I know what you're thinking: A drag queen makes a lousy makeup muse.

But Dame Edna Everage is so much more. She's a dame (self-proclaimed as near as we can find out). A dame with lilac hair (she insists it's natural), glittery cat-eye glasses and sequined frocks (so shiny they can probably be seen from outer space).

So MAC Cosmetics has signed up the ... um ... entertainer for the Dame Edna Collection, which is heavy on lilac lipstick, eye shadow, highlight powder and nail lacquers. Prices are in the $11-to- $32.50 range.

"Follow my beauty regime, possums, and you'll never be cosmetically challenged," Dame Edna says in press materials. "It's lovely being a MAC dame. One of my favorite nuts is called the macadamia. But no, I'm not a nut. I am a particularly fruity lady and very, very proud of this association."

Dame Edna is a character — and that's putting it mildly — played by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, who never breaks character. Never. Those who are déclassé enough to ask are curtly informed by Edna that Humphries is her road manager and nothing more.

The character has been a hit with Aussie audiences since the 1950s, crossing over into international film fame in the 1970s. In the '80s and '90s, Edna launched a series of very popular TV specials in Great Britain. In 2000 and 2004, there were Broadway shows and, starting in 2001, a recurring role on the fifth season of TV's Ally McBeal.

Dame Edna brings her act to Fort Lauderdale March 10 to 28 at Parker Playhouse, 707 NE Eighth St.

And now she's a cosmetics queen. Or a queen of cosmetics. An honor she shares with RuPaul, another former MAC model. But seriously, I wouldn't bring that up if I were you.

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