Camp Beauty is Going Mainstream

We heard there’s a place where everyone can be a queen, and it’s not just at the Pink Pony Club. From drag kings to hyper queens, otherwise known as AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth) queens, the rise of the “camp” aesthetic has made its way to mainstream beauty. If you need proof, just look at Julia Fox’s sartorial style or Chappell Roan’s, well, everything.

“Camp” is a fluid concept. It was first defined in Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on Camp,” where she assigned 58 characteristics — from “do something extraordinary” to “dethroning the serious” — to explain the term. In its most rudimentary sense, it’s dressing and behaving in a flamboyant and theatrical way. It embraces liminality — celebrating the absurd, the eccentric, and the dramatic. This comes in contrast with rigid beauty standards geared toward the male gaze and incessant micro trends perpetuated by capitalism, celebrating the one thing that really matters: individuality.

The queer and drag communities have long been privy to “camp.” With its increased education and diversity, it’s only natural that it’s reached peak pop culture and your social media feed, too. “The camp aesthetic is very Instagrammable,” Clover Bish, hyper queen and former contestant on Drag Race España, tells PS. “It’s striking to see a picture with something big and huge, and camp aesthetics always has that. It makes you stop scrolling.”

Cis women have participated in drag for decades, but only now are we beginning to see hyper queens soar in popularity — and it’s directly influencing women to take beauty ideals into their own hands. Pandora Nox, the first cis woman to win RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Clover Bish are dropping their campiest beauty recs, styling hacks, and thoughts on the future of drag.

How Hyper Queens Approach Camp Beauty at Home

You don’t have to perform your hottest eight-count on stage to participate in the camp aesthetic. It encourages play outside the bounds of beauty in your everyday life, too. Even better, there’s a good chance you already have everything you need to embrace the aesthetic at home.

“Drag is about expressing yourself and living freely, and I love that more people are having fun with it,” Nox says. Having done drag since she was 14, she has many beauty secrets to share, but her most essential tip? A good snooze. “My typical beauty routine before a drag show is sleeping.”

Nox is known for her elaborate and extratemporal looks — all of which are accomplished with vegan and cruelty-free makeup. But, there’s one particular product she swears by. “I use a very cheap waterproof liquid eyeliner from a drug store. It’s by Essence ($4). I use it out of drag and in drag.” Beyond the products alone, Nox says relying on imagination is essential to creating an artistic fingerprint in the world of drag. “I try to get as less inspired [by other people] as possible because I don’t want to take ideas from others . . . I want to present something that is made by me.”

Clover’s beauty routine isn’t so different from ours — wash your face, apply a primer, and transform yourself into a life-size doll. “I always use the Extreme Shine Volume Lipgloss ($4) by Essence. It makes my lips as plump as a Bratz Doll,” she says. Her most beloved hack is a hairspray she uses to glue her wig neatly. “Like every drag queen on Earth, I use the Got2b Blasting Freeze Spray ($8) to style my wigs. And lately, I’ve been using it to glue on my forehead because it’s easier to clean than others.” Clover also dubbed the Thrive Causemetics Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara ($26) one of her beauty arsenal’s best products. “It’s vegan and easy to remove as it doesn’t drip like other mascaras.”

Making Room For the Hyper Queen Aesthetic

When asked how she feels about camp beauty aesthetics going mainstream, Nox is all for it. “I love it because drag and drag looks are so much about expressing yourself and living freely, and I love seeing other people do it and have fun with it.”

Still, like anything that challenges society’s idea of “normal,” there is vitriol spewed toward hyper queens online. “People always ask me, do you get much hate? The interesting fact is that whenever I am performing in person, I never get any hate. This just happens online where people hide behind their screens,” Nox says.

Clover has had her drag invalidated both online, IRL, and from other queens. “People think we need less time to get ready. You can ask all my drag mates; they know I’m a late bitch.” Clover explains that she preps her skin, shaves, et cetera, before dressing up, just like other drag queens, and it’s just as time-consuming. “I don’t think we have any advantages. In fact, I think we have disadvantages because there’s a lot of people that don’t accept us.”

Nox adds that just because a woman dresses up as a woman doesn’t mean it’s any less impressive, “[People think] there is no real transformation because you already are a woman. But the thing is, I don’t wear wigs, massive makeup, glitter, and rhinestones in my private life.”

Perhaps the rejection and confusion stem from relating to drag as simply a man who is extravagantly effeminate. But, if we look at it for what it encompasses, we understand that it is instead performance art. “Drag is art, and art is for everyone. It’s not about what you have between your legs,” Nox says.

The Future of Camp Beauty

The bidirectional relationship between drag and pop culture goes together like glue sticks and false eyebrows, and now that it’s reached peak pop culture, Clover thinks camp beauty is here to stay. “Drag not only influences makeup [in pop culture] but also aesthetics and performances . . . the camp beauty aesthetic is just going to grow and grow,” she says.

Drag culture has come a long way, but there’s still much more to do and learn. As it continues to influence mainstream beauty and culture, it’s essential to protect, amplify, and maintain the integrity of the community. Whether you live within or beyond the gender binary, which includes the non-gendered folks too, drag permits us to play and dream beyond societal confines, and the camp aesthetic is an invitation to both know yourself and be yourself. It’s an invitation to liberation.

Lest we forget, it was the mother of all queens herself, RuPaul, who proclaimed, “We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.”

Jasmine Desiree is an L.A.-based writer and editor who covers everything from beauty and wellness to interior design. She loves reporting on people, places, and trends that are innovative and influential to the culture. Her writing has appeared in Coveteur, Architectural Digest, Mane Addicts, and more.