You Will Never Guess The One Secret Ingredient That’s Used To Make This Incredible Art

Since he started making art at the age of five, Mexican artist Cristiam Ramos has been fascinated by using non-traditional materials to create his portraits and landscapes, including candy and old cans. Today, the 34-year-old artist now lives in Orlando, Florida, and is best known for his celebrity portraits, and has created strikingly detailed images of pop icons using candy. Perhaps as atonement for the sugary binge, he’s lately turned to a different material to create his work: toothpaste.

The paintings are large and consist of many layers; the layering helps Ramos create the color tones he needs, as toothpaste just doesn’t come in some shades. He uses his fingers to apply it, but for very small details, he will use a (paint)brush. And the work is not without difficulty. For one thing, toothpaste is very sticky and dries quickly, making it necessary to work fast. The smell is also something Ramos has to content with. He spends about 200 hours and uses about 30 tubes of toothpaste for one painting, which is a lot of menthol. We just hope he has a savings card at CVS!