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Behind the Scenes With The Advocate's Queer Beauty Guru Cover Stars

Patrick Starrr, Patrick Ta, Plastique Tiara, and Michelle Phan are queering and changing the beauty industry for the better.

Tracy E. Gilchrist Feb 09, 2022

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

The New Faces of Beauty

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Go behind the scenes with our January/February cover stars Patrick Starrr, Patrick Ta, Plastique Tiara, and Michelle Phan. These groundbreaking beauty gurus are queering and changing their industry for the better. At a photo shoot late last year, photographer BJ Pascual captured their essence and joy.

"It's exciting to expand because I think once upon a time, there were only a handful of brands [that] only catered to a certain type of consumer in terms of standard," Starrr tells writer Raffy Ermac in the cover story. "But now the vast variety of beauty, whether you're a drag queen, whether you're a minimalist, whether you love clean, next-to-nothing makeup, or whether you're a beat-face kind of girl or guy, there's such a variety for everyone."

"Growing up, I was never comfortable with being gay, so I always surrounded myself with women who allowed me to feel comfortable in my own skin, allowed me to talk the way that I want to talk, that allowed me to dress the way I would and play with girly things," Ta says in the story about identity. "I'm so lucky that I've been around so many strong, beautiful women, and I think it really has helped shape me."

The creative team on the shoot consisted of:

Photographer & Creative Director: BJ Pascual; Digital Tech: Jeff Salomon; Photography Assistant: Gabriella Salinardo; Executive Producer: Fabian Quinonez; Assistant Producers: CJ Williams Ellis, Peter Simondac; Production Assistant: Hillary Bingham; Makeup Artist: Apollo Barragan; Production Assistant: Jose Rodriguez; Hair Stylist: Cristina Williams; Hair Stylist Assistant: Karina Belisario; Wardrobe Stylists: Karla Miranda, Annie & Hannah; Assistant Wardrobe Stylist: Asia Xiong; Set Designer: Haley Bowan; Assistant Set Designer: Shannon Pollak

BTS photos are courtesy of BJ Pascual

Patrick Starrr and Photographer BJ Pascual

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Patrick Starrr Finds the Light

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BJ Pascual Photographs Michelle Phan

BJ and Michelle

Patrick Starrr and Plastique Tiara

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Starrr, Phan, and Plastique Check Out the Monitors

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Plastique Prepares

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Ta and Starrr

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Ta With Pascual

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Ready for Their Close-Up

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Behind the Scenes

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A Peek Behind the Curtain

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A Real Production

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The Finished Product

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