As someone very much drawn to defined, regal make-up looks, I was naturally impressed by Sum Ting Wong’s looks. Her looks are understated ooze elegance without detracting attention away from her stunning outfits. By playing it simple with a very clear, even complexion, well defined brows and a classy bold lip, Sum Ting ensures that her gloriously voluminous hair and beautiful outfits that accentuate her curvaceous body do all the talking. A prime example of this is her stamp where she immediately won my heart in the Queen Elizabeth II runway look, and in the same episode she let her stunning dress and bull accessories take centre stage in her Birmingham look. While ultimately criticised by the judges for playing it too safe, I felt that her looks allowed her natural beauty shine much more than the other queens.
One of the most clearly defined looks is that of youngest contestant Scaredy Kat, who from the start had a very characteristic style regarding both her outfits and her makeup, and seemed to somehow very accurately reflect her personality. Corresponding to her name with her ditzy, shy, nervous and somewhat skittish nature, Scaredy established a distinctive look from the start with her exaggerated contour, excessive lashes and oversized accessories – all of which contrasted with the supposed meekness of her personality. While unfortunately not winning the judges hearts as the second contestant to be eliminated, Scaredy’s Marmite-like style was highly praised by guest judge Maisie Williams for her Bond outfit which ultimately showed her to not shy away from contrasting with the Drag Race norm. While Scaredy’s look may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, she added variety to the show with her bold looks and won the heart of many viewers with her genuine sweetness.
Someone who has greatly grown in confidence over the first five episodes is Blu Hydrangea. The only Northern Irish queen in the show, Blu is undeniably proud to be representing the few queens in her country which only has a very small drag scene. Regarding her looks, Blu argues that she is “queen of the makeup brush and her strength lies in her mug. [I’m] like a GCSE art project, high fashion from outer space, a cartoon character – with muppet realness.” This corresponds to everything we’ve seen in the shown so far – Blu is never afraid to get creative with her out-there looks, and in particular her spectacular job to transform her face into a flawless blue eye for the genetically-modified drag queens challenge, which really made her stand out from the competition. She also showed her ability to create a high fashion, avant-garde look in the car boot sale challenge with party streamers and fantastic two-tone lipstick. Blu has to date received very little praise so far in the series, having merely been safe three times and coming in the bottom two once, but I believe that this is only the start for Blu as she gains more experience she will only start to dazzle more as her confidence continues to blossom like the beautiful Hydrangea she is.
Despite the dazzling looks of these queens, two further looks from their rivals cannot go unmentioned. One of these is Crystal’s car boot sale look where she just exuberates class with her stunningly defined figure and well thought out accessories which really stole the show. The other is Divina de Campo’s GM queen look, which screams of a beautiful, aquatic, floral fairytale. While not being a fan of her Bowie-inspired high fashion look (which is surprising as a lover of his music), I was amazed by her ability to orchestrate such a different look with her mermaid-esque flowing locks of blue wavy hair, flawless contour and imaginative outfit.
The queens so far have impressed us with their phenomenal ability to rival, and even exceed, their American counterparts. I’m excited to see how the UK’s drag scene responds to the on screen looks and vice versa, and I don’t doubt that Ru has already been blown away.