Pretty Scary Face Painting Designs with Monique Lily

There's something magical about a face that's pretty and scary at the same time—and that's exactly the sweet spot Monique Lily lives in. In this webinar, Monique walked us through her signature "pretty scary" faces: sugar-skull-inspired looks softened with color, glitter, flowers, and her beloved mystic lines. Whether you lean glam, cute, or genuinely creepy, this approach bends to whatever you want it to be. As Monique put it, you can make it pretty-scary, cute-and-scary, or glam-sexy-and-scary—whatever feels right to you.

Grab your favorite paints and let's dig in. Don't worry about perfection here—this is all about playing.

List of Products:

1. Mehron StarBlend Cake — her fast base (spray the sponge, never the cake)
2. Mehron Paradise AQ — solid colors (she used Teal, Amazon Blue, White, Black)
3. Mehron Paradise Glitter (loose) — the fine cosmetic glitter she dusted on lids and lips
4. Diamond FX White (wax-based) — for crisp skull teeth and line work
5. Mehron Paradise Neon/UV — the translucent pink UV she splattered on
6. Mehron Pro Brushes — especially the 2L Liner Brush (formerly Marc Reed) she used for all her mystic lines, plus a petal/floral brush and a Lily brush

Start With the Face, Not the Design

Before Monique picks up a brush, she thinks about the face itself. For a skull-inspired look, she pays attention to the weak parts of the face and where the bones sit—the soft, recessed areas go darker, and the bony high points stay light. That contrast is what reads as "skull."

But here's the freeing part: you're not painting an anatomy chart. Monique keeps things playful and abstract, taking just a few pieces of a real skull and incorporating them her own way. The full nose, for example, gets skipped—painting the whole thing dark just makes the design feel heavy. A little skull reference goes a long way.

Work With the Flow of the Face

One of the biggest takeaways from this class is Monique's obsession with flow and focal points. She uses a grid as a reference for all her designs, mapping out the main focal point, the highest point of the eyebrow, and a few key guide spots most painters overlook.

Her golden rule for lines around the eyes and mouth: lift, don't drag. If you simply follow the shape of the eye or lip and curve downward at the end, you'll make the face look tired or sad. Instead, Monique carries her line out just before the eye or mouth ends, then sweeps upward. That tiny adjustment lifts everything—and as she joked, once you're past a certain age, we all appreciate a little lift!

The StarBlend Base Trick

Monique's secret to a lightning-fast base is Mehron StarBlend, a pressed powder she applies wet. Here's the pro tip that made the chat light up:

Spray your sponge—never the cake. If you spray the StarBlend directly, it turns to stone and you'll lose it. But mist your sponge, swipe it across the cake, and it goes on soft and smooth like beauty makeup, then dries back to a powder. Bonus: because it dries to a powder, any glitter fallout wipes right off with a dry sponge.

One note for darker skin tones: StarBlend can turn grayish, so Monique reaches for Mehron Paradise white instead when she needs that bright, clean base.

Her Go-To Colors

Monique is a longtime Mehron Paradise lover—soft, glycerin-based, and (fun fact) it smells like coconut. A few of her staples:

• White: Diamond FX (wax-based) for crisp lines and teeth
• Black: Paradise, because it's easier to remove from skin and gives a matte finish
• Color: Paradise solid colors (she used Teal and Amazon Blue in the class)

She likes everything matte—and when she wants shine, she adds glitter rather than a glossy paint. Speaking of which…

Glitter, Thoughtfully Placed

Monique used fine loose Paradise glitter to lift her designs, and she's happy to place it on lids and even lips (always asking parents first for the little ones). Her trick for lips: load one side of a Q-tip with black, dip the other in water, then into the glitter, and swoosh it on—the glitter sticks right to the paint.

Her philosophy on glitter is the same as everything else: stay in control. She places it exactly where she wants it rather than dusting the whole face.

Mystic Lines: Monique's Signature

If there's one technique that defines Monique's work, it's her mystic lines—flowing, abstract thin-to-thick lines she weaves throughout a design. The key is confidence with pressure: press down for a thick line, then lift up until it goes whisper-thin.

She paints these with the Mehron Pro 2L liner brush (formerly the Marc Reed liner), which has extra-long bristles that let you paint and paint without reloading. As always, she follows the flow of the face and lifts her lines at the eyes and mouth.

When someone asked how to avoid overdoing it, Monique's honest answer was pure encouragement: the only way to figure that out is to play. Even she sometimes goes too far—and then she knows for next time. As long as you're happy with it, your customer will be too.

Adding Dimension: Dry Blending & Mystic Flowers

To give her skull soft shadows, Monique uses a touch of dry blending—a controlled smudge, not a mess. Her words of wisdom: we want a controlled mess, not a free-for-all.

Then come the mystic flowers, painted with a petal/floral brush. She activates her Paradise color into a little paste first (a lot of people think Paradise isn't pigmented, but it just needs a bit of love to wake it up). A quick tip on the flower outlines: don't trace them perfectly all the way around, or they'll look too rigid. A little imperfection keeps it alive.

Take It Further: The Butterfly Skull

Monique showed how the same approach transforms into a colorful butterfly skull—same base, same mystic lines, just built into a butterfly shape with teal and blue. This is the beauty of her method: once you know the "rules" of the face, you can let go of them and remix a skull, a butterfly, even a Batman into something completely your own.

The Card Splatter Trick

For a final burst of texture, Monique grabbed a card, misted a little UV/Neon Paradise onto a Lily brush, and used the card as a guide to create controlled splatter. Same principle you can use with blood for gory looks—instead of a toothbrush flinging color everywhere, the card lets you decide exactly where it lands. Finish with a scatter of her signature "ugly dots" and a few white highlight dots to make the whole thing pop.

Fast Enough for the Line

The best news? These looks are made for real-world jobs. Monique estimated each design takes under five minutes on the job—she was only slow in the webinar because she was chatting with all of us! It's a design that's quick, different, and a real crowd-pleaser.

Final Thoughts

What we love most about Monique's approach is her permission to play. Learn the flow, respect the features, then loosen up and discover something new. As she reminded us, when you're having fun, you learn—and your customers can feel that joy in the finished face.

Thanks so much to Monique Lily for sharing her pretty scary magic with our community. Grab your StarBlend and your liner brush, and go create something pretty scary of your own!