In this webinar, learn his and hers sugar skulls with Vanessa Mendoza.

Design #1 

So, I start off with Kryolan White applied with a kabuki brush from elf. The Kryolan paint is super powdery and just super easy to work with and blend, and it's buildable. With the kabuki brush, I can go in a circular motion and drag it and it never gives me any creases or streaks or anything like that so for me, this is the best way to apply the base.

So even though I'm gonna be filling up the eyes, I still like to cover them with the white because then I don't have to worry about any negative space that I didn't get to paint. 

As far as filling in the face for the black for the hollow parts of the skull, I use a lot of powders. I use [the black from this Glam Lite Paint Palette] but any kind of palette will work. You just want something that's pigmented. I'm applying it with a smoothie blender (lollipop swab) because I can just swivel back and forth to give me that shape that I want for the inner corner of the eye and I can also drag it and use the round tip of it to just keep the shape of it round as I go around the eye so it's super easy to work with. 

I like to give a little bit of arch at the top. I don't like to go too low underneath the eye. It will naturally get bigger as I start adding more detail work around the eye. 

I'm already familiar with where I want my hollow spaces to be when it comes to a skull. It's his eyes, temples, the jaw sockets, the nose, and then some hollow ends in the forehead. 

I'm going to now go in with my wax paints and I'm going to do the teeth first and then do the line work. So for the teeth, I am going to use Kraze White with my Blazin Brush Flora Flat #6. I like this because it has a tip and so all I do is stamp my teeth. 

[She then adds blue to the lighter parts of the hollow areas of the skull.]

So now I'm gonna go in with Kraze Black and a Round #2 Brush and do the outlining. I'm going over the eyes. I'm pressing thin to thick on places where I think I need [to emphasize] the thickness of the bone. 

And for the nose, there's so many ways that you can do a nose but you could just be really quick, just add 2 lines. The nice thing about the nose is it's not meant to be perfect so the more organic you can get that nose, the better. 

Now I'm gonna add some color with Superstar Petrol Blue and a Round #2 Brush. I'm gonna go around the eyes first. For the men, I'll use reverse teardrops around the eyes. With the forehead, you wanna always come from one point and then expand.

So I'm going in with a Round #4 Brush and I'm just gonna be adding some dots in the corner of the eye and the outside. This is just to dress it up a little bit. You can even do a little bit of extra highlight on the tips of those bones. You could be done with this right now but I'm just adding a little bit more detail to the teeth with a super thin makeup brush. I'm giving the shadow of the teeth. 

So after I've done the black, I go in with my paintbrush and use a black paint and just lightly outline what I did with the shadowing and it's just to make it a little bit more prominent, and then we're just gonna go in with a white really quick on the teeth 'cause I wanted to make those teeth pop. And there you go!

Design #2

So, same thing, I'm using the Kryolan White. As you're getting in towards the center, just kind of taper off so it doesn't create a harsh line. 

I like to lay down some contouring with a burgundy. I really start to bring out some of their bone structure.

And then I go in with, like, a white or light color. This actually has an iridescence to it so it's almost like highlighting the cheekbones.

Now we're gonna go in and do her eye. For the women, I do more of just a circular eye. 

Then what I'm doing is just adding a circular motion for the base of my flowers with yellow. And then, this is where you can get creative and start doing flowers around the eye. This is nice and easy too 'cause you're not trying to be too perfect, you're just giving yourself some base work. I'm gonna do 3 small ones and then we'll come back and define all that.

I'm gonna pick up Cameron's Romantic Rose. I really want some thick and small leaves that are gonna be wrapping around the eye and the flowers. 

Then I will be going in and doing the line work with the black. So it's just these tiger lines and you just add some lines around so you get to the flower. When you outline those leaves, that's when you can kinda give those little details with the swirl at the end, overlap them so that the leaves look like they're overlapping each other. 

I try to do a delicate nose for the woman sugar skull, kind of like a "u" shape and it kind of goes into the middle. Then we're gonna do the mouth part and we're going to do the stitching.

I'm just gonna add eyeliner. And then I'm gonna do a little bit more details now which is just gonna be some dots and some extra line work here and there with white, then a dark green with a Round #2.I'm also adding these little round wisps around the flowers.

So let's do some lips. Normally I'll use a lipstick with a disposable applicator but we're just gonna use my regular red paint.

And then we shall add some glitter! I'm going in with Gleam Evergreen and I put this on all the leaves. We're also gonna add a little bit of glitter onto the flowers. I don't wanna cover up the black so I'm just gonna go and spritz a little bit of water on my smoothie blender, pick up some yellow and just lightly add it to the sides. Not too much because I don't want to cover up everything that I just did. So this is pretty much it!

Products Mentioned in the Webinar:

Kryolan Aquacolor White
elf Kabuki Brush
GlamLite Paint Palette
Kraze FX Splash Split Cake Palette
Kraze FX White
Blazin Brush Flora Flat #6
Kraze FX Black
Blazin Brush Round #2
Superstar Petrol Blue
Blazin Brush Round #4
Kryolan Ultra Setting Spray
Silly Farm Paint Pal Romantic Rose 1/2" Angle Brush
VIVID Gleam Chunky Glitter Cream - Evergreen

If you missed the live webinar, you can watch it now in the video above or later on our YouTube channel. Thank you, Vanessa, for sharing your talents with us! Thank you to everyone who tuned in to the webinar. Click here to know our upcoming webinars.