It was the ultimate stamp of approval when David Petruschin — who had competed on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race as Raven in 2010 — was asked six years later to become the personal makeup artist for the show's namesake host. "RuPaul called and said, 'I need your help, please.' It was very flattering," Petruschin says. "As a kid who used to sneak down to watch his [1996–98] VH1 talk show and music videos, I looked to him as inspiration."
These days, Petruschin is himself an inspiration to fans and fellow artists. His makeup skills on the show (which now airs on MTV) earned him an Emmy in 2020, and as the Drag Race empire has expanded over the years, so has his role behind the camera. Petruschin currently works on five of the reality competition franchise's various iterations. "If Ru's going somewhere and he's getting in drag, I will be with him," he says.
The art of transforming RuPaul into his drag icon alterego is indeed a process: "It takes about six hours from when I arrive on set," Petruschin says, "but by the time we get in and sit down, it's usually about five."
Below, Petruschin shares with emmy editor Stephan Horbelt a few of the products required for getting the world's most famous drag queen ready to work the runway.
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, issue #8, 2024, under the title "Fit for a Queen"
