Make up artist and gorgeous goth girl, I talk to Charli Butterfield about drag queens, wearing black and the importance of family.
Where do you find style inspiration?
Everywhere! Makeup wise, I’m inspired by everything – artists, nature, space, drag queens, textures or colour combos I’ve seen – my camera roll is a mixture of inspo pics and the selfies produced as a result! Clothing wise, I pretty much just wear black (with a touch of animal print if I’m feeling particularly sassy) but I’m always inspired by other people in real life and online. I have a bit of a thing about 70s style at the moment, and in my head I think I’m in Toddlers and Tiaras, but externally, I look a bit like a witch? Haha, I just never take myself too seriously style wise and wear things that I am comfortable in that wouldn’t be out of place in a coven…
What are your favourite make up brands or products at the moment?
I love colour brands, anywhere I can buy products with pigments that pack a punch, and there are loads of amazing brands around – Urban Decay, Sugarpill, Kat Von D, Illamasqua, OCC, Kryolan… I have so many different brands in my personal and professional kits, it’s hard to pick a favourite haha!
I am in deep deep love with my Kat Von D Tattoo Liner and Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Liners though – not sure I could live without either!
What advice would you give to someone who’s looking to up their make up game?
Challenge yourself! A while ago, I felt like I was in a makeup rut, and forced myself to wear a different look each day for a week – that kind of continued for a few weeks, then a month and now I still try not to wear the same look I’ve worn in the past few days to keep myself experimenting and falling in love with makeup constantly. For me, makeup is all about enjoyment and having fun with it – there’s nothing to lose! Take some time for yourself, maybe treat yourself to one new product you wouldn’t normally wear and have some playtime – if you don’t like the end result, it washes off!
If you had to wear one “look” (make up and outfit) forever, what would it be?
This is tough one! Clothes wise, I wear all black 99% of the time, so some kind of large, oversized top, leather jacket, ripped jeans and some creepers would do me – all black, of course – but makeup? That’s so difficult! Despite challenging myself to keep my makeup game exciting, I do have a go to look – which is red lipstick and some fierce brow/winged liner combo – and red lipstick makes me feel like I can take on the world, so that would be me forever I guess!
Do you ever struggle with your body image? How do you combat that?
Oh definitely, I’ve struggled with my weight and body image most of my adult life. I’ve always been a ‘woman of curve’ and my weight has fluctuated constantly, but as I’ve got older, I’ve realised that enjoying myself is more important than hating on myself for eating all the bread I can get my hands on… It’s so normal to struggle with this, particularly for women, I feel like we’re conditioned to do this – that it’s more acceptable to hate on ourselves than to love ourselves. It’s taken me a while to realise that it’s OK to challenge this, surrounding yourself with positive influences and realising how amazing your body is, regardless of its dimensions.
You seem to have a really strong relationship with your family… I’m thinking of your #butterfieldfamilyselfie here… how important is that support to you?
I love that you’ve seen the #butterfieldfamilyselfie! My family are the most wonderful people, I’ve always had a close relationship with them, even while growing up and being an angsty teenager and I’m so appreciative of that. I live 3 hours away from them, which is hard, but I know I can always pick up the phone to have a chat, or have a Facebook conversation made up solely of memes with my brother… My parents are ‘cool’ parents – they were always the ones that my friends would come to for advice when we were younger – and have always encouraged my artistic interests and many style decisions (some truly terrible of course).
I’m constantly grateful for our relationship, I think that their attitude has totally shaped me as a person and their support in all my decisions is the driving force behind everything I do, plus, they put up with my enforced selfie taking every time we’re all together!
How and when did you get into Drag Race ? Top 5 queens? Do any of them influence your style at all?
I think I first got into Drag Race around Season 4? Then instantly went back and watched all the seasons from the start… I can’t even remember where I first came across it, it’s like life didn’t exist before Drag Race entered my life!
My Top 5 Queens are Adore, Alaska, Katya, Trixie aaaand I have a constantly changing 5th place of Bianca/Willam/Sharon. I’ve been lucky enough to meet quite a few of the Drag Race Queens and have been suitably star struck each time! I feel like Adore especially is my long lost sister, in my mind, there’s definitely a family resemblance haha!
So many of them influence my style – especially when I’m playing with makeup – I have tons of screenshots of drag queens in my camera roll that I use for inspiration, I never feel fiercer than when I do a full drag beat! So many of the techniques we’ve seen become popular recently stem from drag makeup and when I have a YouTube tutorial binge, I love to watch Queens get ready. I feel like probably 50% of my conversations with my boyfriend and best friend are made up of Drag Race quotes, and I’m totally fine with that!
You can follow Charli on Instagram here.
