I Did Drag Makeup for the First Time with Trinity the Tuck — Here’s What I Learned
I used to hate drag queens, which seems ironic given the fact there’s very little chance you’re currently here without knowing that I recently did drag for the first time. This experience was made all the better by the fact it was with the iconic Trinity the Tuck, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4 who’s had a few tremendous runs throughout her time on the show.
Although I’ve changed my mind when it comes to drag, I used to think the queens were scary, mean, and hard to understand. I had tried to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race in its first season (RIP, filter) and was confused by the lip syncing. I also thought a lot of them looked better in drag than out, which confused me even more on my journey to discover my own sexuality.
My opinion on drag first started to shift when I went on a date with someone who ended up inviting me to a drag show afterward at a bar called Flicks here in San Diego. The main queens headlining the show were Mayhem Miller and Kameron Michaels, both of whom were still relatively fresh off of their season on Drag Race.
I, of course, didn’t know who either of them were back then, but I enjoyed the hell out of that show and immediately realized I had been wrong about drag queens all along. They were funny instead of scary, shady instead of mean, and it became so much easier to understand them once I got that they were just expressing themselves, and that drag was nothing more than walking art.
Interviewing my first drag queen
A few months after my first drag show, a regional magazine I write for, RAGE, offered me the chance to do a piece on Alaska Thunderfuck. At the time, she was actually one of the few queens I was aware of because friends of mine were fans of her music. Not as exciting at the time was me coming fresh off of the death of my father and in a low state of depression that I never thought I’d be able to get out of. I saw this as an opportunity to get myself out of the funk, but I knew I had to get my facts straight before I showed up. She was the first person with a celebrity status that I had ever interviewed, and I knew I needed to handle the piece with care.
Ahead of the interview, it was crucial to be more than just familiar with Alaska’s music, but also her Season 5 and All Stars 2 appearances from Drag Race. This began what became a binge of every season of the show, because after I started Season 5 and actually watched an entire season from start to finish, I was hooked. All Stars 2 was even better, and watching that left me interested in going to the other seasons the All Stars queens came from to watch their journey from the start. After a few seasons, there just wasn’t any way I could skip out on any other seasons because of the magic I now knew I would miss out on.
When this binge happened, I was working at a cabaret bar in San Diego called Martini’s, which was my first time working at a gay bar. I had a group of gays come in and ask me who my favorite drag queen was right before I was asked to interview Alaska (who I probably answered with because she was the only one I really knew), and I still will never forget how embarrassing it felt to not fully have an answer and use it to engage in conversation. As soon as I started my binge, I kept that question in the back of my mind and have my favorites list now that continues to grow and grow.
Among the list of favorites is none other than Trinity the Tuck.
How I connected with Trinity the Tuck
For those unfamiliar, Ms. Tuck first graced us with her presence as Trinity Taylor on Season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She made it all the way to the end, but missed out on the crown at the finale. She then came back for All Stars 4 and wound up being the first and currently only winner to tie for first place alongside Monét X Change. After that, she joined a band of fierce queens to come back for the all-winners season of All Stars where she took her looks and talent to a whole other level.
Outside of Drag Race, Trinity has also served us with plenty of music and videos over the years since her first appearance on the show. Recently, she had a starring role in Tubi’s Slay movie alongside Heidi N Closet, Crystal Methyd, and Cara Melle. I wrote about the trailer for Pride.com, which prompted a response from both Trinity and Heidi, who each followed me on Instagram.
When that happened, I had an idea to do a Get Ready With Me video in the style of Hot Ones to talk about the movie. Soon after, Trinity also released a new song and music video for “Til Death Becomes Us” alongside Jujubee, as well as an EP based on the seven deadly sins called Sinematic slated for a June 1 release — which is also my birthday, so I’m extra here for that.
Preparing for the interview
To my surprise, Trinity was down to do the interview and wound up putting me in touch with her team to set it up.
On my end of things, I had asked for a list of makeup Trinity used to try my best to emulate it. I went to Sephora and had them help me figure out my skin tone. At the moment, Sephora’s makeup is definitely out of my budget because I’m a freelance writer who lives in San Diego. Truthfully, I wound up going to the clearance sale at the 99-cent store and bought most of what I used from there for 20% off.
Talk about drag on a dime realness.
Ahead of the interview, Trinity asked if I could at least have my brows glued down and my foundation on. I’ve never done drag, but I have applied makeup before, so the foundation aspect made sense to me. The eyebrows on the other hand? I have never glued them down nor drawn them on, so that was an experience in and of itself.
I struggled a lot with the eyebrow application when left untended, which brings me to the whole main purpose of this article: What I learned about doing drag from Trinity the Tuck.
1. It takes a really long time
I gave myself 90 minutes to glue down and cover my eyebrows and apply my baseline foundation. I promptly used 89 1/2 minutes and was still not finished with it by the time our interview started, which actually did come as a bit of a shock to me. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting a 20-minute experience, but I also didn’t know it was going to take almost 4 hours to get it done. I also found out during this interview that the queens on Drag Race only have about 90 minutes together, so I was far from stage ready in that time frame.
Granted, I’m not complaining, especially since nearly two of those hours were spent with Trinity, which was awesome. Also, there’s the whole trying it for the first time thing that also adds some time. Plus, we were kikiing the whole time (or “having a conversation,” for those unfamiliar with “kiki”), which was likely the bulk of the time spent when it came to putting on the full face.
Still, eyebrows alone take time to dry and multiple applications of the glue. I had some serious oatmeal brow by the time it was over (see above), but I gave it my best effort and also assume the clearance glue I got from the 99-cent store didn’t really help my case much, either.
2. It’s really hard
It doesn’t matter if you have one of the best drag queens out there by your side to guide you, doing drag makeup is hard. There is a lot of different detail that goes into it, from little pieces of highlight in certain spots to using tape to find your lines (which, to be fair, is not actually something we did in this particular process.)
Trinity would say, “Don’t put too much,” and I would do my best to go light and still put too much. She taught me how she put her eyebrows on and I still looked like an angry cartoon witch next to a perfectly plucked princess. I knew I would look this way, which was also part of the point of the interview. I wanted it to be funny, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I already knew it would be a challenge.
3. It takes an insane amount of talent
This is really just a reiteration of saying it’s hard, but it goes even deeper than the makeup. That was all I did, but I couldn’t imagine trying to put together or create a look that would go on top of it. I wouldn’t know how to sew to save my life and I have a hard enough time as it is dressing myself out of drag. Since I’m 6’6, I trust that it would be just as difficult to find women’s clothing that fits as it is for me to find men’s, but that’s a separate issue.
Truthfully, even knowing that it takes a lot of talent from the queens going into this, simply doing my makeup put a whole new perspective on what it actually means to do drag and be a drag queen. What they do is nothing short of spectacular talent, and Trinity is a prime example of what that means.
4. Practice makes perfect
“You just have to practice” is a term Trinity repeated a lot during our time together. When it came to eyebrows, eyeliner, blush, shadow, highlight, lips, eyebrow covering, contour — so, basically the entire thing.
She’s not wrong though, and a lot of that practice comes down to learning the lines of your own face. That’s one main reason it’s still difficult to apply perfect makeup when someone guides you through it, because if you don’t know the ins and outs of your face shape, you won’t know how to really properly apply what you need to. Cheekbones and nose shapes especially are some of the main areas I’m not completely familiar with, which contributed to my relatively horrific final product.
5. Product Does Matter
Okay, I mean, it should go without saying that makeup purchased at a 99-cent store “everything must go” clearance sale isn’t going to be the best decision for perfect makeup from the start. I get that. I knew it wouldn’t be great product, because I knew I couldn’t afford even halfway decent stuff, for the most part.
But the mascara was tar. Literal tar. So much so that I struggled to even open the lid off of it and had to forego the idea of mascara altogether. It also made a heavy contribution to the wild oatmeal brow I landed with, which steadily got worse over the two hours we were together. Even though the discount 99-cent product “works,” it’s not the hit if you ever want something that lasts. Or looks good.
6. The company you keep is important
Listen, Trinity is a hoot. And I’ll be honest, watching it back, there were a lot of places I was angry at myself for not reacting more to things she said. I’m a writer, so I internalize a lot of my reactions. I was also doing drag makeup for the first time so I was concentrating on at least giving it some effort while also holding the conversation and keeping my questions ready so it could continue and all sorts of things. Like, zero outward reaction to Trinity telling me the beef storyline between her and Gia in All Stars 4 about Caitlyn Jenner was all fabricated. Inside, I was freaking out, but I need to be better about bringing that out so the people I’m talking to know I’m hanging onto their every word, and the people who watch have more to hold onto, too.
Quick self-pity aside, Trinity did also talk about some people she wasn’t as big of a fan of, and it’s important to know your boundaries and hang with the people who bring out the best of you. Fans of Trinity know she’s all about supporting her friends and other queens, which is another reason I love her so much.
7. It’s a lot of fun, even if you look busted
Trinity is definitely a pageant queen, friends, because she had the most respectful reaction to the busted result of my first attempt at drag. My inner queen, if you didn’t watch, is named Mz. Bacca, which is short for Mrs. Chewbacca because I’m hairy. Mz. Bacca also has a nickname of “Chewbacca the Tuck” now that she has been inducted into Haus Tuck, but boy did she look bad when she first appeared in the world.
Still, it was a really fun and liberating experience. I learned a lot about Trinity, about her career, about the inner workings of Drag Race, and what really goes into making a drag queen. I came in as a fan, but I left the experience having more respect for her than I already did, more admiration for her than I already did, and more appreciation for her than I already did.
Here’s to hoping somebody else will be as amazing as Trinity and give me another chance to do this again.
