A 101 GUIDE TO ISAMAYA
To celebrate the brand’s launch here at Cult Beauty, we sat down with Isamaya herself to talk about everything from how the beauty landscape is changing and what inspired her to create her brand to her must-have products and more. Brushes, bullets and palettes at the ready...
WHO IS ISAMAYA FFRENCH
WHAT INSPIRED ISAMAYA FFRENCH TO CREATE ISAMAYA
A trailblazer in the beauty space for her unconventional approach to make up, Isamaya tells us why she finally decided to create her own collection. “I’ve worked in the cosmetics industry for over a decade for some of the most unique, luxury brands and had such amazing opportunities to develop make up lines and do creative direction for them. When lockdown happened, I had all this time to think about what my own brand would look like…. Even though these partnerships were extremely formative, I wanted to create a line without the restrictions that come with established brands and really push the creative narrative, so founding my own brand became a non-negotiable” she says. Having worked on so many unique faces and using a range of brands, formulas and techniques Isamaya explains that “working with different products gave me a great understanding of what people expect from make up, how the market works and what makes a good product.” Et voila, ISAMAYA was born.
WHAT MAKES ISAMAYA STAND OUT
Describing her brand as “make up that allows you to become closer to who you are on the inside”, Isamaya wanted her brand to “reflect love for beautiful objects and images, which translate into luxury bespoke packaging that you want to keep” she recalls. "Presenting visions with very strong, elevated visuals that feel more like a story than an advert to sell mascara”, the founder explains how she is also “very hands on with product development spending several days every month in the lab to get everything right to create exciting, innovative, high-quality products.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR ISAMAYA
So, what more can we expect from ISAMAYA? “I have a core line coming out next year… it’s very exciting and new in terms of packaging, technology and formula… but before that, lots of fun collabs with people I truly respect within the industry, which is very exciting...” Watch this space!
Now that we’ve learnt the who, what and why about the brand, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. By that we mean getting up close and personal with some of ISAMAYA’S bestsellers.
ISAMAYA BESTSELLERS
2
£95.00
7
£60.00
28
£32.00
Rina is Cult Beauty’s Junior SEO Copywriter and has always had a passion for beauty and skin care (rich moisturisers are her obsession). What started as a love for The Body Shop and their famed Born Lippy lip balms (in ‘Watermelon’ of course!), she is now more interested in finding products with proven effectiveness instead of broken promises. A loud and proud VIEVE fan, Rina owns nearly every item of the range and recommends the brand to anyone who will listen... When she’s not intently reading ingredient lists, you can find her either immersed in multiple true crime podcasts or co-hosting her own parenting one, with an *extra* hot cappuccino in hand.
