, contouring and colours her eyebrows.”
Last week, Katie Price sparked controversy when she shared a picture of her six-year-old daughter Bunny wearing make-up and false eyelashes on Instagram.
It was liked more than 15,000 times as followers debated whether Katie had committed a parenting fail.
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“She’s way too young. Just why? Why have her think she’s better with all this on her face?” posted one, while another told Katie: “Ah, so cute. The haters will come but every little girl loves to try out make-up. Don’t see the harm.”
More than half of British women (58 per cent) believe children should not wear make-up until they are 14, according to a 2019 YouGov study.
Harriet discovered make-up last Christmas, when her mum bought her a palette. Within weeks, she had used it up and asked for more.
Natalie, a teaching assistant from Bolton, said: “She’s got a lot of nail polish and nail files, but I keep those in my room, as well as four make-up palettes and her own perfume.
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“Some days she’ll sit there for half an hour doing her make-up. If she doesn’t like it she’ll wipe it off and start again.
“I don’t let her go out of the house in it but I do put photos on Facebook. I’ve had people criticise, saying, ‘Girls should be little girls’ and friends have said, ‘I’d never let my daughter wear make-up at seven’.
“But she’s my child and I know her better than anyone.
“As long as she’s not wearing it to school, I don’t see any harm.”
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Natalie normally gives her daughter free rein on her collection of Mac, Benefit and Revolution cosmetics.
But for her eighth birthday next week, she has bought Harriet a make-up table, mirror, stool and LED lights, costing £120, as well as blusher, eyeshadow and contour palettes, costing £60.
“I like wearing make-up because I look pretty and grown-up,” says Harriet. But Natalie says it is about self-confidence, not vanity. “I’m quite conscious of Harriet thinking she’s only pretty with make-up on, so I make sure she knows her beauty comes from within,” she says.
“When she started school, she had to wear glasses and it knocked her self-esteem. She’d hide them and broke them because she said she looked ugly. She stopped wanting to hang out with her friends so I’ve tried a few things to build up her confidence, like gymnastics. I know doing her make-up helps her too.”
Harriet’s dad, Colin, 28 — who Natalie is separated from — shares her views, she says.
‘POPPY WORRIES SHE LOOKS UGLY’
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Another youngster, 11-year-old Poppy Holland, from Sittingbourne, Kent, has a beauty regime that costs a staggering £700 a year.
“She won’t leave the house without it,” says her mum Abbie, 32. “She takes longer than me to get ready!”
Poppy’s bulging make-up collection consists mostly of cheap brands such as Primark, but she also has a Glossybox subscription for £13.25 a month as well as a £68 palette from James Charles’ Morphe and £20 Zoe Bee creams and exfoliators.
Abbie, who works part-time in an estate agent’s, also spends £150 a year on Poppy’s salon haircuts, where she gets foil highlights, and £80 a year on a gel manicure treat. Poppy also wears stick-on false nails.
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She gets her lashes and eyebrows tinted every eight weeks although her mum, who is a qualified beauty therapist, does this at home.
Abbie says: “She doesn’t get pocket money so I’ll pay or it comes out of her birthday money. The only place she doesn’t wear make-up is school.
“She used to wear it on non-uniform day at primary school but they never said much, although she has been told off for having fake nails.”
Aged nine when she started experimenting with make-up, Poppy spends her evening watching make-up videos on YouTube and TikTok. “I’m always on there,” she says. “I’ve started my own YouTube channel but it’s not taken off yet.”
Abbie says she has not received any negative comments about Poppy’s make-up habit but admits to having mixed feelings.
“If anyone is negative, it’s me!” says Abbie, who also has a son, Oliver, five.
“I allow it because she’s had a hard time at school and make-up helps her feel better.
“She keeps saying to me ‘Mum, do I look ugly?’ I tell her she doesn’t need make-up to look beautiful — but she thinks she does. I hope she grows out of it. I don’t want her to go out in warpaint — she’s perfect as she is.”
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