‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Star Morphine Love Dion Is Taking Her Face Card to the Bank

Dionne Warwick may have once asked of listeners “Don’t Make Me Over,” but the judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race seem to feel differently.

On last week’s episode (aired March 29), the five remaining contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race were tasked with giving members of the Pit Crew dancers from RuPaul’s Drag Race Live in Las Vegas full drag makeovers. Transforming hunky men into fellow queens — with a strong family resemblance, of course — the girls also had to teach their new drag daughters how to work the runway with a short choreographed number.

Continuing her winning streak, Plane Jane impressed the judges with her drag daughter Lazi Susan, earing her fourth challenge win of the season. Meanwhile, Sapphira Cristál stumbled in presenting her daughter Shakira Cristál, while Morphine Love Dion’s introduction of her protegé La Tina didn’t thrill the panel, putting both queens in the bottom two.

Lip synching to guest judge Kelsea Ballerini’s “Miss Me More,” Sapphira’s less-is-more approach to the artform paid off in dividends, earning her a spot in the coveted top four queens of the season. Meanwhile, Morphine’s string of lip sync assassinations finally came to end, with the “BBL queen of Miami” finally leaving the competition.

Below, Morphine chats with Billboard about her time on the show, making it this far in the competition without a challenge win, her viral lip sync against Dawn and her approach to drag makeup that fans have been fawning over since she entered the work room.

Congrats on making it to top five, Morphine! How does it feel getting to say that all these months later?

You know, while filming I had such a great time — obviously, not winning any challenges or any mini challenges was tough. I was like, “Oh my god, the fans are going to think I flopped.” But, the love I’ve been receiving has been so immense and intense and amazing that, honestly, I don’t think they even care about my track record, I feel like a lot of people just fell in love with my personality. Honestly, my run was perfect — well, obviously I should have made top four, but otherwise I’m very happy with how everything went down. 

We gotta talk about your mug. You have clearly perfected the art of drag makeup — what advice would you give to young queens looking to emulate your look?

So, funny enough, I just posted a photo of myself the first time I was in drag, and girl, it was crunchy. That should inspire everyone that it is possible to go from rough mug to really sickening paint — it does, in fact, get better!

But yeah, it was a lot of practice and watching a lot of YouTube videos of now-cancelled influencers online. I also just grabbed a lot of different inspirations. Like, I will always say that Valentina is my No. 1 mug inspiration, her paint is one of my favorites besides Raven. They both are just … they molded me into my mug. It just took me a while to kind of perfect my own face, and the fact that I’m getting so much love for it is amazing. 

Your paint is so good that Trixie Mattel adopted you on sight via The Pit Stop. 

I know! I want that Trixie Cosmetics sponsorship, honey. But that’s Mother, so whatever she wants to give me, she can put me on her list — she can make me co-signer for Trixie Motel, whatever she wants I will be there for her. Love you, Mom!

But the other you thing you became very quickly known for on this season was your killer lip syncs. Did you have a favorite lip sync you got to do?

Oh, mine is obviously “Body” against Miss Dawn. I literally felt the spirit of Megan Thee Stallion consuming my body; like, she possessed me. I remember Sapphira telling us that she started crying for Dawn before the song even started.

Oh, Dawn herself told us that the only thing she could think about during the lip sync was which wig she would put in which suitcase once it was over.

You know, the thing was, it would not have mattered who I lip synced against; that song in particular plays in Miami almost as a national anthem. Every morning, I wake up by paying homage to the Hotties by playing that song. It’s literally built into my nervous system at this point. So, when they told us what song was happening that day, I was like, “Oh, okay. I’m safe another week.” 

I mean, I started out doing amateur drag contests competing against other girls, and Miami is known for having some of the best lip sync artists ever. So, coming up getting to watch these queens perfectly execute timing, knowing how and when to do a reveal or a split or punch someone in the face, was crucial. I learned from all of them, and then I ended up using those same tricks on them in my competitions, and won almost every battle contest I competed in in Miami. 

On this episode, you and the other girls were tasked with a makeover challenge, which very much seemed like your exact vibe. When you’re not under the pressure of a reality television show, are you the kind of queen who enjoys giving makeovers?

It is one of my favorite things to do, absolutely. I do it often, and I don’t want to be dramatic, but I can change people’s lives — at least makeup-wise! I have done my makeup on other queens before, and they’ve changed their entire approach as a result. Almost every person that I’ve done looks exactly like me, so I was excited for this challenge, because I thought I was absolutely winning the makeover challenge right at the end. I’ve done weddings, I’ve done quinceañeras, I’ve done it all. 

It’s helpful that your partner Miguel was simply so hot, and you were very aware of that fact.

Girl! Straight up, I think that’s why I lost this challenge, because I was too busy ogling. I was fully ready to leave set and start a new life with him. What’s so funny is he has truly the manliest face. For some, that would have been the hardest challenge, but I was slowly falling in love with him and saying, “I will do whatever it takes to make this man pretty.” And I don’t know, he really just was … I was so lost the whole episode because he was just so fine. 

Before I have to let you go, I’d love to know — what music have you been listening to lately?

Other than “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion, I have been obsessing over the new Kali Uchis album, ORQUÍDEAS, because it is insanely good. And also, Ariana’s “The Boy Is Mine” is supreme. It’s a bop. 

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