Farewell Soho! Part 1

It's official! I am no longer a Soho Queen!

(Note: this turned into a very long post and I started writing it in early July. I decided to split it up for ease of reading. Part 2 coming very soon, on this page!)

Yesterday was my last day in my little Soho Palace, all my furniture and possessions left in a van last night. Today I spent a few hours cleaning and putting out the rubbish, and then locked the door for the last time!
I should perhaps explain why I've decided to write a blog post about this! I have lived in Soho for quite a substantial time, almost 8 years. After being a Stokey "Girl" for a while I moved in with my boyfriend in Soho in 2003, and we lived together for over 5 years. On top of that I have always worked in Soho, since coming to London in 2000, and have taken a keen interest in the local life, culture and gay scene, working closely with charity organisations based in Soho.

After almost 6 years my boyfriend and I broke up. For a while I thought that this was my natural cue to leave London, and I even did, for 2 months. I went abroad, the aim was to start a new life, but no matter how I looked at it I felt like I had left my heart and soul in London, in Soho! So I came back, I found a flat in Soho and got on with it!

This is when I "found myself" so to speak. I had friends, sure, but they were mostly part of my ex's group, and I felt the need to go out and make my own social circuit so to speak! So, I bought some supplies, made an outfit, and ventured to Trannyshack! Having heard and read about the club, and having done drag in the past (link) it was something I was keen on doing again and getting back into.
Going alone to a place like this can be daunting, and I was a little tense as I walked in, but the crowd were very welcoming and I had a blast! The first time there, and I met some very interesting people and formed some great connections, and I wanted more!

My sewing machine became busier than ever, knocking up little numbers as often as I had time to sit down! Next, I went to an event at G-A-Y at Astoria, and bumped into my old friend Cookie Monstar, who at the time didn't know I had gotten into doing drag! Cookie and I go way back, but she had spent some time away from London so we had lost touch. Now back together we started hanging out a lot, and as Cookie is a brilliant and very busy performer I started coming to most of her shows. She did a regular Sunday spot at Molly Moggs in Soho, hosted by the magnificent Dame Julie Paid, and after a while the three of us got together and created the West End Girls. For our first production we took on a mini version of Priscilla the musical, a 45minute extravaganza with more than 10 costume changes, complete with a 10foot glittery stiletto! We performed our show at various locations around Soho with great success.


Click image to watch video on YouTube!

By this time, I had moved into my new flat, literally on the doorstep of Trannyshack! I set up my sewing machine and got busy, making costumes for the shows. My little one bed soon became more reminiscent of the wardrobe department of a theatre, with dresses, boas, wigs, handbags and shoes!

(To be continued!)

Nail varnish: Shimmering Anthracite

Recently I went shopping with my best friend Cookie, I was looking for matte black nail varnish, suitable for every day wear, as well as a few other trinkets but couldn’t find any! Eventually we ended up in the huge Boots at Piccadilly Circus, and I caved in and picked up a grey one from 17 called Smoke Signal. The same brand also did a black so I picked that, and a gorgeous peacock blue too! I’m going to write a separate post about that!

I was ready to pay for my new items when cookie found a crackle glaze in gold which I swapped for the black, and I will blog about that later!

Anyway, the 17 Smoke Signal looks ok on it’s own, probably not a colour I would wear as it is, but I tested it with the crackle glaze and it looked cool!

Grey on its own on pinky, ring finger has one coat of glitter.

Today however, I dug out a 2True Glossywear glitter varnish Shade 2 from my kit and after 2 coats of Smoke Signal I added a coat of glitter. On it’s own the glitter is iridescent clear with a hint of blue, but with the charcoal grey 17, it turned into the most gorgeous graphite anthracite colour! The camera won’t quite capture the colour but have a look!

There’s almost a lilac/mauve look to the glitter which can be seen in some of the pictures! I’m not a huge fan of lilac, but with the grey it looks stunning! I’d definitely try this combination again, for sure!

New Mini-series on YouTube: "Bearded Beauty!"

Hey kids,

so it would seem I am back with a vengeance... having not only posted 2 videos in as many days, but also have a couple more in the making! Yay! I'm so thrilled to be back, even if some of my YouTube subscribers might have forgotten about me or given up on me! LOL!

Yes, I cam up with the idea of doing a little mini-series, as I have a beard between each time I do Diamond, I thought I could incorporate this in my videos! Hence the "Bearded Beauty" series, and first out in this series is Tutankhamun, King of Egypt! Well, that was my inspiration anyway, take it as you like!

I looked up all kinds of images of King Tut, and obviously all you can find are pics of his sarcophagus so I took my inspiration from that. The eyebrows and eye liner is quite significant and defines the look, and I used mainly gold and orange and red with it on the eyes, all from my 88 palette! I used black eye liner and gold eye shadow on my lips, and a dark shimmery (cheap) bronzer from Superdrug on my face.

And then... I photoshopped the images to death! Haha!

There's barely a cm2 of skin in these images that hasn't been shopped, and that is what I wanted! This series is really less about the make up and more about the imagery! So please do not ask me how I got my skin to look like that! LOL!

Oh, and I am wearing the same wig as I did for my Tribal video, and a home made head dress in the style quite often pictured on King Tut!

See, I think it's quite likely that Tut had a beard at some point in his short life, and his sarcophagus shows him wearing some kind of beard wrap... so not so unlikely, this one! Just wait till the next one, much more unlikely!

Thanks for taking time to read, if you wanna see the video, it is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIQeFp7pcpw

Untill next time, beijinhos lovelies!

New video: contest entry for MakeupByGloria: Tribal!

Wow, it had actually been about 6 months since I last posted a video on YouTube, and it was about time I did a new one! Actually, I have made a few attempts in the last months, but Windows Movie Maker and FlashPlayer together decided it wasn't going to happen! But when I saw MakeupByGloria's contest, I knew I had to enter!

So, I sat down one evening after having gathered all my inspiration, did a look which didn't quite turn out as I had hoped.. so I altered it slightly... and ended up looking like a tropical bird! Haha!

So, the pictures stayed on the cutting room floor, as I started a second look!

I kept it very simple, almost too simple and slightly amateur-ish, and even though I am not impressed with the end result, I decided to post it anyway! Seeing as it had been ages since I posted anything, I just wanted to get back into it all again!

Well, so what did I do, you ask? Here it is!

I painted my forehead and eyelids red with 2 shades from my new 88 pallet as I didn't have any red grease paint, and the rest of my face with Screenface panstick in Almond and set it with a dark shimmery bronzer. I then applies a thick line of clown white from Ben Nye along the edge of the red and under my eyes, and some dots on my forehead and along the eyes. Finishing off with a line down the centre of my bottom lip.

Very simple!
I then donned a long brown wig, braided into two sections with two little braids at the side, and some choice accessories, and voila! Diamond has become a red indian clan chief!

I am under no illusion that I will win, but wow did it feel great to finally post another video on YouTube! Also, this seems to have dis-lodged whatever it was that was stopping me, as I have since then completed 2 more videos and am working on 3 more! Haha!

So I hope you enjoy my return to YouTube, please tell all your friends! ;)

The video for the contest can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oregi3tAHE0

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more from me in the future!

Kisses! Diamond xxx