Miss Fame Drag Makeup Interview
Miss Fame's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Drag Makeup
As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
Drag icon Miss Fame distinctly remembers the first time she played with makeup. She was 7 years old, living with her grandparents in a small town in California, where she watched as her aunts swept on a frosty, Brooke Shields-circa-1985 eye shadow in their shared bathroom before school. Later, she snuck into the drawer of products, grabbed an eyeliner, and traced a dark line around her eyes.
"I found the way I looked in the mirror to be beautiful — it made me feel something really strong," Fame told POPSUGAR. "But I also had a lot of fear, because [of where] I grew up. It didn't help the fact that I was 'that kid' privately doing this."
Flash forward 30-something years, and her bold, in-your-face makeup has become as synonymous with her name as her drag performances or time on RuPaul's Drag Race. Now, Miss Fame just announced a new collection with Sleek MakeUP — her second with the cosmetics brand — and is spilling the secrets to her meteoric rise to drag superstardom. It was a self-proclaimed "personal process," but you better believed she worked.
Step 1: Start Small, Dream Big
Like any big aspiration in life, the dream to do drag has to start somewhere (and it doesn't have to be grand). "When I was 18 or 19, I went out to this small gay bar in my hometown, Tortilla Flats, and I was asked to enter a drag contest," Fame said. "I had gotten 'secondhand drag' — you know, a black bob and little leather hat that I picked up at a costume shop. It was not elaborate — I was wearing my sister's bra, and I wore flats. I didn't know what it was like to fully commit to drag, but because it was such a small town, I actually won the contest. There were only three people, so I was like, 'That was easy.'"
"Although I couldn't afford to overcostume myself, I was able to do something special with my makeup and my face, which makes any outfit look really elevated."
Her reason to forge forward with drag wasn't based on the win, of course, but rather the feeling she got on stage. "I felt this allure, like, 'Oh wow, there's something here.' But I didn't know it would actually become something I could lean into for a career. I was always wearing makeup; as a creator, I was going out and dancing. I would turn out these really interesting looks with makeup. It made me feel like although I couldn't afford to overcostume myself, I was able to do something special with my makeup and my face, which makes any outfit look really elevated."
Step 2: Find Your "Signature" Look — to a Point
The thing about drag is that you get to create your dream self — that's part of the fun. That can take on many forms until you find your so-called trademark. "You know, I've worn every hair colour, I've done many different genres, different editorials, from the '70s or the '80s or the '50s or futurism," Fame said. "I've found that the classic women of the '50s — like a Marlene Dietrich, a Marilyn Monroe, or a Joan Crawford, the iconic Hollywood blondes, with platinum blond hair, a really strong brow, and a bold lip — those types of details really work for me." Though, you should always inject your own special flair.
"That era worked for many women. It still works today, and that's why I pull those classic looks out, because I don't want it to disappear, but I want to do it in a modern way."
Step 3: Take the Damn Risk
Both in life and in creating the collection with Sleek, Miss Fame has one stream of thought with makeup: "Attack with colour — literally leave no prisoners, go full scale, and don't be afraid. I wanted [the products] to be colourful, and I thought, 'Well, I am an artist, and it is about taking risks.'"
Sleek MakeUP Online Only Sleek x Miss Fame Collection
The Sleek MakeUP Online Only Sleek x Miss Fame Collection ($20) includes a highlighting palette, black liner, a magenta and fuchsia lip gloss, and blue liquid eyeliner (which Fame says you can tone down if you don't want to go full-on bold . . . but where's the fun in that?).
Step 4: Keep Your Lip Staples on Rotation
The lipstick version of the game of f*ck, marry, and kill is particularly hard for Miss Fame because life is about options, baby. "I would marry lipstick because it's a classic. It's something that, no matter what, even if we trend on something else, we always come back to a classic. You can't go wrong. That's marriage material. I don't want to kill lip balm because it is necessary, but obviously I like impact, so I would opt to f*ck lip gloss and choose some pigmentation to get there. I might have to keep lip balm on speed dial on the side, though. That's like my mistress right there — don't tell no one!"
Step 5: Make Sure Your Makeup Also Looks Good in Photos
"I never want people to feel like I'm the arbiter of the idea of drag, because a lot of my makeup has become more 'womanly' over the years," Fame said. "I've taken away all the tricks and have made it really simple. So I'll say that when I see makeup that shocks me, I'll look at how it's photographing. Because sometimes you'll see someone and think, 'Wow, you look amazing,' and then you take a picture and it either works on camera, or the makeup they're wearing looks pretty in person but in a flash photo disappears completely."
"I never want people to feel like I'm the arbiter of the idea of drag, because a lot of my makeup has become more 'womanly' over the years. I've taken away all the tricks and have made it really simple."
The secret to keeping your look photo-friendly? "Controlling your matte and your shine," she said. "Playing with matte and shine is going to give a lot of interest to your face, and not overly in the way like aggressively contouring and highlighting. Let's say you have a scar on the cheekbone; you want to make sure that area is brought down, and you're going to add highlight to the points that you really want to bring toward the camera, so by lifting the face or high points of the cheek or the top of the brow bone, the slender part of the nose, or the top of the lip."
"I see people putting so much contour and highlight on, but actually a lot of times you end up looking older. Matte where you need it; shine where you need it. Look at how you photograph, study what works for you, and you'll get there. It does take practice."
Step 7: Take Care of Your Skin, Daaahling
Taking off the drag makeup is just as important as putting it on. (No, really, you have to wash your face.) "Makeup removal is key — I will not go a day without it," Fame said. "It doesn't matter how tired I am or how jet-lagged I am. Makeup has to come off the skin, because you're only as good as the canvas that you're working on."
"I don't have the best skin to begin with, so when I have a really good skin day, it's because I've been working at it for months. I do a double cleanse in the morning and then a double to triple cleanse — that's using micellar water, a cleansing lotion, and then a proper gel cleanser or an enzyme cleanser, depending on the weather or what my skin needs — at night. Then, I use a lot of serums afterward. The commitment is real."
Dr. Barbara Sturm Calming Serum
She also swears by dermatologist Barbara Sturm's skincare line. "Her Calming Serum ($250) and Hyaluronic Serum ($300) are literally the best products I've used continuously for the last year."
