Watch Isamaya Ffrench create Extrême beauty looks for Tom Ford

When asked to describe Tom Ford’s new Extrême Beauty collection, a few words popped into the mind of make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench. “Editorial. Graphic. Bold. Colourful. Audacious.” The collection, on which Ffrench partnered with the iconic designer, is all about introducing experimental colours and textures to the global brand’s make-up line.

“Mr Ford wanted to develop and evolve his makeup collection to introduce an editorial element with bold, graphic, and dramatic colour,” Ffrench told us, describing how she worked with the designer to come up with this collection of bold eyeshadows and coloured mascaras. “I felt like it was the right time to introduce a collection like this because so far it’s been very gorgeous, about skin, so it was time to focus on experimentation.”

The result is 20 individual eyeshadows of varying shades and textures. From subtle lavenders to sparkling golds, each shade can be worn in combination or alone. "When I was working on designing the colours with Mr. Ford, he wanted to develop something that was colourful, editorial and graphic. I think people are often intimidated to use colour, so the concept with these shades is that they all have a metallic quality, because that slightly desaturates the colour,” Ffrench continued. “So it feels a lot more wearable, it’s a soft, beautiful texture. I was so pleased with how we found a way to make colour super wearable.”

To celebrate the launch of the Extrême collection, photographer Thurstan Redding spent a day in the studio with Ffrench to capture three stop-motion films demonstrating how you can build an Extrême Beauty look.

“If you’re scared to use a bright colour ask yourself why,” says Ffrench. Want to try something extreme yourself? “Try easing in a wash of metallic and then slowly build into the colour.”

Watch the short film below: