If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what famous people add to their carts. Not the JAR brooch and Louis XV chair but the hair spray and the electric toothbrush. We asked Bob the Drag Queen — the season-eight winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race and podcaster — about his favorite setting spray, the moisturizer he uses every day, and the webcam that’s so easy to set up even his mom can do it.
I’m a drag queen, so I obviously wear a lot of makeup, and I don’t want it to slide around. But I get really hot and sweaty when I’m performing onstage under lights, wearing heels, a wig, a corset, and pads on my hips and chest. All Nighter is this really great setting spray that was introduced to me by Naomi Smalls, who is a drag sister of mine. You just spritz it on your face — not too much, but a nice coat over your face right when you finish your makeup — and your makeup lasts all night. I put it on before my lip gloss because you don’t want lip gloss to mix with the setting spray. Lip gloss is supposed to be wet and juicy, and the setting spray makes things matte.
I went to the dentist, and I was having hardened plaque on my lower teeth — like, my front lower teeth. It was so hard I couldn’t brush it off. I had to have it professionally cleaned off. And every time I went back, my dentist was like, “This is a problem.” He recommended a Sonicare electric toothbrush, and ever since I’ve been using it, I’ve gotten compliments from the dentist. It’s like the highest form of praise. You gotta listen to your dentist. This Sonicare has a timer on it so you know when you’re done brushing as opposed to singing a song.
This is the moisturizer I use every single day. I use it all over my body from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Black folks, we all grew up using cocoa butter (well, not all of us, but most of us) as our preferred lotion. And Vaseline has a great version of Cocoa butter. You smell so good. It’s like an earthy, subtle vanilla-almost smell, but it’s not too overpowering, so you don’t smell like a candy bar.
I have really curly hair even in my beard. So I can’t use foil trimmers because I get ingrown hairs every single time. To prevent that, I use this Wahl trimmer. It’s the closest shave I’ve gotten with any trimmer I’ve tried. I use it for my beard, my head, and my eyebrows. It comes with a bunch of attachments. Mostly I use the beard attachments. But I also use the little nose-hair trimmer because I do grow nose hair. I’m not ashamed to admit it. It comes with a nice little travel kit too. And it charges really fast — like extremely fast. I’ve tried a lot of trimmers, and this is my favorite.
I carry a bag everywhere I go, but putting it on the table, especially in a restaurant, takes up so much space, plus then your bag is on the table with the food. If I put it on the floor, I might forget about it, kick it, or it’ll get dirty. With this, you just hook it on the edge of the table. It’s such an old-person thing. But honestly I don’t care. It’s perfect. And it fits in the palm of your hand. You can also use it to prop up your cell phone. It’s amazing. I have multiple in different colors because I have to match my outfits. You’ll be very happy that you spent this money.
I use this all the time — I mean, nonstop. When it’s all folded up, I can fit it inside a sunglasses case. The camera, the cord, and the stand all fit inside. So everywhere I go I have a 4K camera with me. I podcast on the road a lot, and this camera makes my job a lot easier. Maybe this is not for every single person every day, but if you want your Zoom and your different meetings to look nice, you need this camera. It’s genuinely very easy to connect and set up. My mom even did it, which is saying a lot. It’s higher quality than your laptop or phone camera, so it brings out the truth. If you are looking for some blur, I would say don’t go with this, but I also sometimes pair it with different apps on my computer to smooth things out. There’s an app called Snap Camera, which basically takes all the filters from Snapchat and puts them on your webcam. That’s what I use.
This is a really great microphone for picking up audio. It’s a little bulky, but it’s sturdy, so it can really take a beating. I do three to four podcasts a week. So this is an everyday item for me. It makes everything sound so much better, even Zooms.
My boyfriend is one of those people who bought an air fryer and now is obsessed with it. I didn’t understand the point of air fryers until we got one. I thought, You don’t need an air fryer — just get a tray for your oven. But the fryer is actually really quick. It can even make fries crispy again, and you can cook without dipping it in oil. I’m trying to be healthy. So this is my attempt at being a little healthier, you know. But you can still put unhealthy food in an air fryer. It doesn’t turn unhealthy food healthy. I just wanna be clear about that.
I play video games a lot. I really, really love video games. I got into them a lot more right before quarantine, and then during quarantine, they really saved me because they were a great way for me to connect with my friends. The Nintendo Switch is honestly my favorite console that I’ve ever gamed on. I always play Smash Brothers, and I’m always trying to see who wants to play with me. I’ll get people to play with me online. You just get on the phone and talk to each other while you’re playing. The basic remote can be broken into two, but this one feels more like an old-school remote. It feels kinda like you’re playing on a Nintendo 64. Any gamer will know what that means.
I really love this Coach bag and not just because I work for Coach. I am an absolute bag queen. I’m obsessed. This one is so cute because it’s not oversize. I don’t care about huge bags. My bags are usually relatively tiny. I will fill the space, whatever it is, and by the time I finally clean it out, I don’t even recognize the stuff in there anymore. So I try to avoid that by keeping my bag small. I have two phones, so I put my phones in there. I also put one of those little battery chargers, obviously my cards, my ID, and then maybe a few toiletries in there.
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