Hispanic Cosplayers For Hispanic Heritage Month

The Confessions of a Cosplay Girl Blog continues its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th-October 15th) by placing the spotlight on several active cosplayers of Hispanic descent. Each talented and creative cosplayer spoke about their passion for the hobby. We also tackled important topics such as racism and how Hispanics are portrayed in comics and in the media. Check out the interviews as well as photos of their stunning work below! To find out more about Hispanic Heritage Month, CLICK HERE.

Name: Ivy
Ethnicity: Puerto Rican 

Costumes: Catwoman, Black Cat, Jill Valentine, Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, Princess Leia, Draculaura, Vampirella, Zatanna, Caitlyn, Ash Ketch, Zulu, Redwing, Steampunk Mermaid, Queen of Hearts, Alice, Liesel Vanhelseng, Machiko ( female predator), Blondie from Sucker Punch, Satanico Pandemonium and The Other Mother.

Social Media Accounts: www.fb.com/Ivettecosplay
Instagram: @ivycosplay
Deviant Art:  ivy95.deviantart.com 

Conventions You Have Attended: MegaCon, DragonCon, Conjure, Fanboy Expo, Tampa Comic Con, Spooky Empire. 

 How does it feel to be one of the leading ladies in cosplay of Hispanic Heritage? It feels great to be Hispanic and to accomplish so much in so short time. I feel that Im showing to all our women out there that what ever you decided to do in your life, never give up, as long as it is for good. You should work for it and always give 100% no less than that and that goes for all the male Cosplayers too. 

 What advice would you give other Latinas who are looking into getting in the hobby? Have fun, be creative, use all your imagination and you will be able to accomplish big things if you dont give up.

 Do you have any costumes you are currently working on?Jun The Swan

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Name: Evil Queen Jacky
Ethnicity: Cuban American 

Costumes: Regina the Evil Queen from Once Upon aATime, Various Disney Princesses, Various Once Upon a Time characters, Marvel characters, DC characters, Silver Screen actresses, video game characters, TV characters, Horror, Terminator and Sci-Fi, Tomb Raider, Lisa from Weird Science and many more to come.

 Conventions: Megacon, Wizard World (various), Spooky Empire, Awesomecon, Nekocon, Baltimore Comic-Con, Supercon and many small local cons. 

Favorite cosplay: Regina the Evil Queen (Once Upon a Time) 

Have you ever felt reluctant to costume a certain character because of your ethnicity?Not really, Ive always been pretty confident in the characters I cosplay. Ive always seen cosplay as something you do for fun, for yourself, so who you choose to cosplay is entirely up to your comfort zone. 

 What words of advice would you give other Hispanic Cosplayers when it comes to costume choices and possibly facing racism on the internet or convention circuit? Ive fortunately never experienced any racism in the cosplay community, and for that I am grateful. However, I have been discriminated against in other ways not associated to my latin heritage and the only advice I have for that is a bit straight forward and blunt - Grow tougher skin! People will ALWAYS try to bring you down, whether its race, culture, religion, weight, age, life choices, the list goes on and on. The moment you start caring about what others think and/or say, is the moment youve willingly placed your life and happiness in others hands. Take charge of YOUR life! 

Do you have a favorite character of Hispanic Descent?I absolutely LOVE Pedro Sanchez from Napoleon Dynamite! Yes, I know its incredibly cliche, but not only is it one of my favorite movies, but he is definitely my favorite Latin character. Vote for Pedro! 

Social Media Accounts:Instagram: @EvilQueenJacky
Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/evilqueenjacky

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Name: Tiffany Cruz aka Sky

Ethnicity: Puerto Rican 

Social Media: Facebook - Sky Cosplay 
Instagram: @Sky_Cosplay

Costumes: Batwoman, Catwoman, Kitana, Esmeralda , Miss Harley Quinn, Rainbow, Dash Pikachu. 

Conventions: Zenkaikon, The Greater Philadelphia Comic-Con,  J1-Con, Wizard World Philadelphia, Monster Mania, Retro Con, New York Comic Con and Steampunk Worlds Fair. 

What are your thoughts on how Latinas are protrayed in media (movies, comics, cartoons and television)?  My thoughts are I think we need more of them. I think its great, because it shows the art, the beauty, and the love for the characters.

 Would you personally like to see more Hispanic characters in media?  Yes, I will you love to see more Hispanic characters! Its about time we see more of them. It would show the culture some spotlight. I mean we already characters like Bane, Blue Beetle (Jamie Reyes), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), The Question (Renee Montoya), and more. But it will be nice to see one as the main person in their own story. 

What would you say was your best convention experience? Best convention experience was going to New York Comic-Con for the first time with my boyfriend. I knew this con was big, but I wasnt ready for how epic it was. I mean it took us 10 minutes to get past the doors because people just kept asking for our pictures. It was my first time doing Harley Quinn and my boyfriend was the Joker, everyone loved our costumes. Nothing cant beat that, because it was the first time me and my boyfriend cosplayed together. And now that all we do, going to conventions together, and never growing up.

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Name: Agent Paradox (Geneva)

 Ethnicity: Puerto Rican & Sicilian

 Costumes: Baroness (Hail Cobra!), Imperial Officer (Hail the Empire!), Ezio (Assassins Creed 2), Garrett (Thief), Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite), Snow White, and a few others Im sure I am missing.

 Social Media Accounts: Facebook: www.facebook.com/paradoxical.illusion 
Instagram: @AgentParadox

Conventions You Have Attended: SDCC, Comikaze, Wizard World, BigWow, Wondercon and a few others.

 Have you personally seen the hobby of costuming grow within the Hispanic Community? Absolutely! The diversity is a wonderful change. It is so great to see many more from the community getting into cosplay.

 Do you find yourself more drawn to characters of Hispanic descent to costume or is it irrelevant what nationality the character is? To me it is pretty irrelevant. I tend to just cosplay characters I love and have a connection to regardless of their race. 

 Would you personally like to see more Hispanic characters in comic books and sci-fi? I would love to see more in all genres of geek culture.

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Name: Han Pan
 Ethnicity: Mixed, but mostly Puerto Rican

Costumes: Lots of Harley Quinn from Batman, the Wasp from the Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes, Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Sailor Moon, Dagger from Final Fantasy IX, Oerba dia Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, and more.

 Social Media Accounts: http://www.facebook.com/hanpanthecosplayer My new Facebook page!

 Conventions You Have Attended: I routinely attend MAGfest, Katsucon, Awesomecon, Baltimore Comic Con, and AnimeUSA.

We have been friends for several years and I recall people referring to you as white girl". They are obviously oblivious to the fact that Hispanics come in many beautiful colors. How does that make you feel to be referred to that way? What is their reaction when you inform people that you are Puerto Rican? Shock. In some cases, shock and horror. At one point in my life, I very vividly recall having a legitimate argument with a girl who insisted there was no way in hell I was Hispanic and that I was an awful person and a liar for saying that I was. I also have a lot of people who are confused that I dont speak Spanish, and I have to explain to them what being Hispanic in a small town in the 50s does to an immigrant. My father speaks very little Spanish, but it was all learned in secret; his father would have been livid had he found out. 

What are your thoughts on how Hispanics in general are represented in the media? For the most part I find it degrading. There are few out there in popular media to begin with, and they tend to be portrayed poorly. Gang members, morons, unable to communicate, unable to work, illegal, etc. Its frustrating. Unless you look at Telemundo or the few Hispanic pop culture figures (Gabriel Iglesias, J.Lo to some extent, Matt Peña...I asked my movie/actor buff boyfriend and he spent five minutes to come up with two) who are generally portrayed positively, there really isnt much out there. But Hispanics are some of the hardest working people I know as a whole, and their dedication to their family and to their work is unparalleled. Im extremely proud to call myself Latina.

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Couture Maleficent Gallery

Its been a year since the Disney movie Maleficent was released starring my favorite woman in the world, Angelina Jolie. The live action fairy tale told the "true" story of the famous evil fairy from the classic animated film, Sleeping Beauty. Upon the movies release, I created a Couture version of my favorite villain. Using Kandee Johnsons makeup tutorial, it took me an hour to properly apply the makeup. I made the horns, staff and gloves. The wig is a lace front from a local wig shop. The jewelry is from the official Maleficent merchandise line. The contacts are from Pinky Paradise. The dress is from Macys. 

Photography credit: Photos and Designs by Piera

Bodhi Tree Photography 

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Costume Break Down Couture Maleficent

Welcome to the first edition of Costume Break Down on the Confessions of a Cosplay Girl Blog! Costume Break Down will highlight one of my costumes followed by a detailed description on how I put it all together.  The first costume Id like to spotlight is Couture Maleficent. I decided to create this look for many reasons, the first being that Angelina Jolie is my favorite woman in the world. Her beauty, talent and work with the United Nations have kept me enchanted with the actress for as long as I can remember. I was thrilled when it was announced she would be playing Maleficent, who is my favorite Disney Villain.



 I decided to go with a Couture version and not her traditional look because it was more cost effective. I drew inspiration not only from Angelinas appearance but from a Designer Maleficent doll released by Disney a few years ago.  I began work on this costume and finished it the week the film was released. As fate would have it, I ended up doing a photo shoot in it on May 29th, which was the day I attended an early screening (the film was released on May 30, 2014 however my local theater was having a showing on the 29th at 7pm).

Horns: I made two pairs of horns prior to the final ones before getting it right. These were made using a head band, two dixie cups, wire, aluminum foil, duct tape, black ribbon and hot glue.

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Wig: I am very fortunate that there is a local wig shop with lace front wigs available at affordable prices. This was something that I pulled out of my cosplay closet. I had purchased it two years ago for a Celebrity Cosplay Group at Dragoncon where coincidentally, I was Angelina Jolie. 

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Gloves: These were pre-made gloves that I altered. I cut the hand area off completely, sewed it up then sewed on a lace trim. 

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Jewelry: I was a bit stumped when it came to accessories. I knew I needed something to complement the dress but I wasnt sure what. Hot Topic to the rescue! I found some official movie merchandise there and selected this ring and crystal necklace with a black feather. 

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Staff and Dress: The dress is something that has been in my closet for quite a while now. It is from a department store. I made the staff. I purchased the wood at Home Depot and spray painted it gold. I also spray painted some plastic leaves gold as well. I purchased the clear ball from the craft store. I glued the leaves on using hot glue and attached the ball to a piece of craft foam and glued it to the top of the staff. I dont recommend this however, being that the ball has fallen off. 

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Makeup and Contacts: Kandee Johnson uploaded an amazing Maleficent makeup tutorial on her You Tube channel and I highly recommend it. Brace yourself however; putting on this face takes a lot of work! Beauty Tip: I used the official Maleficent lipstick by MAC. My contact lenses are from Pinky Paradise. 

Makeup Tutorial

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Product Review Younique 3D Fiber Lashes

Younique Cosmetics is a company that specializes in premium quality makeup. It was founded by a brother and sister team and is the first  direct sales company to market and sell almost exclusively though social media. You can view their Official Facebook Page HERE. This article is a review for the Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes. This item is currently Youniques best selling product. This three step mascara advertises to give incredible thickness and volume to your lashes. Weve all heard those promises before, right? Im pleased to report that this product actually delivers.

Currently priced at $29.00 (plus a small shipping fee), a listing for the Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes can be found HERE. Details can also be found on the website such as directions for application and the ingredients in the product. An interesting note to point out is that the fibers are taken from 100% natural green tea.



The 3D Fiber Lashes come in a thick, durable case with two mascara tubes inside. One tube is the transplanting gel. The other is the natural fibers. It also comes with instructions.  The first step is to apply one coat of your favorite mascara. After it dries, you apply one even coat of the transplanting gel. You do not wait for the gel to dry. You immediately apply a coat of fiber lashes and seal it with another coat of transplanting gel. You can repeat this process as many times as you want for longer, thicker lashes. If the lashes start to clump, they can be combed out with a lash brush. It can be washed off easily with soap and water or eye makeup remover.

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The 3D Fiber lashes certainly succeed in delivering dramatic lashes. This item is particularly helpful for those who do not know how to apply false eye lashes. I would prefer to use this product rather than dealing with the glue and mess of false eye lashes. The 3D Fiber Lashes is quicker to apply and less of a mess. Theres also the bonus of not having to wonder if your false eye lash will fall off in the middle of the day.This is perfect for cosplay, everyday wear, date night, special occasions, you get the hint. To place an order, visit this link HERE and be sure to check out more Younqiue products HERE.

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