Paige Louise Williams's beauty brand, P.Louise, has come under fire for using influencers as young as 11 to promote "back to school" make-up and hair appointments to children, as families return to the classroom this September.
A recent campaign, tagged #backtoschool, has seen young girls paid to advertise a new P.Louise lip gloss that doubles as a pen, with adverts calling the products "perfect for back to school" and "the new school essentials."
The push has also included promotion for hair appointments at the P.Louise City Salon in Manchester ahead of the first day of term.
So-called "mum-fluencers" have joined in too. One, LaurenJ, told her 25,000 followers: "Oh my God, if you have a daughter heading back to school you have to get this lip gloss with a pen." Another, Suzie, filmed herself taking her daughter to P.Louise City, the brand's immersive retail site that opened in July, saying: "My daughter has her first day back at school tomorrow so we are at the Trafford Centre because she needs a curly blow-dry from P.Louise."
Under-12s services at P.Louise City
P.Louise has long said its make-up is aimed at professional make-up artists rather than children. But at its Manchester site, the brand advertises "Under 12s wash, blow and curl" appointments from £25, "Under 12s Upstyles" and make-up masterclasses for under-16s. Its birthday parties include a mini make-up session, hair styling, party games and party bags of P.Louise products, while its Makeup Academy runs dedicated courses for under-12s and under-16s.
Lacey M, the brand's 12-year-old ambassador
One of the faces most associated with P.Louise is Lacey M, a 12-year-old influencer who began posting on TikTok in September 2024, aged ten, about her love of make-up, lip glosses and perfumes. "My therapy is going shopping at @PLOUISE, it is the BEST place ever. I love it," she told followers in one video.
Williams began following Lacey's account in October 2024 and commented on one of her videos: "You're the cutest." Lacey went on to become a P.Louise brand ambassador, appearing in the company's videos and receiving her own P.Louise make-up collaboration.
For her 12th birthday, a party was held at the P.Louise BOXPARK retail space in Liverpool, with the venue closed to the public, a red carpet laid out and Lacey arriving in a pink ball gown. Inside there was a DJ, dancers, a VIP area and P.Louise products. Tickets for the public cost £38, and after Lacey said around 2,000 people had registered for early access, the event was estimated to have the potential to generate up to £54,000 in ticket revenue.
Weeks later, Lacey's TikTok account disappeared. TikTok requires users to be at least 13, and accounts belonging to 13 to 15-year-olds must be set to private by default. She now posts under a new username with a bio reading, in capital letters, "PARENT RAN ACCOUNT." She remains active in P.Louise content, posting four videos in the past week alone documenting visits to P.Louise City for a blow-dry before starting Year 7, as well as a video of her doing her skincare and make-up using P.Louise products while talking about starting secondary school.
Industry figures raise concerns
One source said: "Paige has said before that the make-up isn't targeted towards kids but professional make-up artists. Yet the packaging, who she pays to promote her brand and the P.Louise empire in Manchester says otherwise. The empire is full of children, and the staff do a lot of activities specifically for children to attend. Also, 12-year-old Lacey M is the brand's ambassador. She's on the P.Louise TikTok Lives selling products for hours. She's on the PR list and also had her own collection but still... Paige insists her brand is not targeted towards children."
American make-up influencer Mikayla Nogueira, who has more than three million followers on Instagram and previously worked with P.Louise, said last month she had unfollowed the brand because she felt it had become "too catered to kids." Make-up artist Robert Welsh, who has more than a million YouTube subscribers, and beauty commentator Jen Luv have also raised concerns about the brand's targeting of children.
One social media user criticised the atmosphere at the brand's Trafford Centre site, writing that "there are a load of six-year-old birthday parties where the kids come away with bags saying 'bad b***h energy'."
Last weekend, Megan Pickford, wife of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, took her daughters Ostara, two, and Misty, one, to P.Louise City, telling followers: "Come with us to pamper heaven for little girls." Her video showed her young children making their own lip gloss and filling baskets with products.
Also this week in showbiz
Cotswolds influencer Josie Irons has issued the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with a list of "etiquette rules" amid rumours they have swapped Montecito for her neighbourhood, including pretending not to recognise a celebrity in a farm shop and remembering that "a Barbour jacket and muddy wellies are formal wear." She is also hoping Meghan might join her Pilates class after she and her husband, Charlie, installed a chapel to host them.
Amelia Dimoldenberg's YouTube series Chicken Shop Date is ending after 12 years, with one final series promised. Speculation is rife over who will feature, with Dua Lipa, the Kardashians, Drake, Jacob Elordi and Timothée Chalamet among the contenders.
Influencer of the week is Sophie Hawkins, known as @sostylishsoph, for launching a new YouTube series in which she discusses the £1million lawsuit she faced over fashion copyright, bankruptcy, bullying and breakups. "I've never sat down and spoken about my whole story, the s*** bits, the things I am proud of and not so proud of," she said, promising "no filters, no polish, just the truth about my life."
Down of the week is Wimbledon, which has announced a limit on the number of influencers allowed to attend the Championships following disruptions at the US Open. Creators such as Morgan Riddle have helped bring tennis to millions of new viewers who might not otherwise have engaged with the sport.
Elsewhere, 81-year-old Welsh furniture maker Adrian Llewellyn-Jones has gone viral after his family began showcasing his work online. Llewellyn-Jones, who founded The Mouse House Cowbridge in 2020, turns discarded scaffold boards destined for landfill into furniture, and has amassed 1.3million likes on TikTok.
