Beauty Marked – A review

“Beauty Marked” is the debut album from American drag queen, Miss Fame. The album was released 9 June and has since had two singles, “Rubber Doll” and “Instafame”. Miss Fame has always been relatively popular due to her YouTube channel. She is an accomplished make up artist and there are many tutorials available on her channel. Her popularity rose further when she appeared on season 7 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that she blew us (and the other queens of her season) out of the water. I loved Miss Fame while she was on RPDR. She served us couture and elegance every week on the runway. However, her personal interviews showed us a goofier side to her and that the cosmic queen could be down to earth too.

I did not think she was much of a singer or songwriter. I was thoroughly impressed when I found out that she had written all of the songs on “Beauty Marked” bar co-writing “Miss Fame” with Alaska 5000 and “I Run The Runway” with her fashionista sister, Violet Chachki. Listening to each of the songs you can tell that she did write them. If y’all didn’t know Fame is a brand before, you do now. Seriously though, I love how she truly encapsulated her personality into her album. Her love for outer space, glamour and couture really shines through.

“Beauty Marked” gives us a great variety of styles of music. It does stick within the borders of pop and dance. However, I feel there is a balance of songs you’d dance to in the club and ambient, slow songs to relax to.

In all honesty, there may be one I don’t like as much as the rest, but there isn’t a bad song on this album. My top three would be “All We Are Is Magic”, “Diamond Life” and “Miss Fame”. I completely live for the 90’s style beat that kicks in during the chorus of “Diamond Life”.

I would give this album a 4.5 rating for sure. In my opinion, this is some of the best music that a Drag Racer has ever produced. Drag queens’ music is notorious for its use of cheesy beats and heavy auto-tune but neither is evident in “Beauty Marked”.

Season 7 round up post!

Hiiiieeee kitty girls! Sorry for my incredibly long absence from this blog. Uni had me very busy with group projects and deadlines and I abandoned my personal ramblings. Now it’s the summer and I hope to go back to posting a lot more content again.

To be frank with you guys, I wasn’t gagging over this season like I had over previous seasons. Honestly I can’t put my finger on why. The challenges were good (maybe not as diverse as they could have been) and there were some strong personalities amongst the queens.

Pre-season, without knowing much about the contestants, I had chosen Pearl, Jaidynn and Katya as my ones to watch. Post season however this is no longer the case. I still like all of these queens. Jaidynn’s revelation that he had yet to come out to his family was heartbreaking. Her social media presence makes me like her even more. She showed real growth on the show.

I know I may get a lot of backlash for this one, but lets talk about Pearl. Pearl is a great queen. Her looks were always on point. She also had a very likable personality reminiscent of Adore from the previous season. As much as I liked her, I also had the same problem with Adore. I just felt she was a strong personality but she coasted through a lot of the challenges. She had her moments but overall I didn’t find her that funny. Props to her and Trixie though for their conjoined queens look and character.

As I previously said, I loved the challenges this season. I thought they were very unique and pushed the boundaries of the drag we are so used to seeing. However, I don’t feel these challenges were right for the cast they chose. In a season were half of the cast are fashion queens why would they make 80% of the challenges comedy/acting based? That one really threw me.

It made for a lot of cringey viewing when the queens were forced to be funny and it really didn’t come across as funny. In addition to this, there were a lot of group work challenges and I don’t feel that we got to see each of the queens individual skills. Looking back there were only two episodes that had solo challenges.

This brings me onto our season 7 winner, Violet Chachki. Condragulations henny! Personally I was rooting for Ginger Minj. However, I do see how Violet is a strong competitor but I don’t feel she was allowed to showcase it on the show. There was one fashion challenge were the queens had to make an outfit.

The Hello Kitty couture that she produced was stunning and really well crafted. The only reason I’m unhappy with her being crowned is that, based on the season alone, she wasn’t portrayed in the best light. Hopefully now I will see a lot more of what she has to offer.

Last but not least, this seasons fans have been the shadiest bunch of bitches ever. Actually, it’s not even being shady, it’s just being a nasty human being. This really annoyed me throughout the season. Yes people are entitled to an opinion but it doesn’t mean you should always use it. If you have nothing constructive to say, maybe re-think saying it at all.

Queens see some of these messages and I’m sure it hurts when they do. I have an outsiders knowledge of the drag world. Just because I’ve seen every episode of drag race does not mean Ru is gonna raise me up and make me a drag professor.

These girls have earned their spot on drag race and for you to sit at home and disregard all the hard work and money they have put in to getting there is hugely disrespectful.

I’d just like to remind you all that these are only my personal opinions and I just wanted to share them with you all 🙂

Christmas Cabaret with Daisy and her Diamonds!

Daisy Diamond is back with another year of festive cabaret. This Sunday coming, she will be taking to the stage in Tiny with her sparkling dance troupe! Diasy and her Diamonds will be performing some of the greatest Christmas classics in aid of raising some money for Middlesbrough Community Pride.

One pound of every £2 entrance fee will be donated and there will be other activities such as a raffle and a best dressed competition.

I spoke with Daisy to get a feel for her cabaret act and to see what she has planned. She says, ‘We design our own numbers with three key factors in mind. Intricate choreography, humour and audience participation.

This isn’t the first cabaret show I’ve done. The Diamonds and I have performed our Christmas show for three years running now. I’ve been all over the place doing cabaret for four years.’

The group have been practicing their routines for three weeks now in preparation for the big night on Sunday 21st. She tells me, ‘People can always expect more than just a lip sync. A night truly filled with dancing and laughter.’

Daisy says she has a very hectic schedule at this time of year and it sometimes keeps her working right up until Christmas Day. She tells me what Christmas is like with her when she finally gets a moment to savour it.

‘Christmas in my house is always hectic! Until Christmas day comes and I finally get to relax a bit. I have a lot of bookings at this time of year so it seems that all I get to do is work and sleep. However, it is always jolly and festive!’

For you local people, catch Daisy and her Diamonds cabaret show Sunday 21st in Tiny. Guaranteed night of campy fabulous-ness!

Juju Inspired Make Up

Due to technical difficulties I will not be able to post a video kittens 😦 I am so sorry but I have tried everything possible to fix it. Some of the clips that I recorded don’t work in the editing software I use.

I can watch them in Windows Media Player and VLC but when I try to put them into Adobe Premiere an error comes up. I don’t understand what’s wrong with it but I apologise profusely.

I will upload a few more photos and include a list of the products used to achieve a Juju look but this is the best I can do.

Face

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection foundation – Honey shade

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder – Light

Translucent medium brown eye shadow – Contour

Light pink cream highlight

Rimmel Sun Shimmer bronzing powder – Light/Matte

Rimmel Lasting Finish blush – Santa Rose

Eyes

Sunkissed Bronze Eye Palette

Collection 2000 Fast Stroke liquid eyeliner – Black

Maybelline Expert Eyes eyeliner pencil – Black

Biggest pair of false lashes you can find

Rimmel X Volume Mascara Flash – Black

Lips

Collection 2000 Lip Butter Crayon – Cappucino 2 shade

Any clear lip gloss

Hope you find this useful guys and again, I’m sorry for the lack of video. Feel free to comment if you think I missed something or you have critiques of the final look 🙂

Juju’s look has a lot of nude and neutral colours.

Don’t forget that deep, cutting contour!

Thank you World of Wonder!

Oh my god! It’s happened! It’s finally happened! I’d been talking to friends about the possibility of this for weeks. Someone finally answered my wishes 🙂

All I can say is, it’s about god damn time! Someone finally give Miss Bianca Del Rio her own show. ‘Really Queen?’ is a new web series produced by the big wigs behind drag race, World of Wonder. This channel seriously gives me life. I tune in every week to see Raven and Delta (usually Raja) read recent photos of RPDR queens.

Bianca’s show seems to be about reading too. There seem’s to be a recurring theme here. Because what children? Reading is fundamental!

The first episode is about Alyssa Edwards. That bitch is a human caricature. Oh I say that with love of course. I do love me some Alyssa but it’s mostly because of those ‘Really queen?’ moments.

And gurl you betta know Bianca ain’t holding back on anyone. She says, “The check is cashed, so I’m gonna say what I want! Uncensored!”. Watch the hilarious debut here.

Jujubee Inspired Make Up

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since my last post but I have been revising hard for exams. A law exam at that 😦 It was tough going chica’s but I hope I’ve passed! Anyways, I did get a chance to film another one of my amateur drag looks. This time I chose season 2 finalist, Jujubee.

Words cannot describe how much I love Jujubee. I thought she was one of the funniest ho’s of her season. I do not stand alone in my love for Juju as she was made a contestant on the All Stars season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Juju did something for a young child recently that really pulled on my heart strings. The youngster has been bullied for years due to not conforming to one gender. He had never met anyone who was like him before and Juju asked him if he was her ‘little princess boy’.

He replied yes with a huge smile on his face. His mother commented on how just meeting someone like Jujubee has made such a positive impact on his life.

Seeing the queens in this kind of spotlight really warms my heart. It reminds me that under all the lacefronts and all of the make up that their is a real person under there. Drag queens have much more of a purpose than to entertain. They are mentors for some and idols for others.

They remind us, queen or not, that it’s okay to be different and do your own thing. As long as you’re happy and not hurting anyone then who cares what others think.

Juju is an amazing queen and I hope I have done her some justice with my make-up look inspired by her! Here’s a sneak peak. Video coming soon 😀

P.S. No-one can read a bitch like Juju can, the library will always be open for her.

Jujubee Realness?

New Queens! *cough* fresh meat *cough*

All has been revealed chickens! The full line up of the season 7 cast was announced last night at the NewNowNext Awards with this teaser. And honey, they done gave us 14 new queens. I am absolutely thrilled! All of them look so good!

I have no idea yet who is going to be the first to go home or whose top 3 material. Ahhhh it’s all so exciting! I didn’t want to spoil it for myself but I had to check out some of the queen’s who will be gracing our screens in January.

Season 7 cast of Ru Paul’s Drag Race

I mean come on, look at them all! Polished to perfection! How is Mama Ru ever going to tell any of these girls to sashay away?

Personal favourites of mine include Miss Fame (2nd from left). The bitch has only had her YouTube channel for just over a year and she has already accumulated over 2 million subscribers.

This is probably credited to how well she can beat a face in a variety of different ways. Check out her channel to understand why she will be fierce competition for the rest of the girls.

Another one who looks interesting is Pearl (blonde in the middle with the high waisted trousers). She has a beautiful doll-like aesthetic that is mesmerizing to look at.

She is a relatively new queen so I don’t know much about her apart from she is based in Chicago and is an excellent performer to a variety of styles of music. Maybe her not being so well known will work in her favour. Nobody will suspect it and then BAM! she knocks it out of the park. Only time will tell…

Katya’s (3rd from left) another one to watch. People are saying her style is similar to Willam Belli’s of season 4. I like Willam but damn the bitch just talked about the shows she was in for like 70% of her season. It really got on my nerves but Katya is not an actress. So hopefully we can have all the positives of Willam’s style with drowning in name dropping.

Last, but not least, we have Jaidynn Diore Fierce. This is the bitch that will bring the sass to the competition! She has her eyes on the prize by claiming, “I gots some coins to win, and a nice crown to be on top of my head.” This plus size pop princess is ready for the competition!

Those are just my favourites for the mean time. However, once it starts then my opinion could be swayed. I will hopefully be posting weekly updates once the season starts so stay tuned hunties!

Who’s That Queen? – Daisy Diamond

As I said in my description, I want to showcase some of the talented queens we have right here in Middlesbrough. I took myself down to the local gay bar, Tiny, and discovered Miss Daisy Diamond.

I say discovered loosely, Daisy has been in the drag line of work for a few years now and has performed at her own shows and many Gay Pride events.

Daisy was great to work with. She was very accommodating and honest in her question answering. Plus check her face. The beat is so on point. She is part of a group of drag queens who go by the name of the Satur-Gay sisters.

You will always find at least one of them in Tiny on a Saturday ready to greet the customers and DJ later on the night.

Here is a short video feature on Daisy and how she came to be the woman she is today!

Adore Delano inspired make up!

Hey everyone! Here is the video for my Adore Delano inspired make up 🙂 Have a look and see what you think. I would love to hear all of your feedback in the comments. It was my first time doing drag make up though so be nice!

Here is a link to the video. Enjoy kittens!

The big Ru-veal!

Hello my darlings! Remember my last post was about January being confirmed as the air date for season 7? Well it doesn’t stop there. Logo (American channel which airs Drag Race) announced that they will be showcasing the cast of season 7.

This amazing announcement comes after the NewNowNext Awards which go out on December 7. The excitement is all too real children. Not only is it Christmas (my favourite holiday ever), but Mama Ru is delivering us all an early gift! Twelve new queens (fingers crossed)!