Teens at Boston Sephora Use Makeup Samples to Put on Blackface, Causing Outrage

A group of teenagers who used Sephora makeup samples to put on blackface are being put on blast online, with some social media users calling out the brand for purportedly not taking a strong enough stance against the shoppers, even though the brand responded online, condemning their actions.

Others seemed more concerned with trying to find out the identity of another woman in the video, who they believed was defending the actions of the teens.

Like Danesh (@thatdaneshguy) uploaded footage of the clip in stitched TikTok he put online with fellow user @temiojoraa. In the video, a young woman wearing a white sweater with black stripes can be seen with a heaping amount of brown foundation spread over her face.

It appears like a Sephora employee (or someone who likes dressing in all black) is speaking to another woman in a blue and black patterned sweater, who other users on the application speculated was the blackface teen's mom, calling her out for her disrespectful behavior. Someone recording the clip voices their displeasure and shock that the young woman would color her face in such a way.

"Teenage girls in Sephora using the makeup samples for black face...." the original uploader of the video writes in an overlay. "She has no shame," the recorder states as the argument between the woman wearing all black and the presumed teen's mother carries on.

"This is so shameful. This is so shameful," the recorder of the video repeats as she reveals it's not just one young girl who's painted her face with dark-colored foundation, but at least two others. Two of the young girls look in the direction of the woman capturing them on camera and they physically run away into another part of the store.

Danesh gives some more insight into the video, indicating that the event occurred in a Boston Sephora location, and that they were "going around the store making monkey noises."

The TikToker then highlighted comments from other users who said that they didn't understand why the teens putting on blackface was such a big deal, like one commenter who referenced the film White Chicks, stating that the Wayans brothers, in the film, put themselves in white face for the project for comedic effect.

He went on to add that many of the users who responded to his clip were TikTokers commenting from countries outside of the United States and Danesh remarked he explained to them that it's "extremely racist" in America whenever someone colors their face to pretend that they belong to another racial/ethnic group.

Danesh went on to say that while he doesn't "shout out children," that he intends on trying to find out who the mother in the video is, while giving props to the store's employee for calling the mom and the kids in the video out on their behavior.

He ultimately did manage to find out who the woman was — she's apparently a resident of Guatamela City and works as a molecular biologist, according to the information that Danesh gathered and what other folks in the comments section said in his "identity reveal" clip.

In another video, Danesh says that Sephora outright "lied" about the incident after claiming that the store asked the customer to leave, which he says is a lie, he highlighted a statement made by the brand on X (formerly Twitter).

Other TikTokers, like Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) uploaded the entirety of the video online and tagged Sephora's account in his post who said that the woman dressed in black was indeed an employee of the store, and that upper management should commend the worker for her actions.

TikTokers who saw Danesh's video expressed their ire with the actions of the teens, and pushed back against those who didn't think that their usage of the makeup samples weren't all "that bad."

According to Atlanta Black Star, Sephora did indeed respond to the video in an official statement: "Sephora’s top priority is to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all."

Reps from the retailer continued to tell the media outlet: "We are extremely disappointed by the behavior of these shoppers at our Prudential Center location, and as such, they were asked to leave our premises. Under no circumstance is this type of behavior tolerated at Sephora."