One search for "sugar skull makeup" on YouTube and you'll get thousands of tutorials on the look, and the millions of views solidify the interest in this skull art. Michelle Phan's tutorial has garnered over 5 million views, while Kat Sketch 's has over 3 million. And it's only grown more popular after the 2017 award-filming animated film Coco , in which a young character is transported to the Land of the Dead. "It started becoming popular about 15 years ago or so, but it was kicked into high gear by the immense popularity of Coco, in particular, which broke box office records across the globe," says Andrew Chesnut, PhD, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, The Skeleton Saint . He even says that the Disney movie inspired some of his Mexican relatives to start creating altars.