ISAMAYA Wants To Unleash Your Inner Cowgirl

All of the glitz and glamour unleashed for the holiday season

Isamaya Ffrench’s makeup collective, rightly named ISAMAYA, will satisfy your need for fantasy. Mixing luxury elements with classic makeup styles, the brand embraces the whimsy that makeup and art can bring to our lives. For their first drop, ISAMAYA went hard and rough, naming their collection INDUSTRIAL. Now the brand pulls back, switching to a more light-hearted “rhinestone cowgirl” look. With a shimmering pink-brown lip and ultrafeminine lip liners, the world is ready for ISAMAYA’s second drop: WILD STAR.

Check out the full conversation with Isamaya Ffrench below

V Magazine: What was the inspiration behind the collection? How did you come down to the name of WILD STAR for this range of new offerings?

Isamaya Ffrench: WILD STAR is about hot nights in the American West, an environment of dimly lit dive bars where women turn up as their fullest glamorous selves for their own pleasure. They are strong and confident in their choices and they know who they are: spirits of the great spaces at heart, defiantly sexy when they feel like it. We thought about a few names for the collection that involved the rhinestone and glitter elements but eventually went for WILD STAR, which to me encapsulates perfectly both the glamour and the natural.

V: The packaging is so playful—what were some of your references when creating how the products would be presented? 

IF: I love beautiful objects you can display on a shelf. If you saw a long golden tube with a bejewelled rearing horse, you wouldn’t necessarily know there is a mascara hiding in there, but it wouldn’t be out of place among your makeup bits in your bathroom either. I would love it if people wanted to keep the case once the product is empty so I’ll be working hard on unique packaging for every drop and find ways to repurpose when possible! For example, the eyeshadow palette in this drop has removable inserts so you can keep it to store precious keepsakes, such as jewelry. Or mints if you’re a bit less romantic.

Image courtesy of ISAMAYA

V: With each drop, there is a concentration on five core products to deliver a “fantasy” each round. Why was this of utmost importance for you when crafting the brand?

IF: Making limited-edition drops makes products more special in my eyes, and it ties well to the concept of the actual packaging becoming collectibles. There are many unusual, creative references that could translate so well into beauty products that I have never seen anywhere else. I would feel frustrated to pick one aesthetic and stick to it for years. It’s very challenging to develop beauty products in a short amount of time, unlike fashion, but I much prefer this concept of drops or seasons and be able to create small universes.

V: This WILD STAR collection differs immensely from the debut collection, INDUSTRIAL. Dreamy esthetics aside, what would you say is the line of consistency throughout both collections?

IF: It doesn’t really matter that there is no obvious connection between the drops. We all have different moods throughout each day. You wake up in the morning and can’t be asked to wear anything other than mascara, but in the evening you’re going out with your friends and you want the full glam, and then the next day you might be feeling grungy and go for dark lips and the next the sun is shining and you want a bright green eyeshadow. It doesn’t mean you’re a different person. I don’t want to create a brand that caters to only one type. Let’s embrace all aspects of our personalities!

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