Exclusive with Raven on Painted with Raven Season 2

Welcome to the Spill the Tea.
Hi!

You recently sat on the judging panel for Drag Race UK series four and the fans were living for it. Did you have a good time and would you consider doing it again if asked?
I had an absolute blast. I have always wanted to sit on the judges panel. I've wanted to do it on RuPaul's Drag Race here in the states. But I mean, I guess my inaugural appearance had to be in the UK. I love the UK. I love drag in general on Drag Race and getting into it. You know, just look and see what drag has become. But I do love RuPaul's Drag Race UK, so when I was asked to be up there, I said absolutely and right when I was done. I said I can't wait to do it again.

I'm sure they would love to have you back up. So how does it feel to still have so much love from the drag race fandom?
You know... Honestly, so many of us come through the Drag Race megaverse and some go on to do things afterwards. Some kind of, go do their own thing. It's drag, it’s what I do. Drag is what I love. RuPaul's Drag race particularly, is what I work on and put my heart and soul into every 8 months out of the year so to have the love still and have people appreciate me and have people root for me and enjoy what I bring to the drag universe, it’s amazing and I am grateful that I'm still embraced and loved and apart of the drag world Drag Race world.

Moving to make up when did you first start exploring and realising you are talented with a brush?Well, thank you. Oh gosh, when I was a kid I remember watching my Mom do her makeup and I remember seeing all this makeup and it was always frosty. These little palettes from, drugstore makeup lines and I would watch her do her makeup and think that looks fun. I really want to get into that. So growing up I looked for any reason I could to get into makeup and back in the 80s and 90s that was still frowned upon. You know guys, putting on makeup meant you were either in a rock band? Or on television or you died, and the mortician! It wasn't something that you did. When I got into high school, I started playing with my friends makeup and doing their makeup and really just starting to branch out and realise I kind of had a knack for it. There's a few hit and miss moments. There’s been eyebrows that have been way too dark and there have been blushes that have been a little too bright. But you live and learn and you have trial and error.

Some of us still put on eyebrows that are too dark.
Yeah, but it's more of a trend now?!

Oh depends, it doesn't suit me so much. So where were you nervous the first time you Ru Paul?
I was absolutely nervous. I remember walking in and going... I don't think I can do this. In fact, the day before it happened I was like I cannot do this and I did not sleep. I remember getting there and going. What are you doing? You are not going to be able to do this, this is your idol, an icon someone that you grew up idolising and I just did a my best job and when I look back at my first few attempts at doing Ru’s makeup, I'm not very proud of. It it's not something that I absolutely loved but I did it. I worked through it. Ru said OK, this is what we're going to try now and I think we're at a place. Where it looks pretty damn good.

What would be your best makeup tip?

My best makeup tip is the one I always give and I always, always tell everyone. Take your time. You know we live in a world where it's fast. Especially in Southern California. We don't measure distance in miles, we measure in time. How long does it take to get there, but I always tell everyone. Take your time it's the best gift you can give yourself when getting ready because you will end up ticking every box or crossing every T and dotting every I. Really looking at everything and fine tuning it.

Oh and moisturise.

I think 2 top tips for life but not just makeup! Travelling the world with Ru filming so many seasons of Drag Race, I'm surprised you had time to record a second series of painted with Raven were you please the first season went down so well and got renewed?
I'm always shocked when I have time to do something else because we do a lot and we go from New Zealand to the UK. We're gone for about almost four months of the year. Get home. A little bit of time for a break, or in my case, to film painted with Raven and then we start filming everything over here. So I said I don't care if it's the break time, I want to film this. I want to do this because I had so much fun the first time and I really enjoy being able to sit down in the judges seat and judge something that I love. Seeing season one I absolutely loved and I'm going to absolutely love Season 2. I was pleased with the way everything came together. The whole zoom aspect of it was different and I still think it's different. I think that it keeps it in its own little niche and I think that's why it should stay zoom even though it's a little difficult. You know there's always technical difficulties and there's those mornings where we sit down and this persons zoom doesn't work, the headphones don't work, lighting isn't working. It's always going to be hiccups, but I enjoyed every day that I got up, got ready, went into set and got to see all those artists do their thing.

Why should fans tune in again?
Because it's a damn good show! Plain and simple.

The beauty industry in general has really taken the world by storm. There are so many people now who are wearing makeup. You look, I would say 10-15 years ago, you would see a lot of shaming of people who had on too much makeup. And people would say there a streetwalker or lady of the night or a drag queen! I feel now makeup has been so embraced and I believe wholeheartedly 100%. That it's due to the popularity of Drag Race. Everyone started to go. I want to start contouring. I wanna start highlight, I wanna start wearing lashes and that goes for almost every reality show. Every celebrity everyone started to look and go. Wow if they can look like that. I love makeup and I love that we're celebrating it and we're bringing in these artists who are showcasing their talent and pushing themselves to limits that they didn't realise. I mean, there's some artists who don't even know how to do beauty makeup. They are like I don't do this. This isn't what I do. And then there's others who are like I don't really do face paint or I don't do creature makeup. So Season 2 will definitely once again, push those limits but take these artists and really show them to the world.

If renewed for a third season, would you like to judge the makeup in person?
When it's renewed for a third season! I would love to judge it in person. Actually I would love to be able to be in the studio with everyone. It would make things a little easier, but I like keeping it the way it is because it it makes it its own thing. So maybe in a few years when we get a couple from each season to do like an All Stars battle, some something like that, maybe we'll do that in an actual group or studio setting, but I like the way it goes with the zoom.

Shout out time! What queer performer deserves a shout out from you and why, this can be a drag king, queen or anything in between. Or simply a queer artist doing their thing.
Oh my gosh, there's so many. You know what? Krystal Versace, who won series three of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. Just seeing her in general, you're just like Oh my gosh, she's beautiful, she's stunning! I've seen videos of her performing and it's just, the full package.