Honest 10+ Makeup By Mario Products Review

Mario Dedivanovic is one of my favorite makeup artists. He’s probably most known for doing Kim Kardashian’s makeup but he’s extremely talented. When he launched his brand Makeup By Mario (which is how he’s called on social media too) I was very excited to try the products. The products are made to be used by makeup artists but also the general customer can use these products.

Mario did collaborate on makeup products in the past. He created a palette with/for Anastasia Beverly Hills as well as 2 collaborations with Kim Kardashian’s makeup brand KKW Beauty (see my review on the KKW x Mario Collection) but this time he finally launched his own brand.

The initial Makeup by Mario drop comprises a matte powder eye shadow palette, two metallic powder shadow palettes, a liquid “manipulator” for the metallic powders, three-color correcting and priming kits for the eyes, three metallic powder highlighters, one pigment less highlighter balm, two eyeliner pencils, one brightener waterline pencil, one liquid eyeliner, five cruelty-free makeup brushes, and makeup wipes. They’re items he considers staples in his kit.

For the Holidays, Mario launched a couple more products which included 3 eyeshadow quads, 3 lipglosses, a lip palette, and 3 new eyeliner pencil shades.

I basically got both the launches in one haul so that’s why I’ll be reviewing all the Makeup By Mario products I bought from both the launches.

Makeup By Mario Products

As you can tell, I just got a couple of products, nothing too much LOL. I couldn’t help myself. It became a pretty huge haul eventually but oh well.. the more I got to show you, right?! The products I got:

• Master Mattes™ Eyeshadow Palette – $48
• Master Pigment™ Pro Pencil in Super Black – $22
• Master Pigment™ Pro Pencil in The Perfect Brown – $22
• Master Mattes™ Liquid Liner in Super Black – $22
• Master Crystal Reflector™ in Quartz – $24
• Master Secret Glow™ in Expensive – $22
• Master Eye Prep & Set™ in Light – $28
• Pro Volume Lip Gloss in Rose Nude – $22
• Pro Volume Lip Gloss in Mauve Nude – $22
• Pro Volume Lip Gloss in Golden Nude – $22
• Glam Quad in Bronzey – $25

Makeup By Mario is a cruelty-free brand and all their products are paraben-free as well. Some products are vegan and/or gluten-free but you have to check them individually to see if they are or aren’t. The brand is available at Sephora and on its own website.

Makeup By Mario Review & Swatches

Master Eye Prep & Set™ in Light

I didn’t swatch this product because it’s basically two concealer-like shades and a powder so it’s not that interesting to look at or providing important information. The only way to test this product is on the eyes.

The lightest shade is even on my pale skin pretty light, however, I do like a more brightening base so I don’t mind this. To tone it down a bit I use the other shade and mix them together. The creamy shades are easy to apply and blend into the skin. It is a flawless base for eyeshadow applications. The powder works well too, I applied it with a fluffy eyeshadow brush to set it all in place. After that, I apply my eyeshadow as normal. I don’t really notice a difference in applying when I compare this to the concealer base I normally go for.

Even though I really like the results of this Master Eye Prep & Set, I don’t really think it’s a necessary step. It does provide a great base for my eyeshadow, my eyeshadow didn’t crease and stayed on all day. However, a concealer is giving me the same effect. I’ll use this product with pleasure but I don’t think I’m going to repurchase once I’ve emptied it.

Master Secret Glow™ in Expensive

The name of the product exactly explains my thoughts… it’s expensive for what you get. I wasn’t able to swatch this because you wouldn’t see it in a photo. I used it in a makeup look, which I’ll be sharing at the bottom of this post. It’s basically a transparent glossy highlighter and even though I like the glowy effect it gives me, I could’ve used Vaseline as well which would give me the same effect for a lot less money. Moreover, I’m just not doing so well with sticky products on my face. It’s really sticky when just applied and dries down a bit but it’ll stay slightly sticky. For me personally is this a waste of money.

Master Crystal Reflector™ in Quartz

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I’m not going to lie, this was another product that disappointed me when I swatched it. I expected it to be super shiny and glittery but you can barely tell it’s there. HOWEVER, it worked way better on my eye, and eventually, that’s where I want to see it work so I’m not mad about the bad swatch.

It does look glittery and sparkly on the lids, moreover, it’s pretty buildable too so you can go for heavy glitter or just a little sparkle. I haven’t tried this yet, but I think it could work well with a metallic eyeshadow to really make that pop. It ended up working better than I expected and it looks cute! I’m going, to be honest, though, I’m still not over the moon with this product. I actually think it is expensive for what you get. I’m pretty sure I can achieve something similar with the pressed glitters I have in my collection already.

Pro Volume Lip Glosses

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I really like these glosses! The sparkle in the glosses makes me think of the Pat McGrath glosses which have a gorgeous and intense sparkle in them. The Makeup By Mario glosses are a bit more subtle but still have a gorgeous, visible sparkle in them.

The gloss formula is thin and not sticky. Maybe the slightest bit of stickiness when you rub your lips together but that’s it. It’s more that I can see the stickiness than that I really feel it is sticky so I’m not bothered at all. The glosses also have a slight color to them which I also like! It’s not too much but still gives a little extra to your lips. These glosses are approved!

Glam Quad in Bronzey

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I love the colors in this little palette, I also like that there are 3 metallics and one matte shade. The formula is okay, a bit dry though but the pigment is there. The matte shade BG4 is slightly patchy but it’s buildable and looks better on the eyes than swatched on my arm.

I’m still not 100% sure what I think of this palette. It’s not bad, but it’s not my favorite palette either. It works but I have palettes in my collection which are way easier to work with, where the shades are buttery and soft. These aren’t that, they’re dry and harder to work with. So the conclusion is basically that they work but they aren’t my personal favorite shadows.

Master Mattes™ Eyeshadow Palette

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I feel like these shadows are supposed to be light-medium coverage when first applying it because they’re definitely buildable but after building them up, they’re still not super pigmented, to be honest. I build them up in the pictures above so as you can tell, they’re pigmented.

This palette has softer matte shades than the Bronzey Quad thankfully, I barely noticed any fallout, not while swatching nor while applying it to the eyes. Moreover, the colors are very wearable and it can be a perfect basic palette for MUA’s or makeup lovers. I like using it! However, I do think this palette isn’t one for beginners. You have to work for your pigment, build it and blend it accordingly.

Even though I’m obsessed with neutrals, this palette is not making me wow once applied. I created a makeup look (which you’ll see below) and it just doesn’t look good? Probably because this palette contains a lot of work and I sometimes don’t have the time for it. I’m not sure if I would’ve bought this palette if I knew this beforehand.

Master Pigment™ Pro Pencils

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The Liquid Eyeliner is pigmented, intensely black, and overall a nice liner. The tip is pretty stiff which is something I personally don’t really like but my mom prefers eyeliners with a stiff tip so it totally depends on your own preferences if you’ll like it or not. However, the formula is great, pigmented, and long-wearing!

The Pro Pencils…. have me hooked. I’m literally obsessed with them! They’re my favorite product out of all the products I’ve tried so far and I would 100% recommend getting one (or multiple). Why? Because they’re extremely creamy, smooth, and easy to apply to the lids. On the backside, there’s a brush to blend it out if you want to.

The formula gives you enough time to easily blend it out due to the creaminess but once it’s dried down, it just doesn’t go anywhere. I REALLY love that! Most of the time when a product is super creamy it just doesn’t stay on all day, well.. you won’t have that problem with this pencil liner! They easily stay on all day, no smudging at all.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Makeup By Mario disappointed me. I really wanted to love this brand but so far, I still have too many points of criticism to truly love it. Most of the products work fine but are pretty expensive for what you get or aren’t really flabbergasting to me. Only the Pro Pencils are something I would totally repurchase and the glosses would be worth a repurchase too but since I have so many glosses, I won’t in the near future lol.

I just expected more from Mario as a professional makeup artist. However, I’m still happy he got to release his brand and I’m pretty sure I’ll keep trying his future products in the hopes of finding holy-grail products.

Have you tried Makeup By Mario products already? If so, what do you think?

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