The Best Long-Lasting Products and Makeup Kit Essentials, According to Drag Performers (2024)

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There is no one who knows makeup the way a drag queen knows makeup. Drag artistry of any variety requires very specific needs from products, particularly durability. From sweat-resistant foundation, to durable lash glue that will stay on during an entire performance, to setting spray that’ll lock a look in through stunts, splits, and kicks, having a custom drag kit tailored to a performer's individual needs is essential. All of these tools are used differently in the hands of each entertainer to craft the show stopping mugs you see onstage.

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Sometimes this includes well-known, established make-up brands that you can get at your local beauty store, but other times, it’s convenience store finds, or more unconventional materials that make a look pop. Some performers use milk of magnesia as a primer for makeup. Others use cornmeal flour to help “bake” your highlight. Drag entertainers are, if anything, resourceful and can serve a look MacGyver-style. But favorites and oddballs aside, all of the pieces come together to make a full drag kit, or collection of products performers use to craft their onstage personas.

I've chatted with some of my fellow drag entertainers about the products they love and some others that are more “if you know you know” items. Read on down below for a complete drag kit you can shop, assembled by some of drag’s best.

Eyeshadow palette

Almost every entertainer starts out with an eyeshadow palette — typically the cheaper ones with 24+ shadows, four of which you’ll actually use because too many are lacking in pigment or oversaturated with shimmer. The key to picking out a good palette is to choose shadows you’ll actually use that you can utilize to craft a ton of looks, from glam cut creases to even facial hair.

I’m really in love with any Juvia’s Place eyeshadow palette, especially the Chocolates, Warrior, and Berries palettes. They’re pigmented and last long, but they can also be used for so much: shadows, blush, contour, etc. Plus it’s a Black-owned brand!

The Chocolates Palette

$15.00, Juvias' Place

Eyeshadows can, of course, be used on far more than the eyes, making them a drag kit essential to crafting looks far beyond creating green cut creases. Rusty Hammer, a Boston-based drag king, uses Kryolan Supracolor shadows to craft his iconic facial hair.

“I use a custom palette put together with everything I need for my face, particularly my signature five o’clock shadow, with very few extras, and a corresponding color powder palette,” Hammer tells Them.

Supracolor Mini-Palette 16 Colors

$35.00, Kryolan

Eyeliner pens

Eyes are often the focus of the face in drag and eyeliner helps dress and accentuate a character, helping make each drag performer’s face more individual (i.e. Trixie Mattel’s eye-conic cat eye liner). You might wonder, why not just use a traditional liner, but eyeliner pens give you more bang for your buck because you can use them for many things outside of the eyes: facial hair, moles, lip liner, graphic elements, etc. Again, products with versatility are a must in your basic kit.

Epic Ink Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

$10.00, NYX Cosmetics

I personally am a fan of the NYX eyeliner marker, which you can use for brows, lips, and other artistic flourishes, but other queens have their own favorites.

“My favorite makeup item is the Revlon ‘Color Stay Sharp Line’ eyeliner pen,” The Vixen, a New Orleans-based drag performer, tells Them. “It’s perfect for a fierce wing tip or cool designs like leopard print or spider webs!”

ColorStay Sharp Line Liquid Eyeliner Pen

$9.00, Revlon

Lash Glue

If eyes are the windows of the face, lashes are the curtains that help accentuate the frames. Sometimes you see a performer's lashes before you see the rest of them, and the bigger the lashes the stronger that glue has to be.

Salon Pro White Hair Bonding Glue

$6.00, Amazon

“Weave bond as eyelash glue,” Lucy Stoole recommends. “The white kind dries clear and it’s sweat-proof (great for brunch days).” And she’s not wrong — I know many queens who live by the tried and true weave bond adhesive for lashes. Personally, I find that weave bonds often expand too much to my liking, so I stick to LaFlare eyelash glues, dark for lashes and white or clear to put in my eyeshadow crease to add glitter.

Foundation

Like any strong structure — or, in this case, iconic makeup look — you absolutely need a strong foundation to support the highlights, contours, creams, and powder piled on top. As queen of color, finding a foundation that matches my shade has always been hard, however after years of trials and tribulations, I found what works for me. I use Mehron cream foundation sticks. I use them for my base foundation, highlight, and contour and set them with powders, first with the classic Coty airspun translucent powders, then with Ben Nye products.

Mehron Makeup CreamBlend Stick

$13.00, Amazon

Setting Spray

A good setting spray will melt your look together and lock it into place without smudging or leaving big drops of product all over your place. Endurance is key to selecting a great spray, because setting your makeup is ultimately the best line of defense against streaking or running during a performance.

Ultra Setting Spray

$22.00, Kryolan

“I can go without a lot of my favorites and still have a great face but I must have my Kryolan mist setting spray,” says Lucy Stoole, a Chicago-based performer. “Nothing locks my mug in place like it!” I also suggest NYX setting sprays;. I got back and forth between the dewy and matte sprays, depending on what I’m feeling at the time.

NYX Setting Spray

$11.00, CVS

Lips

It’s all about the mouth! A drag entertainer's lips are always in motion and play a key part in a good performance. Lipstick makes a first impression and leaves one too, often covering the microphone. The size and shape of your lipstick can also determine your character. A pout will often read as more seductive or innocent, while a wider smile could come off as comical or even sinister. Your lipstick choice can determine a lot.

Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist, artist, and drag queen, tells Them that her favorite lip product is the Makeup by Mario Pro Lip Palette, which contains an array of colors and shades to mix. “I love palettes for lips because it can help cut down on total waste,” says Pattie Gonia. “Instead of having 20 different tubes of lipstick, one palette lets me create any color anytime.”

J. Cat Beauty Freedom Creator Lip Palette

$18.00, Ulta

I’ve found out that that palette has been discontinued, though Kryolan and Graftobian have comparable kits. If those are a bit out of budget, the market is littered with dupes that get that job done for just a fraction of the price like the J. Cat Beauty Freedom Creator Lip Palette.

Comfy Shoes for the Dressing Room

Whether it’s a stiletto, a pump, a boot, or a biscuit, shoes are known to cause a discussion. People like to throw shade at me, but for the past year I’ve been wearing Crocs Siren shoes as a tiptoe-around-shoe and after the gig. They’re technically still heels and they give you three to four extra inches of height because they’re platforms. But I’m not alone in my choice of shoe.

Siren Clog

$75.00, Crocs

“Some damn comfy post show slides,” Pattie Gonia says. “No one talks about the power of a good Croc or Hoka slide and they change lives. My Crocs & my Hoka slides are my life savers.”

Ora Recovery Slide 3

$60.00, Hoka

Drag is often painful, so you have to choose comfort when and where you can!

Embellishments

There are makeup essentials that are out of the box or unconsidered when putting a kit together. Beyond the creams and powders lives a world of applique-type embellishments and stones. From stickers to gem stone to little pearls, adding fun accessories to your look can make your makeup stand out. And whimsy aside, certain tools like fake freckles, star stamps, and temporary tattoo eyebrows can all be useful if you’re in a time crunch.

“I love to sneak tiny glow-in-the-dark stickers to my eye makeup,” The Vixen says. “It adds a touch of magic to my face and feels lighter than rhinestones.”

Noctilucent Face Gems

$10.00, Amazon

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