These Small Cosmetics are Shaking Up the Beauty Industry in a Big Way A direct-to-consumer beauty line puts portability first.

It's one of life's great mysteries: Why do women carry such huge purses? One major culprit is distended makeup bags filled with forgotten tubes of lipstick, aging mascara and gloppy concealer.

Cosmetics startup Stowaway aims to change that. Launched last February in New York City, Stowaway is looking to shake up the $60 billion makeup industry with a line of undersize cosmetics designed to go wherever the busy, modern woman goes. "Seventy percent of the makeup market is controlled by 10 conglomerates like LVMH and L'Oréal," explains co-founder and CEO Julie Fredrickson. "They haven't changed since the 1950s, but our lives have changed dramatically."

Fredrickson had served as digital brand manager for Ann Taylor and created digital and brand marketing strategies for Pepsi, Nike and Gap; co-founder and CCO Chelsa Crowley had done stints at Estée Lauder, Clinique and Bobbi Brown. Tired of lugging their beauty burdens everywhere, the two merged their expertise in e-commerce and makeup to rethink traditional cosmetics and create a more efficient, portable line that would satisfy the needs of women on the go.