When Mario Dedivanovic aka @makeupbymario comes to town, every beauty enthusiast wants a piece of him. If you follow him on social, you know he’s the real deal — and not just because he’s the preferred makeup artist to the Kardashians. Makeup artists around the world line up for his Master Class to learn from him and watch him work. His A-list clientele speaks volumes, as does the fact that his client following is so strong that he’s unavailable some will book him the night before and sleep on their backs so they are makeup ready the next day!
While I’ve meet Mario before — I once cornered him once at Khloe Kardashian event, the opportunity to watch him work in person came from Jergens, who sponsored his latest Master Class this past weekend in NYC. His legendary Master Class’s which often Kim Kardashian West as the model, are set in NY, London and Dubai. He started with 20 students 7 years ago and now sells out and is one of the most sought after makeup artists. During the sneak peek event, Mario did a ‘quick’ makeup look while answering questions. Here’s what I learned:
- He uses a moisturizer instead of a primer. His preferred is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial
- Apply moisturizer to the body is just as important as the face (especially for the red carpet)… radiant luminous skin from head to toe. His preferred is Jergens Shea Butter. It has pure African Shea Butter and other skin conditioning benefits and absolrbs quickly and doesn’t leave skin greasy or sticky.
- Uses hairspray or brow gel to set brows
- Doesn’t use eyeshadow primers just the foundation or concealer he already used on his client’s face on their eyelid (mainly because the foundation does the same thing and likes a consistent color throughout the face).
- For the makeup to last, he sets the eye lids and face with a translucent powder. His favorite is Laura Mercier’s.
- For a bold liner that lasts he layers a pencil, then gel (or cream) and ends with a liquid liner on top for percussion.
- He uses Parian Spirit to clean brushes and then deep washes them with baby shampoo with a couple of drops of tea tree oil to disinfect.
- He never uses his BeautyBlender dry (only damp).