So, about 5 weeks ago, I was able to attend Mario Dedivanovic's Masterclass held here in Chicago. Most of you will know Mario as Kim K's makeup artist. One day at work, my co-worker got in for her shift and she immediately told me about Mario's Masterclass and helped get tickets right away. I've always wanted to attend his masterclass and learn a few things from him both in artistry and in building up his career. I've only ever attended one makeup class by celebrity makeup artists, and the was Behind the Beat by Tatiana Ward and Renny Vasquez which I really enjoyed. Now before I go on, I want to make it clear that this post is more of a review of my Masterclass experience and not a post about the exact tips and tricks he taught us; you'll have to attend his Masterclass to know them. ;)

General Information:

First off, let's talk about the pricing. As far as I know, the price of the Masterclass varies, depending on which city it is being held on, who his model is and how big an event it will be. For the Chicago class it was $524.94 for regular seats and then $624.94 for VIP seats. The VIP seat entitles you a seat at the first 2 rows of the venue, and also a separate and priority entry to the class. All class attendees get the same giveaway bag at the end of the class. My friend was willing to go early to get good seats (which I didn't mind) and so we got the regular seats. About a day or two before the class, you will get an email from Mario giving you more details about it. The Chicago class ran from 11-5PM with a 30-minute break in between.

Experience:

On the actual day, my friend and I were at the venue by 8:30AM. I know! We were sooo early, however, my friend snooped all-over Instagram and Facebook and saw that there were long lines for his other Masterclasses and she wanted to make sure that we got good seats. We got there, right when Mario and his team just got there to set-up the venue; there were only 4 other girls in line. So much for needing to go sooo early. Now, for the next 1.5 hours, there were maybe 10 girls, including us, who were in line. People didn't really start arriving to line up until 10AM. In my opinion we could have gotten there right before 10am and we still would be fine, seating-wise. By the time Mario's assistants started letting people in, I was pretty tired and annoyed because we were in line for so long already, and standing under the heat of the rising sun was not fun anymore.

The venue itself held roughly 200-250 people (I'm terrible with estimating capacity). What I really liked was Mario had a giant screen set up at the center where you can see a zoomed in projection of the model's face and him doing makeup. His set up was at the side with the lighting and the camera. This ensured that everyone got a good view of him doing the makeup even if they were in the back and it really showed all the details of the makeup application.

After everyone got settled down, Mario came in and started the class. The whole class was very interactive. He made it clear that anyone can ask questions while he did the makeup and he was very open and realistic about answering the questions. He also shared many tips and tricks he uses and general principles he usually follows when doing makeup. What I really love about the class was how professional and authentic Mario was throughout the whole class. He wasn't pretentious about his techniques and how he does things just because of his celebrity status. He emphasized gaining experience a lot by practicing and working for other artists as well as photographers and always staying professional while on the job. At the end of the class, we were running a little behind schedule and his sister was trying get him to wrap up but he really took his time to talk about how he got started and how he went about building his career. He tried to answer everyone's questions and give advice to the makeup artists in the room who were trying to build their kits and experience. His humble and down-to-earth attitude was really unexpected to me, but it was very refreshing and inspiring.

Finally a photo with Mario! He was so humble and inspiring!

At the end of the class we were able to take photos with Mario. The photo op went by quickly, we barely had time to say hi to each other and pose for the pic, however, Mario made sure to thank each one of us for coming. We were only allowed to take one photo with him which was understandable because of the amount of people who wanted to take photos with him. Before exiting the venue we were given goodie bags with tons of makeup products- most of which are full-size!

The contents of the goodie bag we came home with. This photo was actually taken by my friend who came with me.

I will be very honest that I have yet to use the products in his goodie bag not because I have no interest in using the products but because I have not had time to try them out. I do use some of the Tatcha products already, and so I was very excited to have backups of them! I'm debating if there's interest for a goodie bag post because I'm certain that what's in them definitely changes. Though, I will most definitely post product reviews for them in the future!

Overall, I definitely think that while The Masterclass by Mario is expensive, it is worth every penny! Not only because the value of the products in the goodie bags are worth way more than the tickets, but the actual class itself and what I learned while being there was actually worth it. He is one of a few artists that I will definitely proudly support with any of his future projects!

The Masterclass by Mario Experience