MAKEUP BY MARIO

MAKEUP BY MARIO is an American prestige makeup brand founded in 2020 by the makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic [4]. Based in New York, it is the eponymous product line of an artist already known for his celebrity client work, and it launched after years in which Dedivanovic built his name behind the chair rather than behind a label.

The brand sells colour cosmetics across face, cheeks, eyes and lips, along with brushes, and reaches customers both through its own multi-region online store and through Sephora. It is positioned at the prestige end of the market, with a signature foundation that retailers list around the $42 mark [5].

Mario Dedivanovic was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, the youngest of four children of Albanian immigrant parents from Montenegro [4]. According to the company, he began doing makeup at seventeen with a Nike shoebox filled with products from Sephora, charging $25 to make up two singers he had met through work. He was then a fragrance consultant at a Sephora in Manhattan's Flatiron District, and the brand says his early goal was to become a professional makeup artist with his own product line.

That ambition took shape over a long career working with high-profile clients. Dedivanovic had a years-long collaboration with Kim Kardashian that began in 2008, and the two are credited with popularising facial contouring [4]. He launched MAKEUP BY MARIO in 2020 [4].

Before the product brand existed, Dedivanovic had already built an education business. In 2009 he founded The Master Class, a live makeup-tutorial event; the company says it has welcomed more than 30,000 students globally, growing from sessions of around 16 attendees to gatherings of 2,000 or more. The Master Class is a separate venture from the product line, which followed in 2020.

MAKEUP BY MARIO frames itself around artistry and technique. The company describes its work as "born from artistry in its truest form and grounded in education, craftsmanship, and a deep respect for nature and humanity," and says Dedivanovic applies "an intuitive and architectural approach to the human face" to create balance, symmetry and harmony using tones drawn from nature.

The brand's audience skews toward trend-conscious beauty enthusiasts who follow celebrity makeup artists, the kind of following that the trade press notes such artists tend to attract [5].

The line spans foundation and complexion products, blushes, eyeshadow palettes, lip products and brushes. Among its better-known items are the SurrealSkin Natural Finish Foundation, the Ethereal Eyes Eyeshadow Palette, the SoftSculpt Shaping Stick and the MoistureGlow Plumping Lip Serum [5].

The brand also runs MAKEUP BY MARIO Pro, a program offering product discounts and mentorship to working makeup artists and apprentices; it has said dedicated educational tutorials for members were due to arrive in early 2026.

On animal testing, the brand is listed as cruelty-free by PETA, which states that neither its ingredients nor its finished products are tested on animals and that its suppliers and third parties follow the same standard [6].

In a review of the SurrealSkin Foundation, Refinery29 described Dedivanovic as having "basically ushered in the matte look for an entire generation" and placed the brand high among the celebrity-makeup-artist labels that draw devoted followings [5]. Dedivanovic himself received the Artistic Achievement Award at the 2019 American Influencer Awards [4].

The brand is active. It operates an online store serving more than 200 regions, continues to expand its Pro education program, and remains the subject of ongoing editorial coverage as a well-established prestige makeup line [3].