Makeup is too f*cking big
When was the last time you finished a lipstick? I would not be surprised if the answer was “huh, you know I never have now that I think about it.” Many women have enormous collections of half used makeup at the bottom of purses, cluttering bathroom countertops or overflowing the drawers in their house. It often dates back years with expired mascaras, old tubes of lipstick and cracked pans of blush. It turns out 75% of women don't routinely finish their makeup - and not just before it expires, but at all.
When 3/4ths of your customer base doesn’t finish the products you manufacture AT ALL you might have a problem. In fact, in a survey my startup Stowaway conducted with consumer insights startup Poshly it turns out the cosmetics industry has a host of issues nasty issues impacting its customers
- Makeup expires and yet we never finish let alone toss our products; women are knowingly keeping and using expired makeup that could have an adverse affect on their health and well-being
- We are overspending and underusing; this leads to guilt. We saw that over 80% of women were hanging onto makeup because they felt guilty throwing it away. If you have spent $30 on a mascara, it is hard to throw it away even if it has expired.
- We own way too much product that weighs us down; the average woman owns 40 items but only carries 5 of them daily. Today’s women work, care for our families, give back to our communities and pursue wide and varied interests. In a mobile interconnected world, this puts us in motion. That’s why size and mobility are even more critical. We need products designed to fit into that new reality.
But these problems aren’t our fault! We are in an impossible position. Traditional cosmetics companies aren’t manufacturing sizes that are designed to be finished so it’s no wonder that women don’t ever make it through the products they own.
These intertwining issues of safety and consumer value are reflective of systemic issues within the enormously large and heavily consolidated cosmetics industry. Beauty is a $60b dollar a year industry in the United States. Worldwide, 70% of the industry is consolidated into just 10 dominant conglomerates. Ironically, they are too big to change. These conglomerates are unwilling and unable to update its business models to meet changing consumer preferences.
Why the hell doesn’t someone just make cosmetics that is half of the size and half of the price right? Good f*cking question. We’ve gone ahead and done just that at Stowaway. Stowaway is starting a revolution. Albeit a very small one (pun intended). At Stowaway less is more. Our right sized makeup is designed to be finished before it expires. Our direct to consumer business model, prestige formulations and award winning portable packaging combine for a unique cosmetics solution that is half the size and half the price. And our products are safe. Because they are “right sized,” our products are free of preservatives that pack other American cosmetics like parabens and phthalates (which are notably banned in Europe). We fit into women’s lives. Our mission is to provide a great product that fits into the lives of our customers while providing providing the best possible consumer value.
I hope this makes a few of you questions the business practices and assumptions of the cosmetics industry. And please toss out your mascaras. I know you probably paid $30 and loss aversion is real but trust me it is time. And I hope you consider the switch to Stowaway. Our mascara is is only $12, works great, is easy to replenish thanks to our subscription program, and you will actually finish it before it expires. Novel concept right?
