Makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench is known for dreaming up dramatic transformations for herself and others. She became a mermaid at Byredo, where she led the brand's foray into the world of beauty before launching her own makeup line, ISAMAYA Beauty. He turned Zendaya into a CR Fashion Book character and Rita Ora into a mermaid for the British Fashion Awards. The Frenchman gave Rihanna Marlene Dietrich's delicate brows on the cover of Vogue and Irina Shayk a pair of elf ears on Instagram.
But after years of adorning her skin with advanced makeup and prosthetics, her tough skin finally decided to draw the line when she developed a terrible rash.
"I could do anything with it and wear anything with it," recalls the British beauty director. “Makeup comes and goes, I use glue and stuff. I have very tight skin and have never had acne. Almost overnight she decided that was enough, even though sometimes I couldn't do more than two sets of eye makeup, they weren't too irritated."
French visited three dermatologists in five months before posting a desperate plea for help on Instagram. London dermatologist Dr. Sam Bunting contacted him. "He put me on azelaic acid and it changed my life," says French.
Among the many facials that the French do, some stand out for skin care purposes. "I have to say that Cher is definitely something that every hard-working artist should strive for," said the Frenchman. "Your skin is flawless. She's great. She looks great. I recently worked with Rita Ora and her skin is so smooth. I know she takes great care of herself. Irina Shayk is probably my favorite girl. She has the most beautiful skin and she's so natural and it's beautiful. I know she has a million-step skincare routine, but it pays off."
Ahead, Ffrench talks to Glamor 's Drop the Routine about the skincare products she uses to heal and balance her skin.
my cleaner
I only wash my face at night. I never wash in the morning, I just wash with water. Eva Lom is the best. It is a gentle make-up remover and exfoliator. It's really greasy and smells great. It's a big pot. It should be really good. I find that it doesn't irritate your skin and I like things that keep your skin's pH nice and balanced.
Eva Lom-Reiniger
$135.00 Leather Shop
my tonic
I use a small amount of toner around my nose as oil tends to build up overnight. So I use a light toner on my nose. Biologique Recherche is an excellent tonic.
Biologique Research Lotion P50
$55.00, Amazon
my serums
I love SkinCeuticals so I use their vitamin C serum daily. It's the first step I take after washing my face in the morning. I also love SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Serum. It is a green liquid that contains hyaluronic acid that helps balance the skin. It focuses on redness and manages overactive skin issues and inflammation.
Skinceuticals CE Ferul Serum
$169.00 Dermstore
SkinCeuticals Phytocorrective Gel
$70.00 Dermstore
My retinol
I use retinol and azelaic acid. Azelaic acid has completely changed my life. [Finacea] requires a prescription, but you can also buy a product with azelaic acid, which basically kills bacteria completely and stimulates cell renewal. It's like retinol. I prefer retinol because I put it in my nose and wake up in the morning and my pores are semi-clean. So azelaic acid is probably my favorite. Very Good.
Medik8 Crystal Retinal 3 Serum
$62.00 Dermstore
my eye cream
111SKIN patches are great for reducing wrinkles before they go out. I don't know if this is a long term or temporary fix, but I find the Black Diamond patch amazing. Only Dr. under my eyes. Lip or Laneige.
original dr Lip nipple balm
$14.59, Dr. lip
Laneige Lip Night Mask
$24.00, Amazon
111Skin Black Diamond Blue Eye Mask
$17.00 Leather Shop
My moisturizer
I love U Beauty Barrier Bioactive Repair Cream in the morning. I find that oils and creams often have a strange reaction. When I want to look radiant, I use Skinlacq [instead of face oil]. Because it contains triple hyaluronic acid and is basically the skin care equivalent of a makeup product. If I'm doing something with oil, I just stick with oil. But if I do skin care every day, I will use Skinlacq. Since it contains different weights of hyaluronic acid, you can mix it with foundation. Everything is more moisturized and lubricated, if you get what I mean.
U Beauty The Barrier Bioactive Treatment
Leather Shop $198.00
Skinlacq Triple Hyaluronic Radiance Serum
$78.00 ISAMAYA-Beauty
my mask
SkinCeuticals phytocorrective masks are great. It is like a gel and very refreshing. I occasionally make clay masks like Thatcha. They have a clarifying clay mask, so I do it on problem areas from time to time.
SkinCeuticals Phytocorrective Mask
$60 SkinCutical
Thatcha Clarifying Clay Mask
It is 70 dollars
My approach
I am very loyal to two people for facials. Jasmina Vico and Dr. Brian Fu in London, they did laser treatment and I got microneedling. Especially? I recently bought Morpheus 8 for a few sessions. But I prefer hardcore. As a beauty artist, I thought I could do it myself. So I invested more in tools that I didn't have.
my sunscreen
Sunscreen? God, I've been through so much. It's called UV, Ultra Violette - I love this brand. I also love their body sunscreen because it has very tiny shimmer particles that make you look super glowy. And it smells amazing. He is very sweet. I also use Barbara Sturm, Sun Drops.
DR Barbara Sturm Sundrops SPF50
$150 dr Barbara Storm
Extreme Screen SPF 50+ Moisturizing Hand and Body Cream
$35 UV
My moisturizer
This is the easiest cream you can buy for eczema or very, very dry skin. It's pretty much just an obstacle. But if you use it long enough, hopefully your skin will start to regain its natural balance. At least that's what happened to me and I've been using it for a few months now. Nothing else is applied to the skin. And you can wash with it. So instead of washing my body, I use it in the shower and use it to wash my face. It's a little greasy so it's great for removing makeup and I still use it as my main moisturizer when I feel like I've overdone it.
Dual base moisturizer for dry skin
$33.00, Amazon
My scrub
One thing I use is the Barbara Sturm Enzyme Cleanser. Very Good.
dr Enzymatic cleanser Barbara Sturm
$75 at Sephora
body care
Dazzle Up Highlighter comes from the Wild Star collection for its skin conditioning benefits. The idea is to have an ingredient that mimics the effects of retinol, such as reducing the appearance of wrinkles. It contains shea butter and oil. You need products that help keep the skin soft and hide blemishes, especially on the décolleté and neck area, where women often get sun wrinkles. And this product does exactly that.
Of course, your face is important, but your neck and décolleté are just as important. Because it often sells well when we spend a lot of time putting something on our face and then forget about our neck. If you know what I mean? It smells great and is a full body product only. I often use it as a lip balm because it feels so good, it's buttery and shiny. It goes everywhere.
Great highlighter
$42, ISAMAYA beauty
my makeup remover
Micellar water is an indispensable product.
Bioderma Sensibio micellar water
$16.99.00 Dermstore
my smell
Oh, there's a brand called Children of Urania. I don't know much about them, but it's like a gender fluid, young brand, really nice scent. I wore one called Queer Magic, which is very unique and different, quite strong, sweet and rich. And Byredo Gypsy Water has always been my favorite. This is a classic.
Urania Queer Magic Eau de Parfum for Kids
$111.00, Children of Uranus
Eau de Parfum Byredo Gypsy Water
$280.00 Bloomingdales
My device
I use an infrared lamp. I have one from the brand Déesse, it looks like an LED mask. And from time to time I use an infrared lamp for facial acupressure.
Déesse PRO LED light mask
$1987.2.00 Iconic Beauty
Hanna Lustig is a glamor author . You can follow him on Instagram @han.worldwide .
It first appeared in Glamour