Color Me Bad

Read the interview below.

You've said Cher was inspired by Clueless, which is one of your favorite movies, but why Strauberry?

It's Strauberry, because my last name has always been Straub, and kids at school would just call me Strawberry. So like, I just changed the spelling, or I've left the spelling depending on which way you look at it.

If your life was a movie, it would be called ________.

Ooh, um Maybe Later.

Your mother is a mortuary cosmetologist. Did that have any hand in sparking your interest in makeup?

Maybe? Oh my God, I've never even thought of it. She did do that, but it wasn't her only job. I never really thought about it like that. I think it was more my sisters, like in high school. One sister was a cheerleader, and I think it was her mostly.

Can you speak a little more to how your sister encouraged you to pursue makeup?

I'm trying to think about it. Sorry, I did just wake up. Um, okay. How did I get into makeup? I really don't fucking know. I guess it was more my sister, 'cause I would have all these cheerleaders at my house all the time.

You've spoken in the past about transitioning in front of the Internet. What's your current relationship with social media like? Has it evolved?

Ooh, that's a good question. I do love the Internet, and I love going live on Instagram and doing my makeup there. Tons of girls—when I first transitioned, I only knew one or two makeup lists. And when I would go live and do my makeup or whatever, all of these girls would chime in and give me tons of tips and tell me like, "Oh, you should use this color corrector instead of the one you're using, 'cause it's better for your skin tone and like what you're trying to like get rid of." And I'd be like, "What the fuck, really?" And it would totally work all the time. And then, I just kind of had a bump of girls chiming and helping me through Instagram Live. 

But I do love Instagram a lot. It's weird to find like—I don't know. Sometimes it's really nice, 'cause I don't have a lot of like—I'm not really close with family or anything like that. So, sometimes it's really nice to be on Instagram and have people hit me up and say nice things. But they can also be the exact opposite of that too. 

And now, it's more followers than I've ever had, but it's kind of just like a little blown out too. It was kind of fun when it was more tight-knit, and I knew a lot of my followers. Now when I can post something or go live, anything could happen, you know what I mean? People can be like super rude, mean or just out of pocket, or like just messaging me to try to buy Supreme clothes or like just like weird shit. It's love-hate basically.

Building off of that, do you get inspired by makeup looks that you see on Instagram or YouTube?

I like old riot girl books and zines and stuff. I pretty much like old punk books. That's where I find more of my inspo from. But I do save pictures on Instagram if I see someone's make-up that I like.

It sounds like you have a special relationship with Unity Skateboarding, which office actually featured in Issue 11. Can you speak a little bit to your role with the company?

Oh yeah, I met Jeffrey and Gabriel a long time ago through music. Then they made Unity and started it basically, but it pretty much started 'cause me and my friend Stevie were skating in this parking garage. And we all knew each other from music and art, but none of us knew that the other ones skateboarded at all. And then I got my first skateboard in like 10 years or 11 years or something. So we would skate in this parking garage together, just me and Stevie. Then, Jeffrey saw us doing it on Instagram, and he was like, "Oh my God, you guys skate? I used to skate all the time, and I want to come skate with you guys." Then we were like, "Oh, what?! Jeffrey skates!" And then we would all skate around together in this parking garage. And after like three times of doing it, Jeffrey just told us that he ordered 10 skateboards on eBay and that he's going to start a company called Unity Skateboarding and asked us if we would ride for it. Now it's just completely crazy, and it's like, I'm a pro skateboarder.

What's a phrase you find yourself saying often?

"I'm so sure" from the movie Valley Girl.

When did you first realize that people look up to you and the things you've accomplished?

Well, I still trip out on that a lot. I first realized mostly through Instagram probably like a year ago. My message requests are still at like 99 plus. They have been for over a year and a half or something. I would go through the message requests, and tons of it would be people being just super fucked up honestly, being like really mean and gnarly. I've even gotten death threats out there and shit. But there'd be so many kids who were like, "I live in this rural town, and like, you're the best. I love your music." So pretty much, I guess that's like the first time I noticed that. It's kind of overwhelming to think about, so I don't think about it too much. I try to tell kids to follow their hearts all the time. But yeah, I don't know if it's really like hit me.

You've already gone through so much in your life, and I won't get into details. But do you have any advice for your fans who are grieving or going through a difficult time?

Remember that it gets better for sure. It goes up and down. Like anytime I've been at my lowest, things have gotten way crazier and better than I ever thought it would be. And I think that's because I stuck it out, you know? So just remember that it gets better. And remember that you do have control over your own life a lot of the time. If you want something to change, you can change it most of the time if you really try.

What are you listening to while you get ready lately?

Ooh, such a good question. Wow. I love it. I always get really obsessive with records. I've been listening to like Jay Reatard and his girlfriend's band Angry Angles. I've been listening to that record from start to finish for the past month. I also like old girl groups and stuff, like The Supremes and The Ronettes. I have a girl groups of the '60s, '20s golden hits cassettes that I love getting ready to. Have you seen that movie Adventures in Babysitting? It's got this really good intro where, like, you're all getting ready in her room. Kind of like Lizzie McGuire maybe too. She's just like dancing in her room and getting ready. So I love to like dance around and be crazy like those movies when I'm getting ready. I really like Adventures in Babysitting though—I think it's the best intro to any movie ever.

Do you color your hair on your own?

I do a lot of the time. Sometimes I ask for help if I don't do it myself. I don't like tone by myself, 'cause I don't know anything about toning. So if I bleach it, I normally have help. But just hair colors, yeah, I do it all on my own. There's a beauty supply shop not far from my house. It's one of my favorite buildings. It's just a giant pink building with purple trim. I just go there and either get like Manic Panic or Arctic Fox; those are the main ones that I use.

Are there any other beauty products you live and die by? It can be more than one.

Oh yeah, the Milk Makeup star stamp is my absolute favorite. I love that stamp specifically. Like, I wear it almost every single day. And Wet n Wild liquid liner, it's like $3. That's what I do all the strawberry seeds and freckles with. That's definitely key. Red eyeshadow—always on hand. What else? I'm really into black lipstick, and I like the Smashbox one a lot. But I have to have the Milk Makeup star stamp. If I don't have that, I kind of freak out.

Do you have a morning or night beauty routine?

Not really, I keep makeup wipes, and I usually take it off at night. I actually slept with my makeup on last night, so that's not good. But my morning routine is pretty standard. If I'm working, I give myself around 30 minutes to do my makeup. But on days that I don't work, I love taking an hour and a half to get ready, and I love taking my time mostly 'cause I'm dancing in my bedroom or something.

Describe your bedroom and where you get ready.

It's cool. The easiest way to describe it is something like—have you seen the Peter Pan movie Hook? It's kind of like the Lost Boys' fort. I have a downstairs, so I have couch, a record player, and art supplies down there. There's a big craft table. It's lofted in, so it's like a fort. I have this like wooden staircase that goes up to where my bedroom is, and I have a queen bed that's covered in flowers. There's like strawberries and flower tapestries on the wall where my bed is. 

Then I have two big mirrors—one that I get ready in front of with my record players and stuff behind it. But I made my own vanity by just taking like Christmas lights and wrapping it around the mirror. And I have a bunch of Kurt Cobain posters with kisses on them and stuff all over it and a bunch of punk girls like cut out on my mirror.

And this is in Kansas city?

No, my partner lives in Kansas city, so I come out here, but I live in Oakland, California. But yeah, it's really cute. My band mate who plays drums in my band is also my roommate, and he builds me cute little things. Like he built me a little makeup stand for underneath my mirror, so my makeup can sit on that. He even built me a little stand for my cell phone for when I go live. It's really cute. He's a very sweet boy. Before I moved in with him, he heard me talk about it on tour so much. I would be like, "Oh, if I just had like a tiny stand to put my phone on for when I go on Instagram Live." It's like right in front of my mirror. I used to just like stack my phone on a bunch of books and tapes and records, and shit was always falling during the videos, and it would be really funny.

What do you have planned for 2020, and do you have any resolutions?

I got so many plans. I've been skating for Vans shoes, you know. I just switched from Converse to Vans, so I'm going to be doing a lot of stuff with them. And I have like lots of big news that will come up this summer, but I can't say too much about it. I'm starting a project with two other queer skateboarders that I'm really excited about. I wish I could talk about it, but it's not going to be released until summer. I'm also filming a new video part right now that'll come out in June. I just did a little Spitfire part for Spitfire wheels. I have a new record that comes out on 4/20 this year, and I'm really excited about that. It's all like bedroom kinda girly pop songs that I wrote, but it's like 31 songs. But pretty much just those really, and I'm just trying to skate as much as I can and play as much music as I can.

What's the title of your new record coming out?

It's called chering is caring.