Italian regulators are investigating LVMH-owned beauty retailer Sephora and the luxury group’s Benefit Cosmetics brand over claims their marketing has allegedly fuelled “cosmeticorexia”, an unhealthy obsession with skincare among young girls.
In a statement on Friday, Italy’s competition and market authority said it was probing Sephora and Benefit for suspected “unfair commercial practices” with the promotion of skincare products such as face masks, serums and anti-ageing creams to girls as young as 10 to 12 years old.
These marketing campaigns were carried out mainly via social media, the regulator said, leading young girls to “compulsively” buy such products.
It added that this type of behaviour is “part of the phenomenon known as cosmeticorexia”. The investigation is the first by European regulators into the alleged practice.
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“The companies are said to have adopted a particularly insidious marketing strategy, involving very young micro-influencers, who would encourage young people, particularly vulnerable groups, to compulsively purchase cosmetics,” the statement said.
LVMH Italy declined to comment.
The regulator added that retailer and brand had failed to clarify or warn that these products were not tested or intended for use by minors.
“The companies failed to correctly indicate that the cosmetics sold by Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics were not intended for children and adolescents and, instead, encouraged their purchase through covert marketing strategies, involving young micro-influencers,” the competition authority said.
The regulator said that “the unaware, frequent and combined use of a wide range of cosmetics by minors could have potentially harmful effects on their health”.
As part of the investigation, the regulator said that its officials, as well as the specialist antitrust unit of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, the financial police, carried out inspections at various premises of Sephora Italy, LVMH Perfumes and Cosmetics Italy and LVMH Italy.
Apps such as TikTok and Instagram are filled with videos of young girls and teenagers advising their peers on elaborate skincare routines, especially through a popular line of content called “Get Ready with Me”.
Parents have sounded the alarm about this trend, and recent medical literature has recognised the phenomenon of “cosmeticorexia”, also called “dermorexia”, which is defined as a culturally reinforced preoccupation or obsession with achieving “flawless” skin that can lead to “excessive, age-inappropriate or compulsive use of cosmetic products and procedures”. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
