The Mexican skull, also known as calavera is one of the most important symbols in Mexican culture especially for the "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead), a holiday to remember friends and family members who have passed away, and helping support their spiritual journey.

Sometimes known as sugar skull make-up, face painting a skull with ornate elements is a popular element of Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.

Follow these simple steps to create your own calavera face paint design, perfect for a Halloween neon party!

UV Calavera Face Paint Design Tutorial

Step 1

Paint your whole face in white face paint paying attention that the color is spread homogeneously. Use a sponge or a large flat brush.

Step 2

Draw two circles around the eyes and fill them in with black face paint being careful to cover the eyebrows so that they are not visible.Paint the tip of the nose in black and lengthen its shape by drawing two stripes that go upwards as in the photo. Wear a dark purple lipstick.

Step 3

With a colored eyeshadow palette, make up the inside of the eyes with yellow, blending outwards with orange and purple. Draw two black lines that start from the sides of the mouth and stretch along the cheekbones and cross them with shorter vertical lines as in the photo. Draw them on the mouth too.

Step 4

This is the funnest part!

Forehead: Start from the forehead by painting a semicircle in red face paint  surrounded by neon yellow dots. Continue with the neon blue and paint a thick line around the semicircle from which small red leaves start, like in the photo. Between one red leaf and the next, paint some smaller neon purple leaves.

Eyes: Decorate the black circles around the eyes with neon pink dots alternating with smaller neon purple dots. More externally, paint some neon yellow dots that follow the round shape of the eye as in the photo. Between the eyes, draw a small neon blue spiral decorated with small neon purple dots. On the cheekbones draw thin spiral lines with neon blue and neon orange.

Mouth and Chin: Go over the black lines of the mouth with neon green to create a nice contrast. Draw two small neon pink spirals that start from the ear and arrive at the horizontal black lines of the mouth. On the chin draw a flower with a central petal and two pointed side petals. Use the dark orange face paint to color it and neon orange to outline the petals. Finish the design with two neon green leaves on either side of the flower.

The design is complete! have fun showing it under UV light creating magical effects!

Products Used:

Cameleon Face paint- Baseline Pure White 
Cameleon Face Paint - Baseline Strong Black
Tag Face Paint - Regular Red 
Kraze FX Face Paint - Neon Palette 6 Colors
Cameleon Face Paint - Baseline Orange Juice 

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Francesca Marchitelli is a professional face painter from Italy. A self-taught artist, Francesca loves the arts, and everything to do with face painting!

Follow her on Instagram to see more of her amazing work!