Watch Aquaria’s Guide to Looking Fabulous in Quarantine on A Zoom of One’s Own

[bright music]

Welcome to a Zoom of One's Own.

I'm Jessie, this is Puja and Naomi,

and today we're here to talk about

doing your makeup for Zoom.

And we are thrilled to be joined by someone

who can make the most out of literally any space,

the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, Aquaria.

Hello, hi everyone!

Thank you so much for Zooming with me.

This is my first Zoom by the way,

so if I'm getting anything funny, please let me know.

Okay, well, we're so happy that you're here,

christening your Zoom with us.

Right!

Aquaria, do you want to talk through

what you're going to be showing us today?

So today, obviously, from head to under bust,

I am done up in drag,

except for the glaringly obvious lip moment.

So today, we are focusing on trying to figure out

a fabulous way to feel slightly glamorous

when you're stuck at home, working on Zoom,

doing your school on Zoom,

but you wanna still throw a little color in.

I didn't realize this so, such a visual thing,

so I guess even though you can be wearing sweats,

or whatever below this frame,

you still kinda wanna express yourself up top,

so we're gonna be throwing on a fun lip today,

hopefully it's cute, I don't know how wearable it'll be.

[laughing] For depending on

what you're Zooming, but for me, it'll match,

so it'll be perfect. Okay great!

Okay so we've got, we have assembled some tools.

Yes. Totally.

How should we do this?

Okay so basically, for me when I do my lips,

they need to be right, they need to be sharp,

they need to be high impact,

and they also need to last throughout the evening,

throughout the performance,

throughout Zoomin' with your math class, okay?

So today, I also haven't been able to

get into drag for so long,

so I have tons of new products that I wanted to try, well,

I have a new product that I wanted to try out.

I've got the Haus Labs little--

Wow!

Ooh! Le Monster

matte lip crayons.

Yes, they sent these over and I think I've tried one once?

Swatched a couple, but today,

I picked out two that I think will go with this look.

One is named Destroyer, and one is named Hot Rod.

It's like a burgundy and a hot pink.

I figured it would go great with this look.

So you'll want a lipstick,

this could be a liquid to matte, whatever you want.

Whatever your favorite is,

we will go with. So start off with

the lipstick? For sure, so--

We all have our different kinds,

should we get them ready?

I know, I'm doing purple to match.

For sure, yeah, we can do a step-by-step.

Okay. So what I'm gonna do,

because I have two,

I know I didn't alert the girls to bring two,

but I'm bringing drama!

[laughs] So I'm gonna use

the darker one, which is Destroyer,

to kinda outline my lips,

and then we're gonna fill in the middle with Hot Rod

to give a little dimension.

I think these colors should work perfect,

and if they don't,

just blame it on the lighting in your Zoom setup.

I've also got a little mirror situation down here,

so pardon me if I'm looking crazy,

but I'm looking great in the mirror, so.

So basically-- If you--

I just line my lips, what's up?

If you don't have a lip liner, do you just suggest--

Then don't even get on Zoom,

if you're not gonna line your lips, get out, no.

[laughing] I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

I actually don't use like, a lip liner, hardly ever.

But I do start with an outline of my lips,

so whether that's with...

I usually wear the matte drying Jeffree Star ones,

'cause you can flip your hair all you want

and it won't go anywhere.

So I'll usually just outline it with that,

and fill it in with either a different color,

or the same color.

So this one has a kinda nice little crayon tip like that,

and I'm just gonna--

Oh my god, this is a little trickier to do on Zoom,

but very fun still, we're just going to--

And actually let me-- You said you haven't

gotten into drag in so long,

how are you staying fabulous in quarantine?

I've done drag like, I think it's been like,

this might be my fourth time gluing down an eyebrow,

which is sad but I've been able to, you know,

kinda express myself creatively in other forms and outlets.

It's been really nice kind of focusing on--

Let me get that shape kind of correct.

You know, focusing on my future,

and I've got a one-woman show that I'm working on,

kind of conceptualizing right now,

so brainstorming that has made me feel kind of fabulous.

Getting on Instagram Live every once in a while

and dancing with my fans has been really nice.

I've recently gotten into trying to put music together,

and DJ and stuff like that, so you know,

getting to be creative and--

And oop!

We still look kinda good without the light.

You look good.

You look great. It'll have to do.

I think I look a little unusual.

I'm like, uh?

The screen grabs from this,

a few people are gonna send me looking crazy.

[laughing]

So basically--

I don't look like this though!

Yeah, so I pretty much been trying to keep creative

somehow, keep busy somehow,

and just gonna pop a little more light

in there then for you.

Have you been attending or do you have any plans

to host virtual drag shows?

We actually did one with the other girls

in my management group.

We have a normally a stage show called Werq the World

that we turned into a virtual

kind of livestream entertainment moment.

That went over so well, we raised $30,000

for local drag performers or nightlife entertainers

who are in need right now because most of us

don't have any jobs anymore.

For the time-being.

So that was really successful and fun

and I've got a couple more things coming up soon

but just because I've been able to keep myself

not terribly bored through other creative means,

I haven't been able to do too many live videos.

I also don't like people normally up in my living space.

So I have to keep it very in the frame, confined,

keep it secretive, you know? Makes sense.

Yeah, I mean-- So basically what I--

Oops, pardon me.

No, no, go 'head.

I was just going to continue on.

Basically what I did here was before this kinda dried down

a little, I did one of those.

I know that doesn't work necessarily for everyone,

however, for me, wherever the bottom lip goes on the top

and the top goes on the bottom normally looks kind of decent

and it gives just enough of the cupid's bow fantasy.

If you weren't-- Fill it in?

Carved from marble by the gods, like I was,

[laughs] you might be in

a very, very tough position.

Kidding. [laughs]

But basically I'm gonna go in with the lighter shade now

and fill in anywhere that there's not too much pigment.

Okay.

Do you have any suggestions for people

who have small upper lips, A.K.A. me?

[laughs]

Do your Zoom like this?

[laughing]

No, I'm kidding.

I don't do makeup on others often

so I don't personally run into that issue too frequently.

I think it depends.

Because I mean obviously a lot of people

like the bigger lip look just in general,

but I think it's trying to figure out,

because of the third-dimension of the face as well,

you don't just wanna draw a big lip

or it may end up looking a little unnatural

because of the way your lip ripples or whatever.

So I think your best bet is just trial and error.

That's kind of how I got into doing makeup

and trying to get better with my creativity.

So I think giving it a whirl and giving it a try might--

Yeah.

Trial and error.

You might look like Pennywise a couple of the times

[laughs] but maybe by the 20th

time you'll figure it out and--

And maybe it's just the small lip life.

Some people gotta live it.

Yeah. Yep, that.

It's a small lip life.

It's a small lip life for me.

That's your new Instagram bio.

Right? I like that.

[laughing]

Now if I was, oops!

Well I still have a little product on this brush

so we're gonna go with that.

Basically I'm gonna take a small either like--

Do I have to do this?

Either an angled brush, a small concealer brush,

something to pick up a little bit of concealer.

I have the tiniest brush-- I've already got that.

In the world.

I do-- Yeah, that's

honestly perfect.

Okay.

That might be a little generous.

[laughing] Like a pinky?

You're just like, lay on it.

Let me show you what I'ma do and then

maybe you see. We'll follow you afterwards.

Basically what I do--

Let's make sure that's good lookin'!

I'm actually kind of happy with this shape

but I don't like when the corners

feel feathered or whatever.

Obviously that's not even a trend to go on,

no one's doin' that.

So what I do is I take a little bit of concealer on my brush

or whatever's being used earlier.

And I usually just go right along the sides,

mainly on the bottom.

And then that just sharpens that line up just enough.

That just changed the whole game for me.

It honestly does make--

You could look completely fine without it,

but with it it makes just the subtle difference

that I think takes your drag from

looking like you did it all mostly fine

to having that finalized last detail.

I'm actually gonna drag this side up just a little bit more.

And Aquaria, if you could name your own lipstick shade,

what would it be?

Oh my goodness.

It can be a different one. SWAK.

Like sealed with a kiss, SWAK.

But I'm sure that's definitely probably a bajillion

lipstick shades, but--

I like that. That's the first thing

that pops into my mind.

This made me look insane,

it made me look like five bees have stung

the bottom of my lip.

Your lips look great! Oh yeah, no,

if you don't look allergic to insects you're not doing drag.

I mean, this is insane!

What's just happened?

Now I know you all said that you guys were on

a desktop right now, I'm personally on my phone

so in my mind, I look like, the only goddess right now.

If this was blown up and it looked a little funnier

go to my Instagram and you can see

what it is actually supposed to look like.

You look stunning.

I'm very upset-- Definitely.

To be sharing a frame with you, it's very hard for me

to look at you and-- Oh no!

No, I'm kidding.

No, you ladies are so fabulous.

Now I gave y'all a couple of heads up on options

of how to finish this lip.

For me normally when I go to a meet and greet

I love being glossy and juicy.

That is just always something

that photographs really well for me.

Because I go just above where my regular lip line is.

The way that the gloss hits that in my mind

makes it look not as overdrawn but it almost hits it

right where you would think that a juicy lip would pop.

But when I'm performing onstage I do like to put

a coordinating glitter over top of this.

I ain't leavin' this house anytime soon,

so I think I'ma just stick to a gloss today.

And normally I love this Fenty Fussy gloss.

I could put it over a nude lip, I could put it over,

honestly, a black lip and it would still even itself out

for the most part.

However, considering the sunset fantasy,

I recently received the gloss.

It's this Jeffree Star

new somethin' somethin' called Sorcery.

And this one when I swatched it I was like,

okay, this is extremely different.

Basically the way I kind of understood this

there was so many different types of glitter in it

that it almost creates a whole rainbow effect.

So this is what I'm-- Oh wow!

Gonna be using today.

Y'all can use chapstick if you need, but--

I don't have anything like that.

I have glitter too.

You say you got a glitter?

Glossier, is that okay? Gorgeous.

I just wanna say that I'm at my parents' house in Virginia

and I would have--

They don't have the new Jeffree Star

at your parents' house?

No, no, we don't. [laughing]

Could you imagine?

I would love if my mom had Jeffree Star here.

[laughs]

So for a glitter I usually just tap it more--

You know, you wanna concentrate it more in the middle

than on the outside 'cause you don't want it to be

all through your Zoom chat.

So just-- Ooh!

A little spicy.

Oh yeah.

So since as you can tell we're a little new

to the experimental and cool beauty looks,

where would you say that someone who's just getting started

but wants to experiment with their makeup looks,

where would you say they should start?

Do you think a lip would be a good place to start?

You said do I think a what?

Do you think a lip would be a good place to start,

or just--

I mean, for me when I kind of tried to conquer

any area of creativity or art,

I kind of take it like a painting,

or how I was taught to paint.

I have a background in fine art or whatever,

so when I paint it's like you add a little bit here,

add a little bit here, so all the colors harmonize.

So in my mind, tackling the task of learning how to do

makeup, I would kind of learn it all in bits and pieces

all at once.

I wouldn't say like, let me nail this lip or nail this eye.

Obviously you can certainly do this in whatever order

you want but for me I would just kind of--

When I was younger I would just have a couple products

that I knew how to use and that was it.

So I would either do my whole face with an eyeliner

and do some crazy designs and kind of get

the technique in my wrist

of how to do liner and shapes and stuff.

You could start with eyeshadows and colors

and just make your face all sorts of different crazy colors.

I think there's a lot of different ways, or angles,

that you can take to start to begin to learn makeup,

but yeah, I mean, there's definitely no rules

and the possibilities are certainly endless.

This is your first Zoom

but I assume you've been FaceTiming with your friends.

Oh yeah, definitely FaceTime has always been a big thing

for me and my friends, even just growing up and stuff.

I definitely prefer that to a regular

even just an audio call.

I don't know if it's 'cause I like to stare at myself

[laughing] or I like just making sure

that my friends are a-okay, but definitely FaceTiming a lot.

I've tried all sorts of ways

to stay connected whether that's--

Also on FaceTime, starting a movie at the same time

and pretending like we're watching

and just texting through it or whatever.

There's definitely lots of ways that you can feel

a little more connected while still being so far removed

from life and I think trying to maintain

that friendship and that human interaction,

that's gonna be definitely a lot more beneficial

than being a recluse.

Especially if one day we're--

I keep looking out here '

'cause it's the window, it's outside.

One day hopefully we'll be able to walk outside again

and you don't wanna be starting from square one

socializing, you know?

You don't wanna lose all the hard work that you had.

You gotta Houseparty.

Yeah. What's up?

Houseparty?

Just between us, I've downloaded the app once,

I've used it once or twice, I always get the notifications

that people are in the house and I'm like,

I did not invite you, you better get out!

I just like it

'cause it's a thing-- That one's definitely fun

but it's also another one of those things

that I feel like I have a learning curve on.

I mean, I'm 24 now but it's so crazy how immediately

and how drastically everyone's had to adapt

to all these new technologies,

be them good and bad and in between.

It's just weird 'cause I'm feeling very, oh,

who is that all Billie Eilish band guy?

[laughing] What is this Zoom Zoom?

You know?

Definitely not making me feel the most

technologically advanced, but I guess you don't know it

until you try it, so here I am,

professional Zoom connoisseur.

Oh, you're killin' it!

First Zoom! For real, you're

really doing an amazing job.

I'm glad the wifi's

not jacked up. We're all thinking--

[laughing]

Same, same for me too.

Do you feel like people have been sort of sharing

weird things with you lately?

Are your friends kind of revealing more about themselves

in quarantine than you expected?

I think people are definitely a lot different right now

than they normally are.

Whether that's in a good way or a bad way.

When we get back to life I don't think we can hold

everyone super accountable for lots of weird takes

on things or odd things that they've sent you or whatever.

Personally, my friends are definitely

trying to keep the mood light, we have a couple group chats

and we're always sending the dumbest things.

I have a group chat with all the girls that I work with

from Drag Race and just the things that are in there

are beyond ridiculous.

But they're making me feel like I'm in the dressing room

getting ready for a show, which has been really nice.

My fans have been extremely creative

which has been really nice to see,

whether it's just fan art or them doing their own thing,

it comes up on my discover page so I love seeing that, and,

yeah, everybody is ticking and tocking.

Yeah.

Yeah. I'm starting to

figure that one out too but I'm still feeling very--

Oh my god I would love to see you on TikTok.

I have one because I made it, I was on tour in Australia,

it was my birthday and I personally I guess speak for myself

but I love seeing people fall, especially drag queens,

and I took a fierce, fierce slipping tumble

to the point where it was too funny to put

on my Instagram story but not quite solid enough

to put on my main feed, so I was like,

is it time to cave in?

Are we-- We're gonna do it, we're gonna do it?

Okay.

And Plastique Tiara was on that tour too

and she's very big on TikTok, so I was like,

you need to teach me how to do this,

I'm gonna put up this stupid video of me falling,

and I've uploaded only a couple since then,

but I feel like it takes a lot of preparing

to do one, whether it's just remembering to hit record or--

At the right time or whatever.

[laughing]

Timing thing is what's crazy.

I'll stick to the-- Yeah.

[laughing]

You know, a frozen photo.

Yeah, for sure, for right now at least.

I don't know if you check your DMs

but would you be able to share one of your wildest DMs

that you were sent during the last couple weeks?

Let's see what I can find,

I have the burner phone, if you will.

This has also been a technology I've not expected

to need to learn how to figure out but here I am.

Nicola Formichetti did a--

Oh it's so cool. This collab with

the Google Pixel or whatever, maybe a couple years ago.

So this might be old technology, but--

I'm sure the DMs are still fresh.

[laughs]

They're something, that's for sure.

Can I see all requests?

There we go.

Those are gonna be--

Wow, this is, we've never had one

where it's just, it's live.

Yeah.

Let's see.

Uncensored. Ready.

Yeah, I'm actually kinda nervous about it.

[laughing] No, me too.

There's a lot of mentions in the stories.

I don't know, I--

Gotta be tough.

I guess I'll just abbreviate

'cause I don't wanna spend too much time scrolling,

but as I've been posting more out of drag than in drag,

I've definitely received plenty more purple smiling

devil emojis and whatnot, which--

That's my--

I mean, I can't complain about, you know?

Why not?

Right.

That's my favorite smiley.

All I'm seeing is mentioned you in the story right now

but there's definitely been a lot more of that interest

and I know that people have been a lot more hot

and a lot more bothered, so it's funny to see how that is

workin' out for me or workin' out for them or whatever.

I would say that would probably be

one of the more obvious shifts

in the material. Have you replied

to any of them?

Well of course!

I'll send them an eggplant! [laughing]

No, um, not really unless it's someone I know

and therefore they most likely aren't texting me like--

[laughs]

You know what I mean?

Yeah, so I guess the correct answer is no, not really.

I hardly get a chance to read through all of them

and definitely exercise a little--

Sorry for the motorcycle outside.

I exercise a little bit of restraint,

regardless of how cute the display picture looks.

Right.

So people should not shoot their shot?

Or they should?

Ooh.

You don't know until you try it.

That's true, that's true. That's for sure.

All I gotta say is I'm bored so if you can entertain me,

it's worth a shot.

Amen, amen.

Aquaria, we have had so much fun, thank you so much

for teaching us how to put on the fiercest lip

I've ever seen in my life for myself.

Oh gosh.

I know. Y'all work for Vogue,

you've seen a little crazier than this.

Well, that's, yeah, that is true.

The fiercest lip of the day at least.

Fiercest lip of the day. There we go.

Thank you so much-- Seriously, thank you.

Thank you so much for having me

I'm glad we were-- Oh my god,

I hope you're having the most fabulous--

Just getting a little more glam.

Yes. Thank you!

Thank you so much for joining us.

My pleasure, stay safe, thank you all so much

for hanging out for a minute.

Thank you for Zooming with us.

Bye! Bye.