Makeup prevails despite Comic-Con heat

While superheroes can take down the bad guys and save the public on a moment’s notice, they sometimes can’t battle Mother Nature’s toughest challenge: heat.

With temperatures in the 80s this weekend (and high humidity), Comic-Con goers have had to take extra steps to ensure that their makeup does not melt off on the sweaty walk to and from the Convention Center.

So how do they do it? Practice, waking up extra early and lots of reinforcements.

For Todd Schmidt (aka Iceman), on July 20 his day started at 4:30 a.m. and a task he anticipated to be sort of difficult turned into a small nightmare.

“Halfway through painting, I realized it wasn’t turning out the way I wanted so I took a shower and had to start all over again.” he said.

Like Schmidt, many other cosplayers anticipate the difficulty of walking down greasy Fifth Avenue.

“I started practicing applying my makeup a few weeks ago,” said Jenae VanDoorne, who was dressed as The Avengers’ Singularity. “There are so many layers that I had to apply to get the look just right. And even though it came out the way I wanted, I brought makeup with me to touch up throughout the day.”

While each cosplayer had his or her own strategy, they all agreed on one product: setting spray.

“It’s like makeup hair spray,” said Genesis Prizmic, who was dressed as Ember McLain of Nickelodeon’s Danny Phantom. “Once I finished my makeup, I sprayed some all over my face, and after a few minutes I was ready to go. It’s been so helpful.”

Though the process is strenuous, many of Comic-Con’s cosplayers plan on enduring the process all weekend.

“I’m going all-out with my makeup every day this weekend,” Prizmic said. “Tomorrow I’m changing my look to Harley Quinn, but it wouldn’t be Comic-Con without dressing the part.”

For now, it looks like cosplayers are blasting Mother Nature’s flames of fury back into outer space, but who knows what’s to come for days two, three and four.