A Child Supposedly Destroyed $1,300 Worth Of Sephora Makeup, & People Are Blaming The Mom

Two wrongs don't make a right, but apparently not everyone has heard, because a retail disaster has sparked an epic Facebook pile-on, and it's not helping anybody. A child supposedly destroyed $1,300 worth of Sephora makeup, which sucks, of course, but now people are blaming the mom without knowing even half of the story. Poor form, guys. According to Insider, makeup artist Brittney Nelson snapped the photo of 52 decimated Make Up For Ever eyeshadow testers at a Sephora store in Augusta, Georgia on Saturday, and took it upon herself to stand up for the rights of partially used makeup in a now-viral Facebook post.

$1300 of Make Up Forever eye shadow destroyed at Sephora tonight due to a small child. I'm sure he/she thought they were like finger paints and had no idea how naughty they were being. Tons of destroyed product and pissed Sephora cast members are a not a happy place to be. Mammas, please shop for your makeup without your tiny humans. It's not fun for you...or them...or the expensive product. Anna Heath and I about passed out when we saw this atrocity. Being me, I've needed to bring Allie into many makeup stores as she's grown and had a strict 'hands in pockets' rule for her and a strict 10-minute rule for me. It was very helpful so if you must take your kiddos makeup shopping I suggest trying it.

Oh, man, where to begin? I haven't shopped for makeup without my "tiny human" since he was born, unless you count ordering online while he's asleep in the other room. Many — hell, I'll go so far as to say most — moms don't have the luxury of affordable, on-demand child care, and when they do get a babysitter, they're certainly not wasting it on errands. And pointing out that makeup shopping is "not fun" for kids is unnecessarily hurtful. Moms are already made to feel guilty for every other choice they make, now we can't even bring our kids to the mall for five minutes to grab some moisturizer?

Nelson admits that she's brought her own child to "many makeup stores," and "helpfully" shares her tips for a successful shopping trip. Assuming that mess was caused by a child, and the mother of that child just happens across this post, what are the chances she'll read to the end and think, "Say, that's good advice, I'll try that next time!" She's probably furious and/or humiliated, and no matter how good an unsolicited parenting tip might be, it loses its appeal when it's dripping with criticism and condescension. (Romper reached out to Sephora, but the store declined to comment.)

Of the 16,000 comments on the post, way, way too many are going all in on the anonymous mom, saying she's "disrespectful," a "bad parent," or lacking "common sense." The child, they say, is a "vandal" and a "hellion" who needs a "whooping." Tough talk from a bunch of internet strangers who don't even know who, precisely, they're insulting. Others, however, doubt that a child really made the mess. Some said the eyeshadow was too high for kid to reach, and think it must have been wrecked by a shoplifter to create a distraction, an overzealous sampler, or perhaps an artsy type who did it for the 'gram. Nelson told Insider that while she didn't actually witness the incident, she arrived "right as a lady and her kid were hustling out of there," and saw "glittery footprints" at the scene of the crime.

But there is a ray of sunshine in this story; some commenters are stepping in to defend the mother. "You don't know what the parent was doing," one wrote, and "you can't stop a child from being a child." Besides, testers "get messed up from all the fingers digging into it to try it out anyway," and according to some commenters with retail experience, many stores throw them out at the end of the day. And let's not forget that we don't know the whole story, either. "Do we know for a fact that this was the kids mom?" wrote one sympathetic soul. "Do we know if the kid has a disability? Do we know if this was a busy mom and she needed something that makes her feel good?" Good point. And regardless of their situation, she continued, "things happen in less then a second!! It's NOT bad parenting if something happens!" Amen to that.