How to be a drag queen
Drag is a beautiful way to express oneself, build skills, get out into the world, and open opportunities. Enjoy every moment of drag along the way. Whether you find yourself moving towards singing, dancing, hosting, or live to stream, do whatever it is that makes you happy and let that confidence grow, which will enhance your creativity. Drag is a way of building confidence, your work and your art will take you anywhere you want to go with confidence and conviction in yourself.
You may have heard of RuPaul's drag race and dame edna everage, there's a lot to master as a new drag artist, and there's always more to learn about drag queens and drag kings.
Here are some tips we provide to give drag queens or drag kings a glamour drag look including body contouring, makeup, and wig installation and stylish.
Drag queen body contouring
The drag queen's body contours are mostly proportions. Whether you want to go from man to drag queen, woman to drag king, or just want to accentuate certain features. It's all a matter of proportion! Try imitating padding in underwear, socks, or fabric. Before making or buying products, you need to figure out how much padding you want before padding. Proportion also applies to clothing, which is why many drag queens wear oversized drag jewelry to make their figures appear smaller.
But on the real human, body parts that are naturally softer don't look real. When considering of drag queen breasts and hips, or even drag queen pads, you will know silicone will look more real because it allows them to move more naturally, but it's more expensive and can cause sweat spots.
How to put on hip pads?
Finding the right spot to place your hip pads takes practice—too high can make your crotch look unnaturally low; too low, and your legs look like they have superhuman muscles. The edges of the hip pads also need to be thin in order to blend in with the natural contours of the body. This can make them difficult to apply quickly because they bend easily, and you may need to adjust them when wearing nails or accessories because they can snag your tights. Try putting the pads under a pair of more comfortable leggings first, then layer several layers of tighter leggings on top. Alternatively, sew them into specially-made panties.
How to secure breasts and crotch padding?
Sew a pouch in the underwear and insert the pads in the right place. This will keep them in place while absorbing sweat and allowing your body to breathe. It's also a great place to stock up on tips! It's great for drag queens.
How to tighten your waist?
It's easiest to do with the help of a friend, but practice enough reps and you'll quickly tie a knot in the back! When you're done, tuck the ends of the corset into the back.
How to tuck?
There are many different ways for drag queens to do this. If you wear many layers of tights, many drag queens can wear tight corsets and push everything back a little. It's usually enough. If you are going to bare legs or wear very small clothes, study how to use fishhooks, special storage underwear, or tape.
How to cover body hair?
If you have extra hair, wear thicker tights or more layers, we usually wear 3-5 layers ourselves. Layers increase transparency while using layers of different colors and fishnet tights on them will increase depth. If all your tights are the same color, you will look like a Barbie doll, which is not so natural. To cover the hair on your arms, try drag gloves.
Makeup
When considering how to be a drag queen or king, it is easy for people to focus only on themselves. But makeup is everything! Makeup is the key to reshaping your face (or even your body) to give you a glamorous look and express yourself, but it is the right skill. The outline is too obvious, you will look like a zebra. In order to achieve a gorgeous look, you first need to choose the right foundation color for your face. Then you have to mix them.
How to outline?
Face pictures are used by professionals to plan their effects and learn how different products are matched. It's hard to just imagine your appearance in your mind. A facial picture can help a drag queen or drag king to keep direction while drawing and take away some anxiety about the unknown. It's also a great way to keep a portfolio of how you achieved each look!
How to make up your skin?
The more skin you take care of every day, the better your skin will look when you make up. Using primer helps to gently smoothen the surface, hide pores and small details, and make your skin smoother.
Nothing can ruin the illusion more than the completely different colors of your face and your body. When buying cosmetics for the first time, it is helpful to consult a professional makeup artist. For example, is your skin yellow or pink? Then, practicing using your product will make all the difference.
How to correct the color?
Are you going to use a single color with different shades? You may want to use complementary colors. But will it be a split complementary color scheme? Knowing the meaning of these terms will help to plan and clothing.
Dark circles? Use some orange to balance the blue. Redness? Try some green. If you see a shadow where your beard, mustache, or body hair usually grows, correcting the color before applying will help hide it. Studying the color wheel and the effect of combining colors will be helpful here.
How to trim eyebrows?
Use a glue stick. Use mental chewing gum. Use Pros-Aide. No matter which research and use method you choose, practice again! This is a real drag base, and you will need to use it many times.
How to imitate eyebrows and beards?
When painting eyebrows with cosmetics, remember that the hair is textured. When drawing your face, in order to imitate hair, you need to mix different shades, brush sizes and brush directions to create a natural effect.
The eyes are different in shape.
Do you know whether your eyes are almond-shaped or round? Do you know the difference between a single eyelid and a blindfold? Before trying to imitate tutorials, know what you are using. When looking for inspiration, pay attention to other artists with similar natural eye shapes.
How to stick eyelashes?
Easier said than done. When you open your first eyelash, it looks like you just put glue on the edge of your eyelashes and then stick it behind your natural eyelash line. But stop beginning！ Eyelashes look best when they are raised at the outer edge. Glue the outer edge of eyelashes to a place higher than the natural eyelash line, which will have the best effect.
How to customize eyelashes?
False eyelashes are standard drag eyelashes, in terms of volume, length, and impact force. You can customize any type of false eyelashes, stack them up, make them bigger, cut their parts short for dramatic effect, or even trim them to make a brand-new shape. Glue them together.
How to apply lip makeup?
Sharpen your lip liner. Use a darker color on the outer layer. The eyeliner is better than the inner lip color. Try lipstick and liquid lipstick. You know, if you put your hair down, lip gloss will be embarrassing.
How to correct edges?
While blending is important, sometimes you want clean, sharp lines. If you make a mistake with smudges, don't stress. You can use a liquid concealer to paint over it. If necessary, correct with a liquid formula then reapply colors over the top
How to fix shine?
We want highlights to pop as much as the next person, but nobody likes a completely shiny face. As your look becomes subject to heat and you start to sweat, which will start to shine. You can correct this by delicately reapplying a tiny amount of powder to shiny areas with a powder puff.
We hope there are as many bright spots as the next person, but no one likes a completely shiny face. As your appearance becomes heated and you start sweating, this will start to glow and shine. You can correct this problem by carefully using a puff to apply a small amount of powder to the area that will be shiny again.
Knowing the importance of buying good quality products, quality is the key point. Buy cheap products and what will be happened is buying twice! Cheap or non-brand products are generally unable to last as long time as premium brands. You may come across some exceptions, but buying from a reliable supplier will help you save much time with their tested products. Not only that, the most important is the health of the product you used, the products should be no harm to the skin or body.
How to remove makeup?
Shower oil Bath oil is your friend to remove. If you use a strong adhesive on your eyebrows, you will need a strong adhesive remover. Ben Nye Bond Off and other professional products! Will remove the adhesive like Pros-Aide, but ordinary remover will not. When making up regularly, gentle makeup remover is the key. Try not to scrub your skin as often as possible, because it will cause stress and damage it.
Synthetic Wig
If you want to be a drag queen or king, you need to know the difference between synthetic wigs and human hair wigs. As time goes on, synthetic wig hairline looks more and more realistic. In fact, because they're made of plastic, it is unable to treat them the same as a human hair wig. It means about your synthetic wig, you need to use products designed for synthetic wigs, not human hair wigs. Using incorrect products will damage your wig in styling.
Wig styling
The key to wig styling is using volume, which will help synthetic wigs keep a stylish long time. You can use hairspray such as Got2B, and use a wider combed brush to gently smooth the top layers.
We also suggest if you don't have experience in styling wigs, choose the finished wig will be the best choice for wig beginners.
How to straighten a synthetic wig?
To straighten a synthetic wig, the most important point is to control the straightener's temperature, you should keep the temperature below 300° Fahrenheit (149° Celsius), or the hair will melt, and stick together.
How to curl a synthetic wig?
Actually, there're more than two ways to curl your synthetic wig, and here we introduce two easy ways how to curl your straight synthetic hair, one is to use a curling iron, and another way is to use rollers.
How to double stack wigs?
Buy two wigs and stack them up. Double stacking requires sewing. Essentially you will wear two wigs that are on top of one another. The lower wig will sit slightly further back than normal, to hide the wig line. You will use the wig line of the upper wig, and then secure the back of the upper wig to the top of the lower wig.
How to glue a synthetic wig lace?
Use some foundation to probably tint it, you can just put a little bit of foundation either underneath the wig or right on the top around the hairline area and it will help out with giving you security.
Maintaining a wig
After you finished the stage performance with the wig, remove it from your head, and pay attention to removing the glue on the lace, because if the glue leaves a long time on your wig it will damage the lace part. And in order to avoid tangling and shedding, put your wig on a wig stand or wig box. If the wig is in an exaggerated stylish, put them for the maximum space.
Tips
1. Protect your skin when shaving
Be kind to your face and body, and be sure to moisturize after you finish. A good drag look requires careful care of your face.
2. Choose quality brushes
Many brushes use real animal hair. Now there are many vegan brushes. Either way, it's important to know what you are using. These brushes will hold the product better than synthetic brushes and make it easier to apply. If you are using synthetic, make the most of them.
3. Add volume to a wig
Teasing is the first way. This involves gently combing the lower layer of hair. Alternatively, you can add wig accessories made for this purpose. These are usually lightweight blocks or pads hidden under wigs to increase their volume. You can even stuff your wig with plastic bags.
4. Choose full coverage foundation
Choose a full coverage foundation to cover thick facial hair, spots, scars, or other things.
5. Cleaning wig lace glue
Clean it with a toothbrush or cloth. Alcohol for external use is the fastest choice to remove wig adhesive and all cosmetics that inevitably stick to wig lace.
6. Take care of your body and save energy
Drag can make people physically and mentally exhausted. The mental energy needed to plan, rehearse, prepare, pack, travel, host, perform, and socialize is a lot! Besides, you probably wear uncomfortable outfits most of the time for your drag stage performance. Spend some time on your body. Take a bath; Stretching; Moisturize. Having a healthy body is very important to keep a healthy mind.
Drag culture has existed for many years, this is not about sexual orientation, this is only about personality. and it become more and more popular again until recent years. Remember that you are part of a drag community and everyone you work with or play with their own unique role. Even if you just spend money on tickets, drinks, and tips, these people are part of keeping you and these venues open. You are the face of the drag community. Whether you intentionally or unintentionally, cross-dressers will stand out. You will find that audience regards your stage performance as an example of strength and bravery, the same as lady gaga. One day, someone will say to you, "I wish I had the confidence to do that." You will feel deeply and realize how amazing you are.