Dia de Los Muertos is a holiday that it is observed across Mexico to honor those who have died. From November 1 to November 2, families invite back the souls of their departed relatives for a short reunion that involves food, wine, celebration, and makeup looks. La Catrina, a skeleton figure reminiscent of sugar skulls, is the most prevalent type of Day of the Dead look. According to tradition, La Catrina’s ancestors are the Aztec death goddess Mictecacihuatl, who served to honor and protect those who had died and to represent Mexicans’ connection with death. If you’re looking to recreate a Day of the Dead makeup look at home, look no further. We recently added Pond’s Dia De Los Muertos Masterclass Event where Latinx Makeup Artist Susana Niño shared some helpful tips for your look.

Moisturize

Before starting your makeup look, it’s important to moisturize your skin well. Since you’ll be covering your face with a white base, you want to make sure the paint doesn’t cling onto any dry patches. Applying Pond’s Dry Cream allows the base to go on your skin smoothly, while providing rich hydration.

Base

A great base for your Catrina makeup for Day of the Dead is the Ben Nye White Foundation Cream. Created by the Special FX and stage makeup brand, this opaque foundation works great at covering the whole skin. To apply, you first want to use some setting spray on a foundation brush to warm up the product. In circular motions, apply the white foundation to cover your entire face including your eyelids, brows, and mouth. Of course, try to avoid getting the product in you actual eyes. We wouldn’t want any accidents!

Contour

The easiest way to replicate sugar skulls’ gaunt appearance is by contouring. To add some depth to your skin, use a cream product like Em Cosmetics So Soft Multi Faceplay. This product comes in an easy-to-apply stick that gives you more control over where you want the product to go. For this look, begin by softly sucking in your cheeks to locate the hollows of your cheeks. Once you’ve found that line, add the cream product to contour on both sides of the face. Blend and re-apply as needed until you get the desired color on your skin. You could also use a shadow for this step. Niño recommends using the darkest shade of the palette you’ll be using on your eyes to contour.

Liner

While you probably already nailed the contour, it’s time to accent the mouth using liner. For this step, Niño used NYX gel liner and drew a long smile line from mid-cheek to mid-cheek (think of the Joker). She then drew vertical lines across the initial smile line to mimic the look of teeth.

Eyes

When it comes to the eyes, the sky is the limit. You can add bold colors, keep things monochromatic, or even go a bit more of neutral shades. To make this makeup look less intimidating, Niño chose Juvia’s Place Warriar Eyeshadow since most people have something similar at home. Using a fluffy brush, Niño added the shade Kano into the crease. Blend in wiper swiping motions until you get depth and an orangey gradient. Apply Mino, the dark chocolate color, to your outer V. This will add a bit of drama to your look. Finish off by apply the golden shimmery color, Bakwa, onto your lid. If neutrals are not your vibe for this look, Lottie London x My Little Pony Friendship is My Jam Eyeshadow Palette is a great alternative. This affordable palette comes with nine highly-pigmented shades ranging from lilac to a bright orange.

Brows

There are many sugar skull makeup iterations out there and most don’t do anything with the brows. After all, skulls really don’t have brows. Instead of defining the brows, Niño hides them with the help of a liquid lipstick. Using the doe-foot applicator, she creates a petal-like effect by glide the product starting from the browbone to above the brow. She repeats this step around the entire eye to create a hallow effect. The great thing about using a liquid lipstick like PDL Cosmetics’ Bold Aspirations Liquid Lipstick is that it gives you great control when it’s wet and it will stay in place when it’s dried.

Lashes

Your face is not complete until you tackle those lashes. For this look, we want volume, length, and drama. That’s why, we enlisted the help of Lottie London Superfake Mascara. This vegan mascara is formulated to give your lashes a falsie effect for up to 12 hours. If you want to take your eyelash game to the next level, top your lashes with a wispy lash like the XXX LASHES from Birdy Lashes.

Set

Now that you’re finished with the sugar skull makeup look, you need to set everything in place. It’s important not to skip this step as it helps your makeup last longer. Created by beauty guru Patrick Starrr the ONE/SIZE On ‘Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray is a great option to lock makeup in place. The setting spray offers 16 hours of hold and gives the skin a flawless matte finish. We got the opportunity to test the setting spray and found that this product made our makeup lasts way longer than other brands.