I never expected to be in a room where the mention of a makeup tool would prompt a round of applause. But when Mario Dedivanovic announces, “I’m going to be using the F4,” and brandishes a double-ended foundation/bronzer brush in front of a camera that is projecting his every gesture onto a gigantic screen in a Midtown Manhattan auditorium, the crowd erupts into such a roar you’d think Taylor and Travis had appeared onstage and started making out. The F4! I know, epic. Take a moment to catch your breath.
This, as advertised on the sky-high marquee outside, is Makeup by Mario Beyond the Artistry. It’s an abbreviated version of Dedivanovic’s much-ballyhooed Masterclass, an intensive tutorial for fledgling makeup artists that lasts eight hours and costs around $750 (today’s class, an invitation-only freebie, is less than three hours).
