How to Apply Day of the Dead Makeup

Co-authored by Shara Strand

Last Updated: September 30, 2024 References

The Day of the Dead is a widely celebrated holiday and has a distinctive style of makeup that is traditionally associated with the holiday. The style is known as “sugar skull” makeup because of the way it mimics the skull candy which is used in the celebration. Applying Day of the Dead makeup has become a popular tradition and is simple enough to accomplish for most people. Although there are essentially endless variations, achieving the basic look is easy to accomplish.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Creating the Base

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1
Wash, moisturize, and prime your face. Use whatever cleanser you normally use, or simply use soap and water. A clean and oil-free face is best to ensure the makeup application goes smoothly. Next, apply moisturizer because large amounts of makeup can dry out your skin. Lastly, apply a makeup primer to smooth out your features and help the makeup apply more smoothly and come off more easily. ^{[1]
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- Washing is a must to make sure the face is oil-free when you start the makeup. Moisturizer and primer will help you accomplish the look better but are not absolutely necessary.
2
Apply white base to the whole face. Don’t use anything grease-based like clown paint from the halloween store. Instead, using water-based theatrical makeup, like the one sold by Ben Nye, is often recommended. ^{[2]
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Research source} White Kabuki makeup is also a good option. It is probably easiest to order either of these online, if you have that option available. Use a sponge or brush to apply the makeup to your whole face, avoiding the area around your eyes.
- Apply the makeup from the top of your forehead just below the hairline to the sides of your face at the edge of your ear and around your jawline just under the chin. Don’t go all the way under your chin or down onto your neck.
- You may need to apply multiple coats so your face is covered completely. You don’t want the makeup to be too caked or become lumpy, but you want your face to appear fully white with no skin showing through.
- Don’t apply makeup to your lips.
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3
Use a powder to set the base. Using standard setting powder, lightly cover the whole face. Using a brush or a powder puff are both fine. When using a puff, be sure to dab rather than wipe to keep from smearing the white base you’ve just applied. ^{[3]
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- Setting with powder is not absolutely necessary, but it will ensure a longer lasting look.
- At this point, you can also lightly brush hot pink eye shadow or blush on the contours of your cheeks, chin, and forehead.
4
Draw circles around the eyes. You can use an eyeliner pencil, liquid eyeliner, a nude pencil, or even cream eye shadow. The idea is to outline the whole area of the eye that you want to emphasize.The circle should encompass the entire eye socket, from the top of the eyebrows to the lower edge of the eye socket. ^{[4]
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- For people with thick or tricky eyebrows, a light swipe of an Elmer’s glue stick can help straighten them and even them out. It’s safe and washes off easily with water. ^{[5]
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- Don’t worry about making a perfect circle, because you can blend it with makeup in the later steps.

Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Accentuating the Eyes

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1
Apply mascara to both eyes. Don’t be afraid to apply 2 or 3 coats of mascara because you are going for a darker look than you normally would. Using one coat of brown mascara and then one coat of black can give your lashes a fuller look. ^{[6]
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Research source} Mascara and other features don’t need to be perfect given the overall look. It’s also not a big deal if you get mascara on your eyelids since you will be covering this whole area anyway.
- If you want to curl your lashes, this is the time to do it.
- You can also buy mascara that is specifically meant to create more volume, such as Maybelline’s The Falsies Push Up Angel Mascara or Urban Decay Perversion Mascara.
Go around the waterline of your eye as you usually would when applying eyeliner, but also cover about halfway up your upper eyelid. Also make sure you get the inside and outside corners well since you won’t be able to get them with paint or eye shadow. Liquid eyeliner works best but pencil is an option.
3
Blend from eyelashes to eyebrows. Using either an all over eyeshadow brush or a blender brush, blend eyeshadow up from the eyeliner filling in the circle from eyelashes to eyebrow. Then extend shading around the bottom of the eye socket, filling the rest of the circle. One you finish, you should have a fully filled circle around your eye. The circle does not have to be perfect. ^{[7]
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- You have a decision to make here: do you want to stick with a basic black and white look or add some color? You have freedom to style your eyes in a way that most fits the look you want. You can stick with all black or use a vibrant color like blue or pink.
4
Add small dots all around the outer edge of the circle. Place the dots so that they overlap just slightly using the eyeliner from before. If you want a very simple look, you can stick with black filled circle and black dots. If you you used blue or pink, black dots are also good, but if you used black to fill in the circles, you could use bright red paint to make the dots stand out.
- Rather than simple dots, you can also draw more elaborate flower petals with bright colors. ^{[8]
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Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Accenting the Nose and Mouth

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1
Paint the lips. Start by applying basic lipstick. Bright red or pale pink are the best options, but feel free to pick what you like best. Then, use black lip liner (or eyeliner) to draw a horizontal line across the middle of your lips. ^{[9]
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- You can make the line extend just past the edges of your mouth or you can extend it all the way to your jaw line.
- Don’t make it super wavy, but it doesn’t have to be straight as a ruler either.
2
Draw small vertical lines through the horizontal line. This completes the stitching of the mouth.
- The size of the stitch lines is up to you, but don’t exceed an inch long.
- How close you place them is also up to you, but don’t get them so close that they blend together.
Use black paint or liquid eyeliner to emphasize the nose. Start on the bridge of your nose and paint at least to the tip forming a triangle with rounded points. You can also paint the whole nose covering the nostrils if you want to.

Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Adding Extra Features

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Draw two lines, like the points of a triangle, on your forehead with the point towards your nose. Draw a third line down the middle of the first two. Connect all three lines with wavy horizontal lines filling in the web. Depending on what type of shirt you are wearing, you can also add spiderwebs to your shoulders or chest. ^{[10]
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Using black eyeliner, you can add a small cross to your forehead and one on each cheek. Using red lipstick, draw a small heart on your chin. These touches symbolize the love and spiritual aspects of Day of the Dead.
You can use flowers to customize the look in a number of ways. Keep it simple with a small flower on the cheek or whole bouquet starting at the temple and continuing down the cheek to your jaw. You can also draw petals around the black makeup on your eyes.

Expert Q&A

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Question

How can I make my makeup last all day?

Shara Strand
Makeup Artist
Shara Strand is a Makeup Artist and the Founder of Shara Makeup Studio, a makeup and image consulting studio based in New York City. She has over 15 years of image and makeup consulting experience including working as a regional artist for Bare Escentuals and Estee Lauder, Saks 5th Avenue, Bloomingdales, and Bergdorf Goodman. Her work has been featured in WNBC, Fox 5, Direct TV ABC morning news, and Hamptons Magazine. She is the creator of Shara Cosmetics and is a two time Billboard charted singer. She holds a BFA from New York University.

Shara Strand

Makeup Artist

Expert Answer

Using a primer is key to making your makeup last all day. Doing this preps the skin so you don't have to use more products on your face and locks your look in place. For touch-ups throughout the day, lightly blot some oil on your T-zone with a fan brush and use pressed powder.

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Question

How do I paint the nose?

Cecilia Flores

Top Answerer

You could do a simple upside-down heart. If you want to replicate the one in the video, draw an uppercase "M" with one point higher than the other. Make the sides curve around the tip of your nose to shape it and bring it down under your nose between your nostrils, almost connecting it. Draw an upside-down "V" and connect each side of the "V" with the other lines so that a small section is cut out and it won't be one point. Fill in the space on your nose and you're done.

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Question

Would I paint with purple around the eyes, or would eye shadow be better? How can I prevent it from cracking?

T. Chinsen

Top Answerer

Any makeup product can be used for face painting. Whatever is used needs to be comfortable. A method for a white face is to apply a lotion to the face and dust cornstarch right after. Dust off excess cornstarch before doing face details. The cornstarch will hold the moisture in place and prevent cracking. (Baby powder will dry out the skin.) Snazaroo white facepaint will cover dark complexions and will stay white when dry. It is hypoallergenic and does not crack. It can be worn for 8 hours (tested!) and easily removes with soap and water.

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How to Apply Day of the Dead Makeup

Steps

Creating the Base

Accentuating the Eyes

Accenting the Nose and Mouth

Adding Extra Features

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