Isamaya Ffrench

Isamaya Ffrench (born 9 April 1989) is a British make-up artist and creator of wearable art. She has worked on fashion editorials for several major publications, including Vogue, Dazed, W magazine and Love. and models Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Her principal focus is on facial art and decoration that challenges beauty norms.

Early life and education Born and raised in Cambridge, England, she became interested in physical arts from a young age and moved to London to study 3D design at the Chelsea College of Arts, then product and industrial design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. She also joined the Theo Adams Company in 2010. She was inspired by Kevyn Aucoin's The Art of Makeup, Making Faces, which she saw at age seven, but did not focus on make-up in her youth, being more interested in other physical art, springboard diving, and ballet. While studying in London she decided to learn face painting to earn money part-time. She started face painting at children's parties and her skill at the craft resulted in her doing the job for children from London high society. After doing an all-body tiger body painting for a friend, a fellow dancer in her company suggested her to i-D magazine, which resulted in Ffrench's first fashion photography shoot in mid-2011 doing body painting and clay sculpture for Matthew Stone and Alek Wek. She worked alongside a professional make-up artist during the shoot, which led her to purchase her own kit and move towards face decoration. Having come from a physical arts background, she was less interested in beauty conventions and more interested in face decoration as a form of identity construction and working with the structure of the face.

In June 2022, Isamaya launched her own line of makeup products, Isamaya Beauty. The first collection featured kink-inspired imagery.

In 2024, Nike designed in collaboration with Isamaya Ffrench, a special edition of the Air Max Dn that takes inspiration from women athletes and their influence on the fashion world. Ffrench used the unique design of the upper to play with textures and materials. It also features the Dynamic Air unit system of dual-pressure tubes, which creates a responsive sensation with every step. This results in a fashion-forward design that's comfortable enough to wear from day to night.

Podcast guest On 4 August 2023, Ffrench attended the 100 Club in London to discuss her life and career on How Long Gone, a Glendale, California-based podcast hosted by Jason Stewart and Chris Black, sponsored by J.Crew.