I’ve been doing more and more travel lately (Paris, London, New York City) and have found that it’s really quite annoying to try and stuff all your full sized cosmetics into a small enough bag to throw into your carry-on. I mean, what if I want to touch up on the plane because there’s someone really handsome sitting beside me? I can’t very well whip out a full blown makeup bag.
Recently I discovered Stowaway Cosmetics – a makeup brand bringing you smaller, travel sized, superb quality products. Stowaway products are designed for the woman on-the-go because they know “you are busy and are doing big things”. Not only are they amazing for travel, but the small package size allows you to actually finish a product before it expires.
This is probably terrible to even admit but I’ve been one in the past to keep makeup around for way too long just because I feel bad throwing it out when it’s still half full (I’m a glass half full, makeup half full kind of girl). Gross, right? I can feel all the makeup artists reading this cringing right now. Sorry.
After stumbling across this incredible brand, I had to know more. Check out my interview with Stowaway Cosmetics co-founder, Chelsa (Julie is the other half to the duo) – and get ready to love this product.
7 Questions with Chelsa Crowley of Stowaway Cosmetics
The Lady-like Leopard: You were a makeup artist before creating Stowaway Cosmetics. What was the biggest inspiration behind starting your own makeup brand?
I began my career many years ago as a makeup artist, later I moved in-house with Clinique to work on product education. Before starting Stowaway with Julie, I freelanced on the editorial side of beauty, most recently, in-house at Bobbi Brown on blog/social & editorial content for the brand.
I don’t think these experiences made me want to create my own brand, no. It was more about solving what Julie and I found frustrating about the beauty industry. She wanted products that fit into her bag since she likes to start the day at the gym and I knew that products expired and how its damn near impossible for women to get through any products before [they do].
We had different frustrations but the end solution was the same: smaller products that fit into our lives. Simple, luxurious products that contain only ingredients that actually do something for your skin (none of those fluffy marketing ingredients) and only safe ingredients. None of those preservatives you often see in beauty products.
The Lady-like Leopard: What are some tips for taking a day-time makeup look to night-time cocktails?
I would say the easiest way to do this is a bold lip! I’m a big fan of a red lip, it’s the easiest and quickest way to change it up after a long day at work. Also, it can help make you look a little more alive after a long, tiring day.
The Lady-like Leopard: I love what you’ve said about Stowaway products aiming to be the LBD of makeup. Is that what inspired the sleek & chic packaging? (And obviously the fact that Stowaway is an essential in every girls makeup case!)
Aw, thanks! But not really what inspired the packaging or product. We were inspired to make ours and other women’s lives easier starting with her makeup bag. That said, decision fatigue is REAL! Who wants to shuffle through 10 different red lipsticks? Not us!
We wanted to create a beautiful shade that was perfectly balanced between blue and orange undertones so it looked amazing on the majority of skin tones. Not to toot our own horn, but we nailed it. Our ‘Scarlet’ lip colour is on point.
As for the packaging, we wanted to make something simple and beautiful. Julie and I are minimalists in a lot of ways and when you walk into any beauty store or counter, everything is in clunky jars with gold or silver filigree, shiny black packaging that over-shadow the product inside, and silly sexy-kitten type names. We wanted to give women the option to carry something simple – simple, yet gorgeous. Something you can pull out at the gym, on a date, at the office, or even a black tie event and feel beautiful anywhere.
The Lady-like Leopard: What are your favourite beauty trends for spring/summer 2016?
Hmm, honestly, I kinda hate trends. I feel like they come and go and we’re always left [to] go back to the same things: products that make us feel like ourselves but maybe a little prettier. That perfect concealer, mascara, or lipstick that is always there for us. I feel like makeup is a simple pleasure and we all love doing it but sometimes the trends can feel convoluted and distract us from the pleasure and simplicity it should be.
That’s not to say I haven’t been that girl who’s been suckered into buying that pantone of the year eyeliner or lipstick shade but hey, no one is perfect!
The Lady-like Leopard: What is the one Stowaway product you absolutely couldn’t live without?
Ha! That’s probably the hardest question I get asked. I can’t choose just one, it’s like trying to choose your favourite child or something. They really are all my favourites, though I will say that our BB cream and concealer are really something special.
The Lady-like Leopard: Stowaway is big on being able to finish products before they expire and having limited waste. Enter: Stowaway Cosmetics Recycling! Have you seen a good reaction to this aspect of the brand?
Oh, yes! We are huge believers in not wasting. We hated the idea of buying expensive products and then tossing half used items and never finishing a lipstick, ever. So when we were creating Stowaway we always had recycling in the back of our minds.
Obviously, if we are finally creating something that women can finish, we wanted to give them the option to recycle those empties–and get rewarded for it to boot! We’ve received amazing feedback from our customers on this which was super exciting for us and we loved that we were able to get our recycling program off the ground on Earth Day!
We are half the size of your premium cosmetics you’re used to buying but at half the cost. Plus, now with recycling, you can feel good about your purchases. Why compromise?
The Lady-like Leopard: Tell us a bit about what we can expect from Stowaway in the future!
Lots of new products! However, remember I said decision fatigue is real… so we are never going to be super SKU intensive. We still want to provide women with great, simple, paired down products without all the fuss. Stay tuned, we have so much up our sleeves – which all starts rolling out this month and continues to the end of the year.
Find out more about Stowaway Cosmetics here. All photos via stowawaycosmetics.com and @stowaway on instagram.