Raven Reveals 6-Hour RuPaul Makeup Process
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- David Petruschin (Raven), RuPaul's personal makeup artist since 2017, spends approximately six hours on RuPaul's full makeup for 'Drag Race,' with 45 minutes dedicated to foundation for 'blending, creating and reshaping the face.'
- Petruschin shared that RuPaul closes her eyes during the six-hour process rather than scrolling on her phone, and that the pair occasionally brainstorm new looks together.
- Petruschin won the 2020 Emmy for Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) and previously competed on Drag Race Season 2 (2010) and All Stars Season 1 before becoming RuPaul's artist.
- Raven recalled feeling nervous before his first session with RuPaul but found her to be 'one of the sweetest people, one of the most giving people,' despite initially wondering 'What am I stepping into?'
- Natasha Marcelina, head makeup artist for the show's celebrity guests, preserved Brooke Shields' signature eyebrows, saying 'Why would you want to change that?'
- Marcelina follows RuPaul's philosophy of 'you don't need to reinvent the wheel,' focusing on maintaining each guest's established legacy look while occasionally being given a blank palette to go bold with glitter, rhinestones, and feathers.
Why it matters: The six-hour process underscores the production scale behind 'Drag Race,' where even the host's look requires a full morning of work per episode. Marcelina's guest philosophy — preserving Shields' brows rather than reinventing them — reveals the show's strategy for celebrity cameos: enhance the icon, don't overhaul them, a formula that keeps high-profile guests comfortable and willing to return.
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