…And so It was finally here after months of waiting. I still felt really lucky to have a ticket for Mario Dedivanovic’s “The Masterclass”- especially as it had sold out pretty much straight away.
For those of you who have never heard of him, Mario Dedivanovic is a world renowned makeup artist with a celebrity client list that is huge. He is currently most famous for being Kim Kardashian’s personal makeup artist and being known for a particular style of contouring he has mastered. His uniqueness lies in his ability to create the most immaculate and flawless looks on people using ‘old-school’ techniques that have been around for years.
A little background on Mario’s story…
Mario was born in The Bronx, New York USA in 1983, from a very young age he had always been fascinated with beauty and loved looking at beautiful objects, he saw the beauty in everything around him. His mum worked at L’Oréal and so growing up he was used to seeing make up around the house. He began his career working in Sephora as a fragrance consultant. Whilst working with fragrances he was occasionally mistaken for a makeup artist and was asked for help with makeup selection choices, his response was always ultra-confident in his reply and application of the makeup. His eye for beauty and the use of makeup to enhance a woman’s looks was a natural talent he possessed. It was at this point it became perfectly clear that Mario knew exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his life and immersed himself into the world of makeup - reading and learning as much as he could about the whole industry, This included training on the job whilst he was working with a lot of makeup artists of the day in the fashion and photography industry.
During this time assisting other makeup artists and gaining as much experience as possible, he worked on numerous ad campaigns with renowned photographers and models. This led on to him being taken on by a New York agent at the young age of 21. From here then on, his career blossomed to what it has become today and he is now one of the most sought after makeup artists in the world.
Me and Mario!
Mario is very much a family orientated man and loves being around his very close family. His sister Marina helps with all the organisation of his Masterclass shows and his beautiful mum travels with him. I met her also at the London show – I managed to get a picture of us together and she really is beautiful.
Mario on stage with the screen in the background
The Masterclass tutorial was held at the Mermaid theatre (now conference centre) that holds just over 600 people capacity and is located in ‘Puddle dock’ at Blackfriars in the City of London with great views of the Tate modern and St Pauls nearby. After queueing excitedly for a short while outside, the doors were opened and we were signed in. We found some seats that luckily were more or less central to the stage and more importantly with a good view of the screen that had been erected in the centre of the stage to allow us to see his work and techniques in detail - as he was doing it. We were then left with enough time to wait a little longer as everyone found seats and sat down in great anticipation for Mario to come on stage a short while after to thunderous applause. First thing he did was to introduce himself and the beautiful model sat on the makeup chair. The big screen really did give us a detailed view of exactly what he was demonstrating.
I must point out at this stage that Mario began by asking everyone not to disclose too much information and so therefore I am only allowed to share little snippets of what he showed us.
He showed us a whole look from makeup-free to photo ready and the makeup look that he gave us from a creative point of view was absolutely stunning. We were allowed to ask questions as he went along and we were handed note books to take notes as and when we felt like it. There’s one thing I can definitely say was key to his Makeup Artistry and that stands out in my mind about his style – and that he is a true, true old school makeup artist who uses some of the best tried and tested techniques that have been around and used for many years. I really feel that having first trained myself at college over 20 years ago that I could fully relate to this style.
The finished result was immaculate.
Tips from Mario’s MasterClass.
Doesn't use primers and uses Keihls Ultra Facial moisturiser
Have a damp beauty blender at hand throughout the whole process of your work - use it to apply, blend, remove excess makeup and soften edges.
Put a strong emphasis on seamless blending whether it's foundation or eye shadow. Always make sure its blended well.
Lots of layering of makeup to help it last long
Uses 3-4 different eyeliners on one look
His mastery of layering with makeup was probably the one stand out factor of his work and the show for me.
Was there anything else I would like to have seen? – Yes, I would have liked to have seen the model’s face up close in person so I could look more closely at his work and study it better – but obviously with 600 people as eager to go and have a closer inspection (and probably to be nearer to him), this was simply wishful thinking on my behalf….!
Me and Mario's mum.
If you do ever get the chance to go to Mario's Masterclass - then go, I would definitely advise it – but remember it is aimed predominantly for Makeup Artists and he does explain and make this clear at the beginning. One thing I did notice was that there was no shortage of people from all over the world who had flown into London just to get the chance to watch him work live and hopefully they took in enough from him to go away with more makeup artistry skills than they came with....
At the end of the day we were all invited to wait and have a picture taken with Mario and presented with our Masterclass certificatesn and the most incredible 'goody-bag' packed full of skin care, makeup and brushes from quality brands such as Anastasia Beverley Hills, Laura Mercier, Artis, Beauty Blender, Benefir and Rodial to name a few.
If I were asked, what I thought I came away with as a Professional MakeUp Artist I would have to say that I came away feeling not just truly inspired after having spent the day watching such a creative, talented individual demonstrate and talk about his work, life and career, but also and more importantly to me than anything, "Mario reinstalled my belief in what I believe in as a true Makeup Artist."
Mario has 2 more MasterClass shows planned for this year - Toronto in Canada on July 8th 2017 and Sao Paulo in Brazil on September 11th 2017.
