'It's cheaper than therapy': From toys to handbags, consumers are drawn to mini products

For about $10, shoppers can pick up several of some of the most popular makeup, hair and skin care items at Ulta – as miniature toys.

Beauty retailer Ulta and toy company Zuru recently collaborated on a Mini Brands line of capsules containing five mystery mini replicas of brand-name beauty products.

Do you prefer toy food over foundation? MGA's Miniverse released a Target Food Favorites themed Make It Mini where buyers can create tiny replicas of snacks, such as Bullseye cookies or lava cakes – for collecting and displaying, not eating.

MGA is also the company behind the LOL Surprise line of collectible mini dolls, accessories and playsets, first released in 2016.

It's not just toys.

Luxury brands like Hermes and Fendi have also released micro versions of their handbags in the past few years, with other brands, such as Coach, Longchamp, Lululemon and Dagne Dover, selling pocket-sized bags, charms and backpacks. Many box stores, beauty stores and pharmacies have sections dedicated to trial, travel and tiny-sized versions of many products.

Miniatures – whether tiny toys or practical items – are appealing to consumers. According to an industry report by market research firm Circana, the category of exploratory and other toys, which includes mini toys, had the second highest growth rate – 16% – for toy categories in 2022 and had seen positive growth since 2019. Tiny crafts and micro-sized toys also were among the Toy Association's 2023 top toy trends.

But what draws shoppers to small things?

Crafting, collecting and connecting with community

Collecting or creating tiny toys isn't new, or even just for the young. For decades, one of the more popular miniature-related pastimes has been crafting dollhouses.

"It's not just a child's hobby anymore. It can be with a small dollhouse, of course, but a lot of adults are collecting," said Mary Johnson of Wall, New Jersey, who has worked on dollhouses for years. Johnson is one of the founding members of the Jersey Shore Miniature Society, which started in 1986 and is part of the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts. The society meets weekly, and the group has online classes and chats.

"The details have become so amazing, and they're not cheap anymore," Johnson said. "Things can get quite expensive, especially if they're handmade. But it's nice to see that there are younger people becoming interested in the hobby."

Creating dollhouses is not only a fun, artistic expression, but it can be a stress reliever, Johnson said.

"It's satisfying to create something so small in your own style, in your own imagination," Johnson said. "We use all different forms of crafts. We work with clay, wood, 3D printing, laser-cutting. We paint, we wallpaper, we landscape, we make flowers. You can do whatever you want. And I think that's what a lot of people need now."

Jo Barker, known on social media as The Little Bean, has been sharing her collection of mini handbags and beauty products with her followers since she started her accounts in 2021.

"I've always loved mini items, specifically mini makeup," Barker said. "I found that when I would share those types of items in my content, it would resonate a lot with my viewers, namely because they're just so cute, especially the brand name miniatures."

Aside from the cuteness, there are practical benefits to mini items, she said, such as obtaining unique items and sustainability.

"Having a mini version might be a way to try out a product without fully investing in a larger version," Barker said. "It's something that they can try and fully use, given it's a much smaller amount, and then not feel like they're going to waste large amounts of product before something expires."

Kayla Lam, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, would buy miniature toys here and there, but she really began building her collection earlier this year.

"I was so stressed," Lam said. She was finishing her master's degree in biostatistics, and purchasing and items from Miniverse Make It Minis and Mini Brands gave her "a stress-free way to escape," she said.

"With Miniverse, you put it all together yourself, and that really appealed to my crafty side, and it sucked me in," Lam said. "And a big thing for me was all of the people I've met in the community. They're all so nice, and people are trading, and they're all supporting each other."

Lam began sharing items in her collection on social media in March. While she doesn't have a firm number on how many miniatures she's collected, she said she has an entire full-sized fridge full of Miniverse, items she hasn't created yet and Miniverse on hair clips and keychains.

"It's cheaper than therapy," Lam said.

Experts on why people like miniatures

Humans are biologically wired to like mini things, psychologists say.

"Miniatures make us happy," said Kristina Durante, a psychologist and marketing professor at Rutgers Business School. "We feel like we can have a sense of control over these tiny things."

"When times are tough, we like to have things around that make us feel good," Durante said.

Even seeing photos or videos of miniatures on social media can be satisfying.

"When we see miniatures, it brings up more of that feel-good neurochemical that keeps us going back, those dopamine hits of, 'this is so cute.' That's why we follow it on social media," said clinical psychologist and author Carla Marie Manly. "We're getting hit after hit after hit that makes us feel good in an otherwise often disappointing or dismal world."

For many people, looking at or purchasing mini items can remind adults about childhood or "bring up a childlike sense of wonder," Manly said.

"It takes us out of that place of being the responsible adult and reminds us of our ability to play, to be in a flow state, to feel carefree and to feel charmed by things in life, which we often forget," Manly said. "We forget that beauty, that delight of feeling charmed by something."

The low price of miniature items compared to their larger counterparts can be encouraging to shoppers, especially as some shoppers look to tighten budgets.

More: Stores are marketing for holidays earlier. Experts say it's stressing us out.

Consumers may do what's called mental accounting while shopping, Durante said, which is a person's way of trying to convince themself to make a purchase through mental gymnastics, such as justifying buying a $15 tiny lipstick instead of a $40 regular-sized lipstick, even if the cost per volume doesn't make financial sense.

Owning items on a smaller scale still "fulfills that desire to possess it," Manly said.

"They don't need to be expensive to give us joy. They just need to have some sort of connection to a very specific space in our memories that says, 'ah, this is precious.'"

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: From toys to makeup, shoppers are drawn to mini products. Here's why.