Most people have a bucket list but do you have a beauty/skincare related one? I do and in the top three is attending The Masterclass by famed makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic. The other two are getting a facial from Rescue Spa in NYC and getting invited to IPSY Generation Beauty’s Creator Day. Thankfully, 2018 brought me to check two things off my bucket list and all that is left is the facial but it will happen one day! Attending Mario’s class was completely unexpected as it came about by being the Grand Prize winner of a giveaway hosted by Elemis Skincare and Theo Turner. Theo is an incredible makeup artist and can be found on Instagram as @theeislandboi, I highly recommend checking out his work. Another amazing aspect of winning the giveaway, other than attending Mario’s class was the friendship and support I have found with Theo. I am so grateful to him and Elemis for selecting me as the winner of the giveaway and giving me the opportunity to attend a class I will never forget. As a part of the prize, I won a general admissions ticket plus the gift bag from the seminar as well as $500 worth of Elemis products. The contents of the gift bag that was sent to me is below (minus a Foot Chemistry mask):
First off, I would like to mention that I am not a practicing make up artist. I am someone who has a deep love for the artistry and a profound appreciation for products. The class is geared toward makeup artists and is very interactive and information dense. Even at the start of the class, Mario questioned how many makeup artists were in the hall and for all of us that are not artists, he questioned why we were there since it was very skills orientated and intense. Since while I am not a practicing artist, I am a student of the craft and found the instructional portion riveting. We were provided with journals and I haven’t experienced that intensity of note-taking since college. The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College was the venue and it was very reminiscent of my days at Rutgers University and attending classes in a lecture hall.
I know most are reading to see if I go into detail of the tips and tricks that Mario taught us in the class but to respect him, I do not want to share the in-depth instructional portion. I appreciate that Mario allowed us to take short social media clips but asked us to refrain from divulging in a lot of detail. I do want to share a few points, specifically that Mario’s focus on the artistry versus trends was very apparent. Even with the products he utilized, there was a conscious focus on quality of products versus giving into social media hype. This is not to say that he did not use more “current” products like the Milk Makeup eye pigments or the highly raved about Marc Jacobs Omega bronzer, but that was not the focus of the type of products he used. Although he usually does makeup on a time limit for his famous clientele, he really took his time in The Masterclass to review and revisit every portion of the face. There were points he made such as a lot of makeup does not necessarily suit everyone and sometimes less is more really resonate with how one makeup style does not fit all. He similarly spoke to how it is more important to know when not to contour because not everyone needs/wants it. The awareness of the individuality of his clients is really how to be successful in tailoring your skills. While I do not want to go into the details he discussed of technique out of respect and quite frankly, I do not want to butcher them by misspeaking; some products that he reached for in the class that stood out to me was purple Elmer’s glue stick (yes, the one you used in school) to coat the brows and have them stay in place, Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream after completing the makeup application to give a lit from within glow to the high points of the face, Vaseline to give a glossy glow on the highlight points, and the Suratt Beauty eyelash curler. While I tend to use only one Beauty Blender, Mario used three: a separate one for foundation, concealer and contour. He first coated the sponge with product and then took it to the face versus using a clean sponge so that it does not lift product. He used an array of brushes from Wayne Goss, Mac Cosmetics, Rae Morris and Anastasia Beverly Hills to name a few. He confirmed that his collaboration with ABH Cosmetics will not be returning, and unfortunately, I am one of the ones that missed out the first time. He did tease us with unreleased loose highlight pigments and my personal guess is that they will be a new KKW Beauty release.
Whenever I go to a beauty related event, I usually go in not knowing anyone else attending. The one thing I have learnt is that these events are hubs of where you can meet like minded people after all, everyone is at least connected by the passion of the beauty industry. One of the most positive outcomes from going to Mario’s class is that I walked out with four new friends and we have gone on to make a chat group on Instagram and still stay in touch and support one another. It started with just simply standing in line together waiting to be let in and the conversations that were had led us to sit together and continue in our connection. Even after the class was over, these strangers turned friends in the course of the day fueled by their support and love for Mario and the artistry.
The lessons I learned from Mario, my notebook filled with every detail I could furiously write down, and a newfound group of friends made my experience unforgettable. If you are wondering if attending the class is worth it and are a makeup artist, I would say it absolutely is. Mario’s talent is impeccable and the personality he brings to the class makes for an experience I would definitely recommend. Thank you Elemis and Theo once again for the opportunity to cross off something from my bucket list. Thank you Mario for the interactive and informative experience.