It seemed appropriate to save these images for today, Dios De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. What’s that you say? Halloween was yesterday? Well, pull yourself out of that candy-and-cider coma because your about to get schooled, Wikipedia explains:

“Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.”

History is totally rad, right? I mean, here we were thinking that All Hallow’s Eve ended on October 31 but wait! There’s more! Celebrate the super awesome DoftD and you get two more days of sugar and celebration! Score!

When my girl Alicia over at Orange Soda Photo called me a few months back and wanted to stage her own DoftD shoot, I was all over it. I hadn’t done a makeup application like this before, and I was beyond stoked to bust out my SFX kit in the spring. Alicia was nice enough to help this makeup artist out by sending along some images to get those creative juices flowing, and what you see here is the end-result of my first stab at a Day of the Dead makeup application. Not bad, eh? Oh, and when there’s a sexy beast like Kate modeling for you, your just know whatever you come up with she’s gonna rock.