Naomi Smalls’s 70-Step Guide to Full-On Glamazon

[mellow lo-fi music]

Hello Vogue, this is Naomi Smalls,

and I am going to show you

how I turn into a full glamazon creature

ready for the stage.

So I'll be using my cleanser.

I really liked this one because there's vitamin C in it.

It's really important for me to take care of my skin

'cause I want my skin to look as smooth as it appears

when it's all Facetuned and Photoshopped

and posted to the Gram.

I'm going to use my liquid, chemical exfoliant.

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This hand handy-dandy tool by Foreo,

the UFO 2, I'm obsessed with.

It comes with all these like singular little masks.

You actually have to connect your phone to the UFO.

So I've got my mask loaded.

I've got my bar code ready.

So now I can scan the barcode.

And from here I can go in and...

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[indistinct] chest is showing. [tongue clicking]

So I'm going to use some of the SiO Energy Serum.

This is been been in the refrigerator,

so it's nice and cold.

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I just really want to be as tight

and lifted as possible.

It's really important to wear a wig cap that is

as close to your skin color as you can get.

If this was not for Vogue, I'd have like the wig caps

that have a bunch of holes and shreds

and adhesive attached to it,

which this is going to have very soon.

So I'm going to comb my edges down

and get my alcohol ready to dry out these sideburns.

'Cause when you're applying Elmer's Glue Stick,

it's not going to necessarily adhere to all this skincare.

This is probably every drag queen's number one tool,

the Elmer's Glue Stick,

and the purple one is super important because

you can see when it's dry, that purple tint goes away.

Drag is like some hardcore punk rock shit

and it really puts your body through how to be honest,

but it's kind of all worth it when you step on stage

and people like cheer for you, you know, you're just like,

Oh, it's worth it.

So today I'm going to kind of go back to my roots.

I am obsessed with like stage makeup,

I'm obsessed with Bratz dolls,

I'm obsessed with Raven and that requires a lot more makeup

than Davis dressed as Naomi.

So the contacts, I think, just add that extra umph,

and when I'm in drag, I do like to have it be

almost like a mask, and I don't really want people

to know what I'm thinking and eyes are a dead giveaway,

so, goodbye Davis and welcome Naomi.

I landed on Naomi Smalls because it's based off

of two people who are just really good at what they do,

no one can come for them,

and I have always had a gravitation

to that unapologetic attitude.

Like you cannot come for Naomi Campbell

and I wish that you would

because she would checked you right in her place.

Like no one does it better than her.

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So I used to only wear like blonde and blue eyes and...

'cause I wanted to be the doll, I wanted it to be Barbie.

Maybe Barbie is not made in every single color

and every single fashion, but bitch, [tongue clicking]

I'll be the black Barbie that I've always wanted to be.

Okay, so my next step to like really set this glue in,

I learned this tip from Kim Chi,

I've actually never seen a tutorial of anyone using it,

so I want to make sure I credit the doll.

She takes a little bit of water on her finger

and she just paints on top of the glued area.

And this really like...

really helps everything lay flat.

Now, it's the time, it's the moment of truth.

We're going to give ourselves that instant facelift.

We're going to hit two points.

You've got to spray the alcohol, you've got to dry it out.

If you want that tape to stick, you need to dry it out.

It's a smaller version of the tape that I use to tuck with,

and that tape is actually used for boating leaks.

It's a waterproof vinyl tape.

It's really, really durable.

I like to cut just that tip off

because my finger touched it, you know.

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Make sure you like smooth that tape out

and really pressed into skin.

I look crazy, but trust me, you don't want that dent

that you can get when you pull.

So I'm just going to adhere to the back of my wig cap.

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So that...

we're going to pull and it'll cross...

you'll have like two Xs in the back of your head.

Remember, always as symmetrical as possible.

The goal here is to get a headache, to be honest

A lot of things with drag,

you don't know if it's working unless it hurts.

To make sure the tapes don't slide,

I like to use another wig cap.

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We are finally ready to actually put some damn makeup on.

The brows are so important to me.

If I'm going to be using my natural brows,

which is 99.9% of the time,

I have to make sure they are symmetrical.

I'm really obsessed with that on a Anastasia Dipbrow,

but to get a kind of like moistened up,

I did add some eyedrops to it.

I've been using the MAC Studio Finish Concealer since I was,

I think it was like in...

10th grade when I started wearing makeup.

So with the concealer brush,

we're going to go right underneath the brow

and just kind of like sharpen it up.

You can see that when shaping that brow,

I am kind of following that face tape

and the way it's pulling.

For foundation, since I am going to be using the foundation

on top to carve out, I like MAC Full Coverage.

It's just softer, I think, if you carved the top

of your brow with your foundation.

That's it for brows for now

I'm going to take my foundation

and cover up all that hair that we just locked away.

I like to go in the direction

that I applied the glue, comb down the hair,

so that way we're not disrupting or lifting anything.

And this is, as you can see,

a really, really, really full coverage foundation.

I'm gonna block off my mustache area,

'cause that does tend to grow back pretty fast.

I'm going to be using the Kim Chi Chic Beauty,

The Most Concealer in orange.

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Just gonna take a little bit of powder.

Now that that's all powdered down...

It's time to brighten her back up.

I'm going to be using MAC, the ride or die,

two to three shades lighter than my foundation.

And I don't like to apply too much of this

because I'm going to blend it out

and I use another concealer,

but I like to have this kind of like as a base.

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I've made it a standard that all my beauty blenders I use

for lighter colors are just always the black blender

because it's just easier to tell.

So we're going to take that same highlight foundation,

the cream highlight, take our little concealer brush

that I used for sharpening up my brows.

Like if I had to do my whole face at this, I probably could.

We're going to go down and kind of like connecting

into that forehead highlight, but not too much,

or else it just looks like out of place.

Also something that is such an eyesore in drag,

along with the face tapes or the un-blended brow highlight,

is a crooked nose, so make sure your nose is

as symmetrical as you possibly can.

With every cream that we put down, we have to blend it.

We're going to do a little bit of white just at the tip.

And this is like literally a product of Raven.

We would not have this nose highlight,

we would not have this way of doing drag makeup

if it was not for her, so [tongue clicking]

shout out to the OG Bratz doll,

shout out to the queen killing it,

painting the drag queen of all time, RuPaul.

This supposed to look like where your nose would start,

I guess, like the highest point of your nose.

This is the Kevyn Oucoin Skin Enhancer,

but it this really nice and creamy texture.

A little goes a long way.

I do use my hands for this.

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Really important to keep that differentiation

of your foundation and your nose highlight though.

You don't want to drag it too much in there.

Another full covered shade.

There was a bit there when I was like so obsessed

with being in the sun that this used to be the foundation.

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I've always had a fascination with makeup.

I think that my fascination though really started...

I remember seeing the John Galliano for Dior,

I think it was Ready-to-Wear 2008 collection

where the models were these like Barbarella,

like big hair.

And I think that seeing that like really fascinated me

with makeup.

That I was just like, Oh, wow.

Like she looks out of this world, but not like an alien,

like a glamorous alien, like she doesn't exist,

she's a doll.

And that's kind of like what I always want to look like

when I'm in makeup.

So I'm going to be going with a darker contour.

I'm using the Make Up Forever Ultra HD Contour Stick.

[upbeat music]

This is always the darkest color

I'll use underneath my nose though.

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I remember having to get ready, like in an hour.

Anything like that really kills me on Drag Race.

I remember having a full on temper tantrum one time

because it was like the final episode and this girl,

she was rushing me, she was like,

Naomi, you only have 10 minutes to get ready.

Ru is waiting.

And I literally had probably this amount of foundation on

and I just yell back at her, I was like,

Okay, then you do it.

I have a story about this specific powder container

that I always travel with.

I accidentally like poured out all my powder

onto the countertop and Chi Chi DeVayne,

she was getting ready to like two stations next to me

and she saw it, and I was so wasteful, I was like,

I guess I had to throw it away and open a new one.

She was like, Gurl, you ain't gone waste that powder.

Uh-uh, not on my watch.

But she wiped all the powder into this container,

and now I use this container like everywhere I go.

I like to use a bunch of different powders

to make the perfect one.

My goal with drag is to have it be

as unattainable as possible,

and there's something about mixing in a bunch of powders,

I know everybody can do that,

but just makes me feel special.

I need for the area

to be as smooth as humanly possible.

So now we can go in with our beauty blender.

Okay, so stretch out those eyes

Just trying your hardest not to get it in your water line,

but to make sure it's all set.

Something that's, I think, really important,

is I see on a lot of drag queens

or a lot of people wearing a lot of makeup,

right in that nostril,

want to make sure to get that.

After I use the beauty blender one

to like set underneath the skin,

this one's a little bit more forgiving,

but also just like blast some more power onto your face,

so here we go.

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So now it's time for the powder highlight.

So this is the same shade as my cream highlight,

and this is Shivering White, a must for drag makeup.

I'm going to go with my powder brush underneath my eyes

just to like brighten that up.

I've learned with the Studio Fix Powder,

I kind of have to like paint it on when it comes to my nose,

I can't be like...

pressing it in like I do with underneath my eyes.

I like to take an angled puffy brush

with that same Studio Fix Powder

and kind of just blend into the eyebrows,

blend into the forehead going up.

So that way, when people look at you,

it's not like, Nose highlight!

It like blends into everything else.

This is my nose highlight brush specifically.

I only use it for this.

Just a tiny bit white.

I'm going back in

with another handy-dandy Studio Fix Powder.

This is a little darker

and I'm all about a complexion moment with drag,

I wasn't always that way,

but I like dimension, I like depth,

and I like working from lighter to darker.

And this is actually the same shade as my foundation

but in powder form, pressed powder form.

Now, I'm going to go in with the same exact powder

but build with a denser, smaller brush.

This is the color that's like on the outer edge

of what I just put down, so it can be a little heavier.

When you think about it, I've just pretty much put on

a whole nother layer of foundation.

So now it's time for some actual legit contour,

not just foundation.

I'm going to be using Saddle by Anastasia Beverly Hills.

I think that this is like a great medium contour color.

And I remember going like on carpool in high school

with the girls who had to do their makeup in the car.

And I just remember being fascinated,

but also super annoyed 'cause every girl like screams

when they're doing their mascara in the car.

Gonna go back in with that smaller brush and Saddle.

And get it on the edges.

And now this is Mahogany from Anastasia.

One more round of powder contour and small brush.

So now that we have our contour down on our face,

we're going to go in with some Huda Beauty...

Is this the Banana?

This is Blondie.

To try and just like offset any chance of seeing

any of that yellow line cut,

I like to kind of blend that out while I cook

'cause I think it's important,

even though it's not going to be like a permanent thing.

Kim brought me on as the first KCCB collab.

I'm happy.

Never thought I'd be able to see my name,

like my name and face on a makeup product,

and I owe that all to Kim.

So you can kind of see that like...

I mean, you can actually really see

the warmth being added back into my face.

I just kind of transform into like a little doll,

I think, when the blush comes in.

And I do like to go in with like a little warmer...

Orangy, peachy...

I'm pretty sure this is literally...

The Blush Trio it's called Peachy Love.

Brush off all this excess cooking powder

and then just make sure I like how everything is sitting.

Setting spray.

[upbeat music]

Makeup is not a game to me.

It's not something that I choose to like wear to have fun.

Makeup for me is like how I made my money

and how I express my art, you know.

I'm going to go in and redefine these eyebrows.

You do a little bit of definition with your brows

and I want to make sure that they poppin'.

I'm going to take a little bit of white

and we can go right underneath that brow

just to help create the illusion of an arch

even though my brows really have like legit no arch.

I feel like the very first thing you would see

when you look at me, is that teeny bit of white.

So I'm going to now set what I just did underneath my brows

with that same Studio Fix powder.

You will not catch me wearing makeup,

either in drag or out of drag,

without the Glossier Boy Brow.

I'm going to take this...

[music continues]

And I'm going to go on with Savannah, the same color

that I was contouring the sides of my nose with,

and I like to use this in my crease to start.

It took me a long time to learn how to do eye shadow,

and I still get really, really stressed out about it.

So I'm going to go in with Mixed.

Just a little darker of a shade,

kind of define that crease, blending in circular motions up.

I think someone who inspires me to do better though

when it comes to makeup is Laila McQueen, I'll say that.

She's a drag queen who is just the most precise

bitch in the game.

As corny as it sounds to say out loud,

confidence really is your best accessory,

so, whatever makes you feel the most confident,

hone in on it and own it and customize it to you

because that's what people are going to be super, super,

super impressed with, seeing something that nobody else has.

I'm going to go in and really kind of pop that crease,

this is faux crease I'm creating.

That same shade Mixed,

and this will be the darkest color,

I don't want to stress this enough,

this is going to be the darker color

on the inside of my eye.

And I do get nervous every single time I'm doing my makeup

or every single time I'm in drag.

And I've said this a million times, but if I'm not nervous,

I don't think I'm doing it right.

So now that I've got like my 80 shades of brown down

on my eyes, we're going to go in

with The Most Concealer in white.

I just put a little bit out on my skin.

So now it's time to paint in this crease

that sits like a couple of centimeters higher

than my actual crease, but since I have the hooded eyes,

it's a must.

I like to follow that like...

You see where that eye wrinkle is.

I'm a sucker for a precise crease

Getting to my bottom shadow...

Firm believer in using the same shadow as on top...

but I mean on bottom that I did on top because cohesion.

I have been using the same liner,

you guessed it, since I was 18.

And I actually never used to use this

for my eyes when I was 18,

I was using it for those fake moles.

So I like to have my aligner kind of go more straight out,

enough really just to like hide that lash band.

The best liquid liner in the game.

Now we're going to take that same brush

that we kind of like blend it underneath the brow with,

we're going to blend just that white out.

And this is kinda what I was talking about

with the whole like faux crease,

I'm feeling like I'm wearing a ton of makeup.

Like this is a way to get that natural look

without having to beat to like a full on cut crease.

Use my Studio Fix Shivering White,

since there is no brighter white

Going to fade all this white

into the lightest shade of that nose contour,

so we're going to go back in with Savannah

and really like a lock this eye in.

I'm going to start from the beginning then the middle

just to kind of give that crease a little bit of tint.

This really follows the shadow placement

that we put down before adding any crease.

So, you can really see the eye kind of coming into shape.

And lashes are for sure like my...

they come into play as my biggest pet peeve in drag makeup.

I just want to make sure that lash band is nice and clean

And I'm using probably not doctor recommended,

probably not super influencer recommended,

but this bonding glue.

I only really wear Velour Lashes.

So because the eyelashes are not sitting

right on my natural lash line,

I have to go in with my liquid liner

and kind of just like fill in any gaps of lid

that's going to be shown.

And then I'm going to go

and then kind of just blend my natural lash

with that artificial lash.

I'm a sucker for bottom lashes.

I think bottom lashes is kind of a huge thing

that people know me for.

So I'm really into Velour Faux Mink Lashes,

'cause you still get that like real hair effect.

These are like the bottom lashes that I use.

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I have the cutest pencil sharpener in the entire world.

I like to do the darker corners with Chestnut by MAC.

No nude lip for me would be complete

without the Sephora 26 Liquid Lipstick.

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Got my NARS Raw Seduction Lipstick.

The nude to the lip, the eye is nude, the face is nude.

Everything has been oxidizing,

everything has been sitting on my face and I just want

to kind of make sure everything's cleaned up.

I'm going to go and just like touch everything up.

Naomi, she loves a wig moment,

so we're going to put on a wig.

This handy-dandy vinyl tape comes back into play from me.

This is the same tape that I tape my face up with

just a larger version.

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So I've got these really handy tapes

and I lay them down in the center mainly

'cause that's like the problem area.

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So I've got my three pieces of tape down.

Hello, it's me.

Yeah, I'm obsessed.

I always kind of get nervous with this because

a bad lace front application is just really ugly to look at.

I haven't mastered the whole got to be

gluing down wig technique yet,

but I'm a huge fan of Kryolan Mastix.

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Nothing worse than a levitating sideburn.

Especially when a girl was like really trying to be the doll

and stand in front of a fan machine

and all you see you guys just like this flap of lace front

moving in the wind.

But I actually have this advice for anyone who's getting

into a custom hairline, get it done in a color that you

think that you look the most you in

because it's going to further play into that

growing from my scalp illusion.

Drag is so personal

and the things that you see in the mirror,

not everyone else sees,

and, unfortunately, a lot of detail can be lost

when you're working on yourself so closely.

A clean lace is just always going to be

a little lighter than your skin tone.

I like to just go in and apply that Studio Fix

in my foundation shade over the lace

just to kind of help blend.

So I'm going to go ahead and do my lip gloss now.

It's like my last stop with the makeup.

And then I like to go in

with a little glitter lip gloss moment on the inside.

All right.

So now that we're dressed,

dressed and ready to go to the party.

Going to use some argan oil.

Just run that through.

Hmm.

Okay.

Oh yeah, I'm in full heels now...

I don't know if I can even raise my foot that high,

but we're in a heel heel.

You guys can't see my waist.

[Naomi grunting]

[Naomi laughs]

Gotta get the full look.

I'm going to be using some body glow that for illusion.

I'm using my Patrick Ta A Moment in bronze.

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And I honestly feel like I chose this look

based around doing this for the gloves

because I love an opera length glove.

Look at that.

Just the girl

ready to pinch an hors d'oeuvre with a toothpick.

Last, but not least, my final step,

I'm going to be using my favorite perfume of the moment,

I'm using KKW Mother's Day collection.

All right, guys,

you got the full look, you got the full glam.

I hop you like it.

I am fully ready to go and steal your man.

Naomi Smalls out.

[music fades]