CBS News California’s Julie Watts and her daughter’s fifth grade class investigated the harmful “Sephora Kids” skincare trend aimed at tweens and helped bring attention to AB 728, a bill that passed a committee 4-2 but was quietly killed in Sacramento.

The students partnered with Watts and the CBS News California team to investigate a troubling trend: beauty brands marketing adult-grade skincare to tweens. Their reporting revealed that viral products — often promoted by kid-fluencers — frequently contain potent ingredients like retinol and alpha hydroxy acids, which dermatologists say can harm young skin.

Assemblymember Alex Lee of Milpitas, the youngest member serving on the Assembly, recently authored AB 728, which seeks to restrict the sale of certain anti-aging skincare products to children under 13.

“Lots of companies profit — they make money — off of things we don’t feel good about,” Lee explained to the fifth graders. “I think it’s really bad that companies make money off of children.”

11-year-old Scarlett Goddard-Strahan told the Assembly she unknowingly used a retinol product and developed painful side effects that left her unable to sleep for two weeks:

Years later, I still have bumps on my cheeks. If you look at my cheeks now, they get red and itchy when I sweat and when I am out in the sun. I used those products because I wanted to feel pretty and more confident. But now I feel embarrassed and pretty self-conscious.

During the report, other students pointed to how brightly colored packaging draws kids in, while health warnings are printed too small to notice.

SFist asked our own 11-year-old about her experience with beauty products, to which she responded, “The trends can trick our brains into wanting to try them.” She said she already knew to avoid retinol prior to the news report but not the other ingredients. "I got red bumps on my face one time."

But the bill faced pushback from industry groups and some health advocates. Margaret Gladstein, representing the California Retailers Association, warned it would be “impossible” for stores to enforce. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan cautioned that defining “anti-aging” in law would be difficult, noting that many anti-aging ingredients have broader uses.

Although the bill cleared its first policy committee with a 4–2 vote, it was quietly shelved by Appropriations Chair Buffy Wicks, halting its progress for the year. The students, according to Watts, are still waiting for a response to their request to interview her.

Watts explained her core motivation for pursuing this story and deciding to cover it through their eyes, “If I, as an investigative reporter, can’t figure out which of these products are safe, then what about parents who don’t investigate for a living? What about your parents? And that’s the concern.”

While AB 728 may be off the table for now, the students’ campaign has already raised awareness around a growing concern: that children are being marketed — and sold — skincare products their bodies aren’t ready for, without clear warnings or oversight.

And if their early activism is any indication, these kids aren’t done yet.

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