Sephora is taking its 25-year-long relationship with Mario Dedivanovic to the next stage, with more masterclasses and shared content.

Spurred by the success of a masterclass in Madrid last year, Dedivanovic and Sephora are gearing up to embark on a masterclass tour, kicking off on May 21 in Hamburg, Germany, celebrating the opening of Sephora’s newest store. The next masterclass will be in London on June 9 and the final one in the U.S. this September.

Each masterclass will build upon the last, offering deeper insights into Dedivanovic’s personal journey, professional techniques, and his vision for the future of beauty. 

In addition to the masterclasses, they will partner on artistry content, revolving around product innovation and beauty tips and tricks.

Born and raised in the Bronx, at 17 Dedivanovic set his sights on a career at Sephora and got hired as a greeter and fragrance consultant, before working his way up to makeup artist and eventually booking clients outside of the store. 

It was then that he met Kim Kardashian, whom he has been working with ever since, from international fashion weeks to numerous magazine shows and everything in between. Most recently, he did her makeup for the Met Gala.

Amid his busy roster of his celebrity clients and other ventures, Dedivanovic began exploring the development of his own makeup brand back in 2017, launching Makeup by Mario exclusively at Sephora in 2020 with a 21-sku collection of eye makeup products. Since then, it has expanded across categories.

As reported by WWD, in June 2024, Makeup by Mario tapped investment bank J.P. Morgan to consider deal options. At the time, industry sources told WWD it was on track for sales to be between $150 million and $200 million in 2024.

“We have this exciting opportunity to bring Mario’s skills to life,” said Priya Venkatesh, global chief merchandising officer at Sephora. “We share a unique history where he started off as a Sephora greeter, and found his love for artistry within Sephora so we think there’s a great common story there to be told. But honestly, more than that, he is one of the best makeup artists and teachers in the world, which is a rare combination. And as a leading beauty authority and makeup expert, we thought we have this unique opportunity to share his skills with the world.”

Asked whether this format could roll out with other brands, she responded: “We don’t have a cookie-cutter approach of let’s just take this format and make it the same for everybody. Every brand and founder is unique, and if it is a format that works, we may look at it, but more often than not, we custom make what’s right for the brand and the founder.”

Dedivanovic, who began offering masterclasses around 15 years ago and a decade before his brand launch, told WWD that the latest iterations are quicker and easier to follow.

“The OG masterclasses were very long. Also, when I was teaching back then, I was very heavily using a lot of complex techniques and mixing so many different palettes and cream products,” he said. “Now, the products and the brand are inspired by those very techniques so it’s faster and easier to accomplish everything now.”

With this initiative, he’s also looking forward to forging a deeper relationship with Sephora’s global army of beauty advisers.

“For the first time, I’m able to do things for the beauty advisors globally, of which there are over 56,000, because typically we’ll do things for North America only. I’m able to create videos for them and talk directly to them, breaking down my artistry techniques. This whole entire process for me has been very inspiring, because I’ve been asking for years, how can I reach all of the advisers, as opposed to just a few at a time.”