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Since receiving a $40 million growth equity investment in January from venture capital firm Provenance and Silas Capital, Makeup By Mario, founded by celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic in 2020, has been in growth and expansion mode. Dedivanovic got his start as a makeup artist at Sephora and rose to instant fame in 2008 when he met Kim Kardashian and became her makeup artist.
This year, Dedivanovic and his team launched the SurrealSkin collection, consisting of a foundation and a concealer, bringing its total product count to 46. And in July, the brand launched in Sephora U.K., both in stores and online. It also sells through Sephora and Kohl’s.
“We have doubled our sales each year,” Dedivanovic said. “We are overperforming forecasts in all markets, and 2023 will be our most successful year since launch, in both top- and bottom-line results.”
Dedivanovic said, this year, he’s most proud of finally bringing his years-in-the-making complexion line to market.
“Complexion has always been really important to me, but [launching] complexion is not cheap,” he said. “It’s a lot of SKUs and a lot of work to create a complexion collection. … Throughout my career, I’ve been pretty well known for my concealer application, and our community has been asking us [for it] for a long time. With the first round of funding, we were able to achieve that.”
As the year wraps up, Dedivanovic said he and his team are testing out formulations for new products, collections and packaging.
“I’m working on 2025 [product launches] and finalizing 2024 [plans],” Dedivanovic said. “There are so many products that I’ve been waiting years to launch. … It’s a big process that involves a lot of different people.”
How are you allocating your newer funding?
“We have been very fortunate to have grown so quickly, especially these past two years. Having said this, with rapid growth comes some challenges, albeit good ones, which we had to address quickly in order to continue our momentum and aggressive growth strategy. Most importantly, we invested in people — growing our team and recruiting the best talent in the industry within marketing, product innovation and field support. We also invested in inventory of our top hero SKU’s, which were selling so quickly. We needed to keep products in stock and meet the consumer demand. Additionally, we invested in our innovation pipeline. We have also allocated a portion of these funds to growing our retail footprint in Sephora North America and launching new strategic markets globally with Sephora in Europe and the Middle East.”
Makeup by Mario has mastered the art of virality. What’s the brand’s social strategy?
“Our strategy is an evolution of what I created before launching Makeup By Mario. Since the early days of social media, I built a strong presence and a robust community of followers. My team works around the clock to grow that momentum and continue to deliver the authentic content that my followers have come to know me for, focusing on artistry and education. Our relationship with our social community is very important to me, and I set the highest standards as to how my team interacts with our audience.
We are consistently listening to our community, and that has helped inspire our product calendar. For example, we launched Ethereal Eyes Eyeshadow Palette in 2022 as a limited-edition item, and it sold out in weeks. Our community would comment on most of our Instagram posts asking us to bring it back. We had a waitlist of over 60,000 people, so I relaunched it to celebrate the brand’s 3rd anniversary and my birthday on October 1.”
What work are you most proud of this year?
“I’ve had plenty of pinch-me moments, but two that stand out are the launches of my SurrealSkin Foundation and Concealer. For years, I dreamed about these products, which are an integral part of my artistry. It is so important to me to work hard on my formulas and launch innovation that works for our consumers while being true to my artistry. I have built a strong trust with our consumers and only want to see that continue to grow.
I’m also blown away by the overall growth of the brand and our expansion around the globe. To have just celebrated our third anniversary and be ranked as a top 10 brand at Sephora North America fills me with pride and gratitude for my team, our amazing partnership with Sephora and our customers. There is a Makeup By Mario product within the top three ranking of every major makeup category at Sephora.”
Click here to see all 2023 Glossy 50 honorees.
