'The empire is full of kids': How P.Louise is using children to market 'back to school' make-up products... including lip gloss disguised as a pen. Insiders reveal all to MOLLY CLAYTON - including troubling role of Lacey M, 12

For most children, September marks the beginning of the school year, a time when pupils leave the house with new shoes, sharpened pencils and, perhaps, a little nervousness about starting a fresh term.

But for mega-influencer and beauty entrepreneur Paige Louise Williams, it appears to have become something else: a marketing opportunity.

As children across Britain are returning to their classrooms, I can reveal that Paige’s brand, P.Louise, has been working with influencers as young as 11 to create ‘back to school’ content promoting its beauty products and services to youngsters – to the horror of many online.

The latest campaign has seen young girls advertise everything from a new lip gloss that doubles as a pen to hair appointments at the P.Louise City Salon in Manchester ahead of their first day back.

One young influencer, Summer, who shares a joint account with her mum, Summer+Rach, appeared in a paid TikTok video for the brand, saying: ‘Come with me to P.Louise City to get my hair done ready for school tomorrow.’

Another post, under the hashtag #backtoschool, featured young girls being paid to promote P.Louise’s new lip gloss pens, with one advertisement describing them as ‘perfect for back to school’.

Another says: ‘P.Louise have literally just made the new school essentials.’

And it is not just young influencers being enlisted by the brand. So-called ‘Mum-fluencers’ have also been promoting the products to fellow parents.

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 – a fully immersive beauty retail experience which 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.’

It is the latest chapter in the brand’s controversial history with pre-teens, which has already raised uncomfortable questions about where childhood ends and beauty advertising begins in the social media world.

Because, while P.Louise has previously insisted its make-up is aimed at professional make-up artists rather than children, the company itself tells a rather different story.

At its P.Louise City site in Manchester, the brand currently advertises ‘Under 12s wash, blow and curl’ appointments from £25, ‘Under 12s Upstyles’, as well as dedicated make-up masterclasses for under-16s.

Its birthday parties offer children a mini make-up session, hair styling, party games and the opportunity to build their own party bags containing products from the shop.

The company’s Makeup Academy also advertises dedicated courses for under-12s and under-16s.

And now, one of the most recognisable young faces associated with the brand is 12-year-old influencer Lacey M. She began posting on TikTok in September 2024, aged just ten, making videos about her love of make-up, lip glosses and perfumes – but above all her obsession with P.Louise.

‘My therapy is going shopping at @PLOUISE, it is the BEST place ever. I love it,’ she told her followers in one video.

Her account quickly attracted thousands of followers, predominantly consisting of other young girls equally obsessed with make-up.

Then, in October 2024, Williams noticed her, began following Lacey and commented beneath one of her videos: ‘You’re the cutest.’

What followed has been a very lucrative relationship. Lacey became a P.Louise ‘brand ambassador’, appearing in videos on TikTok promoting products and even receiving her own P.Louise make-up collaboration.

Earlier this year, I revealed the extent to which the relationship had become entwined with the young influencer’s life.

For her 12th birthday, a lavish party was held at the P.Louise BOXPARK retail space in Liverpool. The venue was closed for the celebration, a red carpet was laid out and Lacey arrived in a bright pink ball gown.

Inside, there was a DJ, dancers, a VIP area and, inevitably, plenty of P.Louise products. Tickets for the public cost £38 and, after Lacey announced that around 2,000 people had registered for early access, I revealed the event had the potential to generate up to £54,000 in ticket revenue.

It was difficult not to see the birthday party as something rather more than a child’s celebration as it had all the hallmarks of a highly polished brand event, with Lacey at the centre.

Then, just weeks later, her TikTok account disappeared. TikTok requires users to be at least 13 to have a profile, and accounts belonging to 13 to 15-year-olds must be private by default – so the starlet’s page was temporarily taken down.

Lacey now appears to operate under a new username, with her biography stating in capital letters: ‘PARENT RAN [sic] ACCOUNT’.

Yet she remains heavily involved in P.Louise content. In the past week alone, she has posted four videos documenting visits to P.Louise City for a blow-dry before starting Year 7.

In another, she does her skincare and make-up using P.Louise products while talking about starting secondary school.

This latest marketing push has attracted heavy criticism of the brand online for selling directly into the back-to-school market.

One source told me: ‘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.’

Several well-known figures in the beauty and influencer world have also questioned the direction of the brand. Mikayla Nogueira, the American make-up influencer with more than three million followers on Instagram, previously worked with P.Louise but said last month that she had unfollowed the brand because she felt it had become ‘too catered to kids’.

Professional make-up artist Robert Welsh, who has more than a million YouTube subscribers, has also criticised the targeting of children, while beauty commentator Jen Luv has raised similar concerns.

And social media users have also questioned the atmosphere at P.Louise’s newest Manchester site, with one critic recently posting: ‘In the Trafford Centre at her new shop, there are a load of six-year-old birthday parties where the kids come away with bags saying “bad b***h energy”. How inappropriate is that?’

Only last weekend, influencer WAG Megan Pickford, wife of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, took her daughters Ostara, two, and Misty, one, to P.Louise City. ‘Come with us to pamper heaven for little girls,’ she told her followers. Her video showed her young children making their own lip gloss and filling baskets with products.

P.Louise has built an extraordinarily successful beauty empire by understanding exactly what its young, digitally savvy audience wants.

But now, as the school gates reopen, questions are being asked about whether it’s using its influence to do more harm than good.

They might be one of the most famous couples in the world but Cotswolds influencer Josie Irons has issued the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with some ‘etiquette rules’ as they are rumoured to have settled in her neighbourhood. 

Josie has posted instructions on how to behave, which include pretending NOT to recognise an A-list celebrity in a farm shop, to thank drivers who stop on narrow country lanes and remember that ‘a Barbour jacket and muddy wellies are formal wear’. 

She is also hoping that Meghan might join her Pilates class after she and husband Charlie shelled out on a new chapel to host them in.

Amelia Dimoldenberg’s YouTube series, Chicken Shop Date, is sadly coming to an end after 12 years – but not before one final series. The influencer and interviewer has promised fans some of her best celebrity dates yet.

After viewers claimed the format had ‘lost its charm’, speculation is rife over who’ll make the final cut. Dua Lipa, the Kardashians, Drake, Jacob Elordi and Timothée Chalamet are all hot contenders.

UP

Sophie Hawkins, aka @sostylishsoph, gets my Influencer of the Week for doing something increasingly rare online: dropping the filter. The influencer has launched a new YouTube series in which she opens up about the £1million lawsuit she faced over fashion copyright, bankruptcy, bullying, breakups and the highs and lows of her career. ‘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. Admitting that Instagram can make life look perfect, Sophie promises: ‘No filters, no polish, just the truth about my life.’ A refreshing change from the highlight reel.

DOWN

Wimbledon, as much as I love the tennis, gets my Down of the Week for announcing a limit on the number of influencers allowed to attend the Championships, following disruptions at the US Open. Intrusive camera equipment and distractions during play certainly need to be addressed, but banning influencers altogether feels unnecessary. Creators such as Morgan Riddle have helped bring tennis to millions of new viewers and audiences who may never otherwise have engaged with it. Limit accreditations? Perhaps. But I think influencers have earned their place in the tennis conversation, so don’t shut them out entirely.

An 81-year-old Welsh furniture maker has gone viral thanks to his family showcasing his brilliant repurposed pieces online. Adrian Llewellyn-Jones, who founded The Mouse House Cowbridge in 2020, turns discarded scaffold boards destined for landfill into beautiful furniture. His children have been documenting his work on social media – even revealing that an influencer asked for a free table. Adrian now has 1.3million likes on TikTok! Proof that you’re never too old to become an internet sensation.

Email me – [email protected]

Instagram – @mollyroseclayton

TikTok – @mollclayton