Mario Dedivanovic Opens Up About Why His Sephora Collaboration Means So Much To Him

Everyone starts somewhere, and for Mario Dedivanovic, that place was Sephora. The celebrity makeup artist began his career as a fragrance consultant and greeter at the retailer, and now, 19 years later, he's releasing his first collaboration with them. The Makeup by Mario x Sephora brush collection launches Dec. 26, and Dedivanovic took time to chat with Bustle about the full circle journey to his Sephora collaboration.

For Dedivanovic, there's no way to adequately express what it feels like to work with Sephora after so many years, especially given the retailer's profound impact on his life. "Sephora was a lifesaver for me and the place that I discovered my talent and my true purpose in life," he shares. "It gave me something I could look forward to, something I could work hard for. To be able to do this on my 19th year, right before my next chapter, was everything — the icing on the cake."

The retailer and makeup artist have come together to create three collections of makeup brushes: the Eye Brush Set, The Complexion Brush Set, and the Master Set (which features both the eye and complexion brushes). The bronze handled, synthetic-fiber, vegan brushes mark Dedivanovic's first time creating makeup tools and gives fans of his work and other artists' the ability to recreate his looks for themselves.

According to Dedivanovic, his Sephora brushes are his perfect tool. He tells Bustle there are three different elements to an ideal brush, "the weight of it, the length of it, and then obviously the bristles and how they pick up and apply the product. However, Dedivanovic's creations with Sephora have another attractive quality: they're multi-functional. "Every single brush can be used for more than one thing," he tells Bustle. "A lot of them can be used for three or four things."

Dedivanovic's journey with Sephora has culminated in the new collection, but part of the makeup artist's path is just beginning. In November, Dedivanovic was honored by longtime client Kim Kardashian West with the Artistic Achievement Award at the American Influencer Awards. During his speech, the artist came out as a gay man, and he tells Bustle that the moment has changed his life.

"It broke down all my insecurities and all of the barriers I’d built in my mind and body," he tells Bustle. "It was life changing in every way you can imagine for the positive. It’s also allowed me to realize my true purpose in life, and it has allowed me to love myself for the first time in my life and to be confident, sure, and happy about who I am, and to continue now to do good. Not just for myself but for others."

Dedivanovic's desire to do good is his clear purpose, and it's obvious when you speak to him. The artist continually reiterates the need to create beauty in the world — and not just physical but inner beauty. For the new Sephora collaborator, his work with celebrities and clients isn't just making someone look beautiful. The work he creates is also about watching people become more confident and bold.

He explains, "You can see the change in them. You can see the confidence that it gives them. By the time that you’re done, it's almost like a new person. They stand up taller. They speak more confidently. They’re ready to go out there and conquer the world, you know? It’s a beautiful feeling, more so than the physical beauty of it. It’s a feeling to me that’s unmatched."

Dedivanovic's Sephora collaboration gets at the heart of one of his other passions, and that's helping other artists. Of the brushes he's created with the retailer, he explains that the tools are designed to help others, like aspiring and emerging artists, hone their own craft. It's a desire that showcases itself in Dedivanovic's globally attended Masterclasses as well as one of things he says brings him true purpose.

"The amount of inspiration and motivation and re-energization to someone’s career that the class brings is, for me, the ultimate and most accomplished feeling," he tells Bustle. "Being able to take my talents, my 20 years of experience, and share and give that to these artists who sometimes feel hopeless or unmotivated or uninspired and to be able to bring all of those feelings back that gives me true purpose and true meaning in life."

As Dedivanovic closes out 2019 with his Makeup by Mario x Sephora collection, fans of the artist may be wondering what's next. According to Dedivanovic, it's his long awaited makeup line. The range will be launching in 2020.

While he couldn't tell Bustle much about the exact launch date, he did say, "It’ll be on my 20th anniversary, and it will be amazing. The purpose of it is beautiful. The meaning of it is beautiful. It’s not so much about the surface things. It’s more about something much deeper and something much more beautiful."

While we will all have to wait until Mario Dedivanovic's makeup line comes to fruition, fans of the artist can tide themselves over with his new Makeup by Mario x Sephora collection which launches Dec. 26.

With his passion for helping other artists grow, 20 years of artistry experience, and clear belief that beauty is more than skin deep, it's not surprising that Dedivanovic's career has come full circle with Sephora.

Did you know that you can find Sephora promo codes at the Bustle Coupons page? Bustle Coupons is a service provided by Groupon in collaboration with BDG Media, Inc. Each time you use a coupon or promo code from Bustle Coupons to make a purchase, Groupon and BDG Media, Inc. earn a small commission. This article was created independently from Bustle's sales department.