Pretty Little Liars actress Shay Mitchell has faced a backlash after she launched a beauty brand aimed at children aged three and above
With 35 million Instagram followers, Shay Mitchell’s latest business venture was likely to be a huge success. However, her latest project – a beauty brand for toddlers – has been hit with fierce criticism.
A Hollywood star with a lot of influence, Pretty Little Liars actress Shay – who played Emily in the mystery thriller drama series – and Esther Song have created rini, a beauty brand they claim marries gentle skin care and play for children aged three and above.
A mum herself, Shay, 38, – who has daughters Atlas Noa, six, and Rome, three – says she was inspired to create her new range by her children’s constant requests to be involved in her beauty routine.
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When she wore face masks, they’d ask what it was and beg to use it and she would hand them deodorant with a lid on just so they could be part of her routine.
It was from here that rini was born – with Shay adamant she wants her kids to enjoy skincare like she does to “create healthy habits and have that self-care time”. They write on their website: “Our mission is simple: to nurture healthy habits and spark confidence”.
The new brand sells everyday facial sheet masks with Vitamin E made to look like pandas, puppies and unicorns. Made with 93.5% natural ingredients, they contain Glycerin, Beta-Glucan and Allantoin to hydrate, strength and soothe and also feature White Tremella Mushrooms, which holds up to 500 times its weight in water to hydrate and calm the skin.
The second range of products are hydrogel masks, which include Vitamin B12, Glycerin & Red Algae Extract. The hydrogel mask is also infused with Vitamin B12 and costs £6 each, marketed for daily use. The after sun mask is infused with Aloe Vera and Chamomile as well as Wild Yam, which is said to “calm, heal, and hydrate delicate skin in harmony”.
The products might have been approved by dermatologists and clinically tested in the US, but the controversial brand has not sat well with celebrities and fans alike. Vicky Pattison – Strictly Come Dancing star – branded it all a “step too far”.
Speaking on a recent podcast she said, “I think it’s manipulative to position it as self care for kids. For me, an hour in the bath at the end of a busy day with a face mask on, that is my self care, but why does a three-year-old need that self care? They don’t. Their lives are, as they should be, care free.”
She says parents should be the one to shield their kids from these expectations. Vicky added: “It’s up to the parents to set those boundaries and to say, ‘This is something for when you’re older. It’s just for me now. I think we’re blurring the lines there. I personally think it’s all a little bit dark and a bit of a shame. Let kids be kids.”
This is a view shared by many people online, who have called the new business venture “tone deaf” and “harming”. Dr Ranj Singh – a doctor who has regularly appeared on This Morning – dubbed the sheet and hydrogels masks an “awful idea”.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror about the brand’s products, he says: “Children and young people have a generally healthy, developing and sensitive skin barrier. So when it comes to any skincare, as a general rule, less is more.
“Unless they have specific medical needs, they simply don’t need active skin products – simple washes and moisturisers (if necessary) are absolutely fine for the vast majority. And any reputable Dermatologist would agree with this. I’d like to think that most of these brands are genuinely looking out for children’s bests interests, but we also need to remember that they are businesses.”
He fears products like these can have a wider impact on children into the future and said: “We have to be mindful that, even with the best intentions in the world, these products may be sending the wrong message to young people from an early age: that somehow their skin is not good enough, that they have to obsess over their appearance, or that they need these products to look or feel good.
“This is simply not the case – and we must make clear that behaviour adults might show are not always applicable to children. When it comes to kids’ skin, the emphasis should be on looking after yourself from the inside – not what the world sees or what you might do on the outside.”
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