Glitter Is About So Much More Than Making You Shine — Just Ask A Drag Queen

If you're partial to sparkly makeup, perhaps you've found a few of your own iridescent fingerprints nestled in tiny corners of your world—in your bed, on your lover, in between your toes—and smiled. Glitter just has that ability to strike a chord, and no one knows this better than the drag community. In fact, glittery makeup simply would not be where it is today without their influence, and it's about so much more than making everything shine. 

But glitter itself is not very discreet at all: Some would even consider it hypervisible, a must-have makeup item for extravagant, look-at-me glam. Practically speaking, its ability to quickly draw attention is what makes glitter such a mainstay for drag—before modern glitter was invented, queens even used crushed glass to achieve a captivating, magical performance. "It sort of plays tricks with your vision in the way that it's sparkling," says Miss Malice, a high femme drag performer and femmecee of the Brooklyn drag collective Switch n' Play. "Drag is not always about illusion, but I do think it's about fantasy and transforming the dullness of reality." 

Drag is also about celebration and joy, which goes hand-in-hand with a pot of glitter. Think about it: Whenever you're tasked with creating something cheery (birthday cards, banners, holiday decorations), you'll often grab glitter and a glue stick. It's a cultural symbol that automatically screams happiness and light, so how can you not crack a smile under a megawatt face beat? 

"It helped me work through some issues with objectification in this body that I'm in," explains Divina, who often sports full-body glitter. "I could be fully nude, but because I'm covered in glitter, it's taking the light off of the sexualization of my body, and it becomes more of a glorification." It's similar to the theory that smiling itself can make you feel happier—adorning yourself with glitter, which demands attention, can help you feel comfortable with being seen.

And, yes, glitter appears fun and free as it floats through the air, but make no mistake: Working with glitter takes, well, work. For Malice, whose signature look is a pair of sparkly, ruby-red lips, it requires sheer precision to glue each speck into place. "It really feels like an act of self-love to sit there and carefully place that glitter," she says. "You're demanding that attention and asking to be looked at, and that ritual of sitting there and applying it [helps you] celebrate yourself."

Divina agrees: "It's like, Oh, there I am. I exist."