I grunt as I fail to fully cover my eyebrows for the third time in a row, the computer screen lighting my face in the dark living room. A woman explaining for the umpteenth time how to properly cover the brow fills the room. My roommates giggle ad talk incoherently around me as I stare fervently in the mirror thinking to myself, I've already wasted twenty minutes of my life doing this, should I just give up? I shake the thought and realize if I were a real drag queen I wouldn't have those thoughts. If I had the added pressure of a judged performance in an hour what would I feel? 

 

          Pushing through, I finally result in covering my eyebrows haphazardly. I realize what a difficult and time-consuming task I just undertook. I haven't even started my base layers for carving out a face! How long is this going to take? I had been struggling the whole time with eyebrows, the very first step! Luckily the excess amount of foundation around my now strangely visibly blocked brows was enough to fully cover my skin and neck. I play the next tutorial, as I scrounge around in the dimly lit room for the makeup products I placed around me to complete my look. Grabbing the setting powder I start powdering my face as plumes of white dust fly out around me. One roommate laughs out, "Casper the friendly ghost!" I had grabbed the lightest powder and not the neutral, leaving me looking more ghostly than human. Sighing followed closely behind a light laugh I continue with the mistake, grabbing my contouring stick. Another roommate, Vera, pipes up and says, "Remember to make it very defined." For some reason, the gears in my brain cranked out giant harsh, brown lines on both cheekbones and my jaw causing my contour to become more dirt-like than carved. My newly made eyebrows ended up the same until I took out my eyeliner to redraw the ends...then filling it in entirely. 

 

          I pry open my eyeshadow kit and use a light pink blush to add some color back into my cheeks while seeing what eyeshadows I could use. Vera says, "Do green and yellow eyeshadow Lauren, that'll be really cool!" I agree and start with a dark green to outline the areas I plan to fill in, each eyebrow hair catching onto the brush as I went along. I smack the table I was sitting by with an unknowing elbow, causing green to land everywhere onto the table. Haley, the third roommate, giggles and continues playing on her phone in the chair across from me. I fumble for my eyeliner again, thoroughly done with the greens. At this moment I decided to make one eye upside down and the other right-side up, later on, deciding to also create faux-freckles and a little heart on my cheeks. Maybe I had gone insane with eyeliner. When I looked at my face in the mirror, I realized that my heavy-handed eyeliner had been a mistake. Grunting again and mumbling about how much I hate it under my breath, all three roommates say how much they like it and it looks cool as is. I question this but appreciate it nonetheless. Next up, eyelashes. With my upside down and right side up plan already in motion, I decided to put on eyelash upside down and one right side up on the respective eyes and hoped they stick. I had successfully applied my lashes! Soon after realizing their shiny silver hairs reflected the light into my eyes enough for tears to trickle. I was so close, I knew there was only one thing left to do, my favorite part, lips. Grabbing my favorite bold metallic copper red lip and creating lips so large and dramatic to satisfy my urge to ruin this full face of makeup. My face had already taken enough of a beating and I knew it couldn't handle another layer. I walked into my room, grabbed my biggest blonde curly wig and a cute dress with heels, to complete my entire look.  

 

          Even though I had hated the frustrating two-hour process when I looked into my bedroom mirror, I didn't hate the outcome. Although it wasn't fantastic, I was proud that I had tried and completed my original task. My frustrations melted as I strut out of my room to reveal the outcome to my three roommates who watched the entire makeup journey play out. They oohed and awed while giggling at my overzealous posing.

 

          I went through a similar experience for my final version and realized how much more confident I had gotten and understood the do's and don'ts so much more. The final look only took about one and a half hours to complete. This resulted in me completing a more competent look, albeit only being able to do half of my face due to an accident I had at work (let's just say, wood in the eye is quite uncomfortable). It made me understand how confident drag queens are and exactly why they should be confident. They deserve to be for the amazing skills they have and honed to create such new and complex looks every time they strut down the catwalk! 

​

          Drag Queens are a group unlike any other. The definition of drag is simple and general and doesn't show justice to all the varieties of drag there is out in the world. Hell drag isn't even just for men! There are drag queens and non-gender-conforming drag too! In a world where society outcasts the strange and weird it is beautiful to see something so amazing open up to everything, there could be out there. It is an art form, self-expression, lifestyle, and way of life for so many.

 

          Drag falls away from the labels of gender, sexuality, and all those confusing things, it's all one huge celebration of being the most beautifully creative you or a character. As stated by Lili Frost in QNotes, "It is important to understand that drag is not gender identity. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people are not drag kings or drag queens. However, these gender identities may choose to also be a drag queen, drag king, or any self-expressive spectrum of a masculine/feminine performer."  Another quote I also agree with is from a closeted stance, "There has been a huge misconception that all the drag performers are homosexuals, or is misguided an activity only for people in the LGBT community. They are farther from the truth, as the drag community does not restrict to any gender norms or sexual orientation. It can be easily described as wearing a costume and living the character, just as actors do in movies and theatre performances."

​

​

Closeted Stance. “Drag Culture: The Art of Self-Expression.” Closeted Stance, Closeted 

              Stance, 12 June 2020, www.closetedstance.com/post/drag-culture-the-art-of-self-

              expression.

​Deron, Bernadette. From Shakespeare To The Stonewall: The History Of Drag Through 33

             Images. 15 Dec. 2018, allthatsinteresting.com/history-of-drag-queens. 

​

Frost, Buff Faye & Lilli. “Exploring the World of Drag.” QNotes, 12 July 2019,

             goqnotes.com/63312/exploring-the-world-of-drag/. 

​

​

​

          Second Draft (11/10/2020):

​

I grunt as I fail to fully cover my eyebrows for the third time in a row, the computer screen lighting my face in the dark living room. A woman explaining for the umpteenth time how to properly cover the brow fills the room. My roommates giggle ad talk incoherently around me as I stare fervently in the mirror thinking to myself, I've already wasted twenty minutes of my life doing this, should I just give up? I shake the thought and realize if I were a real drag queen I wouldn't have those thoughts. If I had the added pressure of a judged performance in an hour what would I feel? 

 

Pushing through, I finally result in covering my eyebrows haphazardly. I realize what a difficult and time-consuming task I just undertook. I haven't even started my base layers for carving out a face! How long is this going to take? I had been struggling the whole time with eyebrows, the very first step! Luckily the excess amount of foundation around my now strangely visibly blocked brows was enough to fully cover my skin and neck. I play the next tutorial, as I scrounge around in the dimly lit room for the makeup products I placed around me to complete my look. Grabbing the setting powder I start powdering my face as plumes of white dust fly out around me. One roommate laughs out, "Casper the friendly ghost!" I had grabbed the lightest powder and not the neutral, leaving me looking more ghostly than human. Sighing followed closely behind a light laugh I continue with the mistake, grabbing my contouring stick. Another roommate, Vera, pipes up and says, "Remember to make it very defined." For some reason, the gears in my brain cranked out giant harsh, brown lines on both cheekbones and my jaw causing my contour to become more dirt-like than carved. My newly made eyebrows ended up the same until I took out my eyeliner to redraw the ends...then filling it in entirely. 

 

I pry open my eyeshadow kit and use a light pink blush to add some color back into my cheeks while seeing what eyeshadows I could use. Vera says, "Do green and yellow eyeshadow Lauren, that'll be really cool!" I agree and start with a dark green to outline the areas I plan to fill in, each eyebrow hair catching onto the brush as I went along. I smack the table I was sitting by with an unknowing elbow, causing green to land everywhere onto the table. Haley, the third roommate, giggles and continues playing on her phone in the chair across from me. I fumble for my eyeliner again, thoroughly done with the greens. At this moment I decided to make one eye upside down and the other right-side up, later on, deciding to also create faux-freckles and a little heart on my cheeks. Maybe I had gone insane with eyeliner. When I looked at my face in the mirror, I realized that my heavy-handed eyeliner had been a mistake. Grunting again and mumbling about how much I hate it under my breath, all three roommates say how much they like it and it looks cool as is. I question this but appreciate it nonetheless. Next up, eyelashes. With my upside down and right side up plan already in motion, I decided to put on eyelash upside down and one right side up on the respective eyes and hoped they stick. I had successfully applied my lashes! Soon after realizing their shiny silver hairs reflected the light into my eyes enough for tears to trickle. I was so close, I knew there was only one thing left to do, my favorite part, lips. Grabbing my favorite bold metallic copper red lip and creating lips so large and dramatic to satisfy my urge to ruin this full face of makeup. My face had already taken enough of a beating and I knew it couldn't handle another layer. I walked into my room, grabbed my biggest blonde curly wig and a cute dress with heels, to complete my entire look.  

 

Even though I had hated the frustrating two-hour process when I looked into my bedroom mirror, I didn't hate the outcome. Although it wasn't fantastic, I was proud that I had tried and completed my original task. My frustrations melted as I strut out of my room to reveal the outcome to my three roommates who watched my entire ordeal play out. They oohed and awed while giggling at my overzealous posing.

 

I went through a similar experience for my final version and realized how much more confident I had gotten and understood the do's and don'ts so much more. This resulted in me completing a more competent look, albeit only being able to do half of my face due to an accident I had at work (let's just say, wood in the is not a great time). It made me understand how confident drag queens are and exactly why they should. They deserve to be after the amazing skills they have and honed to create such new and complex ooks every day! 

​

1. Drag Queens are a group unlike any other. The definition of drag is simple and general and doesn't show justice to all the varieties of drag there is out in the world. Hell drag isn't even just for men! There are drag queens and non-gender-conforming drag too! In a world where society outcasts the strange and weird it is beautiful to see something so amazing open up to everything, there could be out there. It is an art form, self-expression, lifestyle, and way of life for so many.

 

2. (Ice-Ice) Drag falls away from the labels of gender, sexuality, and all those confusing things, it's all one huge celebration of being the most beautifully creative you or a character. As stated by Lili Frost in QNotes, "It is important to understand that drag is not gender identity. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people are not drag kings or drag queens. However, these gender identities may choose to also be a drag queen, drag king, or any self-expressive spectrum of a masculine/feminine performer."  Another quote I also agree with is from a closeted stance, "There has been a huge misconception that all the drag performers are homosexuals, or is misguided an activity only for people in the LGBT community. They are farther from the truth, as the drag community does not restrict to any gender norms or sexual orientation. It can be easily described as wearing a costume and living the character, just as actors do in movies and theatre performances."

​

​

*Didn't know I was supposed to save drafts so the first draft is lost*

​