Isamaya Ffrench is no stranger to challenging the conventions of beauty. She finds beauty in what the average person might view as strange, and the makeup artist and brand founder revels in creating visuals that are striking, jarring, and beautiful all at the same time. Her latest makeup collection, available for preorder, is the next step in the evolution of her namesake brand.
Though the Wild Star collection won’t hit shelves for another couple months, it celebrates the grit, grime, glamour, and lawlessness of the American West with gorgeous packaging and a wild campaign. “I want every collection that I do with the brand to inspire people and show the multitude of personalities you can have with makeup,” she tells BAZAAR.com.
Over Zoom, Ffrench shares with BAZAAR.com why she chose the Wild West to personify her new launch, why she doesn’t look to the Internet for inspiration, and how director Steven Klein’s doorman ended up in her latest campaign video.
The Industrial collection was your debut for ISAMAYA Beauty. How is the new Wild Star collection different?
I think this feels a lot more girly. I don’t necessarily want to say feminine because there’s still a bit of a grungier feel, especially in the campaign video. But in terms of the color palette, there are pinks this time. It’s not just black and all these kinds of deep, dark colors. It’s much more uplifting and glamorous. It’s very gold, there’s this idea of vintage glamour. There’s a big difference, I think, in the central character, but also in the overall vibe. You can’t get away from it.
What story is the collection telling, and why did you want to tell it?
The story in all the things that I put out, without sounding too ridiculous, is confidence and empowerment. You know it can sound a bit silly, but in all the stories I’m creating, it’s about this woman or this character who is in these quite empowering roles and looking fab and glamorous or edgy and having a really good time with the makeup. I really loved in this instance that we had this very glamorous pink girly makeup in this grungy Texas dive bar around these men falling over and getting into bar brawls [in the campaign video].
You describe the collection as releasing your “inner cowgirl.” What inspired this Western vibe?
Quite honestly, it’s just a feeling. Especially after the Industrial collection was so dark and grungy and industrial, it made sense to do something that felt like a contrast. Even though my Instagram account might say differently, I’m not particularly a girly girl. I was able to touch on moments of the feminine qualities in the cowgirl, but still feel enough of myself because she was in a dive bar and doing her lasso work. So I was able to kind of access it, but still feel like my own personality was in there. Does that make sense?
How does all of this translate into the gorgeous packaging?
The packaging itself can always say something slightly different to the campaign. I have to remind myself when I’m designing these things that they’re ultimately either to go into a handbag or on your bathroom shelf. It’s nice to create things that you think would look beautiful in those spaces. Then, of course, you can elaborate and tell a story through the campaign imagery.
My team, we do a huge amount of research into vintage objects and jewelry and those kinds of delicate ornamental things. And that’s really where I get a lot of my inspiration from, especially for this collection. I think we found a really beautiful horse broach, and I thought, “Wow, that looks so amazing. What would that look like if it became a makeup collection?” It’s all sort of a lot of research and just finding things that you think are really nice, beautiful objects.
Where do you go to look for inspiration?
I’m a real believer in casting a net wide. My art director and I work on product development together, and she’s passionate about research. So sometimes we’ll do research sessions in the New York Public Library, or we’ll look through books. The Internet’s not actually the best place for image research. So it really is about casting your net wide and keeping your eyes open.
You mention in your press materials that your collection is for makeup lovers who don’t want to conform. Can you elaborate on that sentiment?
It just means welcoming new forms of creative expression through makeup. And the story that we’re telling and the way we’re using the makeup with big sparkly, bold eyes, and we’ve got this really beautiful three tones of bronze lip liners with matching lipstick. I think there isn’t a sense of minimalism to anything we’re doing. It’s all quite like, “This is makeup, and this is our version of it.” So I suppose in terms of conforming, it just means trying something new.
What was the biggest challenge about bringing this collection to life?
I think we’re very fortunate that everything went quite smoothly with the first collection. Still, everybody’s learning along the way. I think with the Industrial collection, we did a lot of learning as a team and as a brand. And I feel now that we understand all the boxes that need to be ticked when launching something new. This collection felt a lot smoother, because everything from the packaging to the retouching to the different assets that you need—we now knew exactly what we needed.
So I think terms of what was the hardest part? Riding a rodeo bull for, like, an hour at, like, midnight and trying to find 50 cowboy-looking guys in Central London to do a video. We really pulled it together, didn’t we? [Director] Steven Klein’s doorman was cast that morning. It really was, like, a team effort.
What is your desert island item from this collection?
That is a hard one. I’m just looking at them now. The palette is very exciting, and it’s got some beautiful colors in there. I like the fact that its second life is like a little jewelry box. I really love that. So that probably has a couple of lives if I was to take it to a desert island, because I could store my nuts and whatever inside it. My trail mix, hah.
I like the mascara, just visually. I like the little blue gem in the eye of the horse. They’re all quite similar, aren’t they? But the mascara is probably one of my favorites just because it’s elegant.
Here's how Isamaya Ffrench created a soft smoky eyeshadow look using the new Isamaya Beauty Wild Star Palette.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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