For Makeup that Performs, Look to Drag Queens

It almost sounds almost naive to say that the underground performance artists known as drag queens are in no small part responsible for the 21st century beauty boom, i.e. contouring, cut creases and maybe Kim Kardashian.

But the truth is that drag has infiltrated popular culture in almost every way, from pop star imagery to Hollywood franchises to the way we present ourselves. If RuPaul’s famous catchphrase is a cliché, it’s only because it’s true enough to be rote: You’re born naked, and the rest is drag.

“You see people wearing lashes on a daily basis,” said the makeup artist David Petruschin, better known by her drag alter ego Raven. “You see people at a fast food window who are completely contoured and highlighted.”

Some queens are only just beginning to cash in. A newly created pipeline, powered in large part by RuPaul Charles’ “Drag Race” universe, which is owned and operated by production company World of Wonder, has delivered some performers to mainstream business success as the faces, formulators and founders of makeup brands.

These businesses take on a variety of structures. Mo-Beauty, by the drag queen Mo Heart, is produced by Gostrider, a consumer goods portfolio which owns a majority stake. The Barbiesque Trixie Mattel owns her label Trixie Cosmetics outright, which staffs about nine employees in an office in Burbank, California; it’s one of many of Mattel’s projects, including shows, a Palm Springs motel and a show about said motel. But both beauty businesses are small compared to competitor brands, and sold only via e-commerce.

Then there’s Kimchi Chic, founded by the Korean-American drag queen Kim Chi, and the most successful makeup venture to come out of the Drag Race universe to date. The brand has scaled up to $20 million in annual revenue, said a person with knowledge of the company’s finances, driven by far and wide distribution — the brand launched in CVS in 2022, came to Amazon in 2024 and has grown explosively on TikTok Shop in the past year.

Success depends on good partners. Chi had an early one in Nyx Cosmetics and Bespoke Beauty Brands founder Toni Ko, who approached the queen about partnering on a makeup line in 2019. On its face, putting a drag queen in the seat of a makeup company could be seen as a bankable strategy: Who among professionals better understands both the art and performance of cosmetics?

On the other hand, the strategy is not without risk, as drag queens have become targets in the greater culture war. Their default association with progressive politics gives these brands more volatility than typical celebrity or influencer-led ventures.

For these brands, that’s the point, not the problem. “We will always champion our drag community,” said Stacey Tank, the chief executive of Bespoke Beauty Brands, “in every way that we can.”

Partner Up

“Most drag and cosmetics careers intersect,” said Raven, who in her early career worked at the MAC Cosmetics counter by day and performed in clubs by night. But she quit the counter to focus on one-on-one clients after discovering she didn’t have the merchant’s heart. “It was hard for me to find the balance between selling and artistry,” she sighed.

If RuPaul is the face of drag, it’s painted by Raven, who became the diva’s makeup artist after impressing her with her technique as a contestant on season three of “Drag Race.” She estimates she has put Charles in drag between 400 and 500 times — now she hosts a World of Wonder show called Painted With Raven. The two have MAC Cosmetics in common, with the elder queen kicking off MAC’s Viva Glam campaign benefitting AIDS research in 1994. (The brand was acquired by the Estée Lauder Companies the same year.)

The first season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” produced by World of Wonder for the Logo TV channel, attracted a fair share of LGBTQ friendly corporate sponsors; the final four contestants made dresses inspired by Absolut vodka flavors. The show’s initial beauty sponsor was Ko’s Nyx Cosmetics, but Anastasia Beverly Hills took over in season 7. RuPaul bellows the brand name in the intro of every episode, thanks to Claudia “Norvina” Soare, the company’s president, daughter of founder Anastasia Soare and “Drag Race” fan, who initiated the partnership.

Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, the founders of World of Wonder, said they didn’t have a sense of how successful the partnership has been. “I feel like there’s been mutual growth with both their brand and our brand,” Barbato offered. But “it’s equally or more exciting to watch [sponsors] look at queens as viable and serious partners for their businesses.”

These partnerships are key to drag businesses — everybody needs the Raven to their RuPaul. Kimchi Chic has found a great partner in Bespoke Beauty Brands, which has leveraged its founder’s charisma on TikTok Shop to drive sales growth. CEO Tank said that founder Chi drives sales in part through “megalives,” hourslong streams with product demonstrations and special guests.

“TikTok Shop was a game changer for us,” Tank said. The app is a hotbed of users in their teens, 20s and 30s who are perfectly targeted by the brand’s accessibly priced products; the hero Stage Proof setting spray, she points out, is $16.

Tank said this year, the brand intends to be even more disciplined with its capital, with the aim of reinvesting money in product development. “Innovation is queen in beauty,” Tank said, adding that TikTok provides a live 24/7 focus group. “We develop products and launch them, many of them, just off the back of TikTok Shop and TikTok feedback.”

Audrey Napoleon, whose portfolio is called Gostrider Brands, tapped Mo Heart of “Drag Race” to create Mo Beauty, which launched in 2021. Napoleon’s background in the music industry left her with an affection for helping performers build viable second income streams, even if doing so extends beyond Gostrider’s purview.

“If Mo ever comes [to me] and she’s like, ‘Covergirl called me and said they’re gonna give me X amount of dollars to do this,’ we’re saying, ‘Girl, go do that.’” Napoleon said.

You Better Work

Napoleon’s insight reveals an underside to the drag boom: Performers have become products too. Those with good partners can find footing, but many are going it alone. As the world’s drag stage continues to crowd, it takes investment to stand out.

Most queens revenue streams come primarily from club tips, though the “Drag Race” universe has helped some access the opportunities of influencers and RuPaul-level celebrity. By contrast, a single pageant gown can cost a couple thousand dollars, to say nothing of wigs and jewellery.

The expenses multiply for queens in the “Drag Race” universe, many of whom are plucked from the club circuit but must arrive to their TV debuts with full, camera-ready wardrobes. Lexi Love, a long-limbed drag queen from Kentucky in the US and finalist on the most recent season of “Drag Race,” took out a second mortgage to, as she put it to Pride Today’s Ricky Cornish, “gag you on these runways.”

Love estimates she spends about $1,000 a month on makeup; not as an indulgence, but an occupational hazard. “I can’t go out with, like, Chapstick and mascara!” she cried.

It’s true that the beauty industry continues to offer meaningful support to the drag community. (While Love didn’t take home the show’s grand prize of $100,000, she was “tipped” $10,000 by Anastasia Beverly Hills.) But there’s room for more, and not just in the context of “Drag Race” or the month of June.

“Drag is inherently entrepreneurial,” Bailey said. “People put on a suit and go to work on Wall Street, drag queens puts on a wig and go to perform. Often, drag artists show a keener sense of innovation and a stronger intuition about their audience. They are sharp, and they are real leaders in the field.”

Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.