Rebecca Romijn knows a little bit about painting her entire body blue. She went through the agony of sitting in a makeup chair for nine hours a day while they transformed her from blonde supermodel into the character Mystique in the X-Men films.

The Skin Wars host offered up some advice to help out the contestants on the first ever body painting reality show competition. “I really felt like I had a lot to offer on the subject. And the amazing thing about being painted is that once you’re completely painted you don’t feel nude. You do not feel nude. And you’ll see it in the body language.” She added, “You sort of have to go to a zen place. You have to get into some fairly awkward positions to help out the person who’s painting you.”

For her role as a shape-shifting mutant in the X-Men movies, Romijn was totally covered in blue body paint. Her call times were often midnight in order to be ready to shoot by the next morning. Of course, one of the side effects of being covered in blue paint is leaving a trail, “Blue paint on everything, including every time I had to go use the loo, blue toilet seats,” Romijn said. “Everybody knew when I had to go use the bathroom because there was a blue toilet seat.”

The Revolutionary Technology that Turned Rebecca Romijn into X-Men's Mystique http://t.co/BeFHhx3B

— io9 (@io9) August 16, 2012

It seems that Jennifer Lawrence got away easy when she took on the role of Mystique in the second X-Men movie she appeared in, X-Men: Days of Future Past. The blue paint caused nasty skin irritations when she did the first movie, so she got to wear a body suit the second time around. “Not that Jennifer Lawrence didn’t do a great job, she’s phenomenal. I love sharing that role with that girl,” Romijn stated. “She’s as cool as they come. But I do think nine hours of makeup makes you the villain you need to be to be Mystique.” X-Men: Apocalypse is currently is pre-production.

Skin Wars made its premiere last night on GSN. New episodes are set to air every Wednesday at 9 pm. It is the first television show that is entirely devoted to body art. Romijn hosts the reality competition. RuPaul, Craig Tracy, and Robin Slonina serve as judges.

#SkinWars Series Premiere photos @SkinWarsShow http://t.co/rM0074SEZu pic.twitter.com/n8kAvhRZAr

— Zap2it (@Zap2it) August 7, 2014

Next Wednesday, we're PRODUCING beautiful things. Don't miss #SkinWars, only on @GSN! pic.twitter.com/ZEZnEXjvPU

— Skin Wars (@SkinWarsShow) August 7, 2014

Image via Wikimedia Commons