Why the New KKW x Mario Collection Is Basically a Kim Kardashian West Makeup Starter Pack
Although many beauty editors love to ask celebrities and their makeup artists which beauty products they would want to have if they got stranded on a deserted island, I tend to omit that question from my interviews. Most of the time, their answers can be pretty unsurprising, so I prefer to ask them to break down their skin-care routines or what their favorite part of their makeup is. But while interviewing makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic over the phone last week, he brought up his answer unprompted — mostly because he just created his essentials with his latest collaboration with his client of over a decade, Kim Kardashian West. The KKW x Mario: The Artist & Muse collection will be released tomorrow, November 22, complete with a 10-pan palette, a matte sandy nude lipstick, a peachy nude gloss, a peach blush, and a brick brown lip liner.
"If I were on a deserted island with Kim and I could only take a few things, these are the shades and the textures I would take," Dedivanovic tells me. "From an artist's perspective, they're the perfect shades that work on Kim but also on other skin tones. I can mix them together and they all melt beautifully together."
Dedivanovic has been teasing his second KKW Beauty collaboration since July of this year with posts on Instagram. In a black-and-white IGTV video, he mentioned one of the palette's shades, in particular, was all he really needed on a deserted island. In our interview, Dedivanovic revealed it's Glam King.
"I think that [name] is kind of embarrassing," Dedivanovic prefaces his explanation. "I think Kim named that one." (Many of the others are inspired by things they say to each other on set.) After I laugh, he notes that it's a warm brown that he loves as a liner. "I can technically use it as a bronzer if I used a small brush," Dedivanovic adds. "It's an earth tone that works so beautifully to warm up Kim." A cool-toned brown called Don't Move can also be tapped on top of it to make it a more medium-toned brown.
The lip liner, dubbed Beauty Icon, also doubles as an eye shadow in a pinch, Dedivanovic points out. The creamy texture easily melts onto lids for a monochromatic look. You can smudge it all over and run it along your waterlines, he says. Noted. If you prefer to keep it just for your lips, though, Angela Trakoshis, Allure's digital assistant beauty editor, swears it's the same color of her lips.
Overall, the collection doesn't have a specific color scheme or theme other than The Artist & Muse. Dedivanovic took the concept as literally as possible, only including shades that he knew he could use on his ultimate muse, Kardashian West — no matter what she has going on for any given day. For the palette, Dedivanovic approached it as if he were creating the only one she would ever need. "I wanted to make sure if I'm not doing Kim's makeup that she could easily use these things and without my help," he explains.
To ensure this, he didn't include any bright shades he knew she would consider outside of her comfort zone. When he brings this up, I'm reminded of when Kardashian West recently told me, "Mario and I do fight over getting things a little bit more unique on me, like trying new looks. He always thinks I really am stuck with my one look that I go for, and he wants to do a color a lot of the time." But now was not the time to go outside of KKW's box, the box that has defined a signature makeup look people all over the world vie for.
Of course, going straight to the palette's muse for her honest opinion came in handy, too. "I am a little finicky with decisions and with perfecting things," Dedivanovic admits. "I went back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth at the lab on the mustardy yellow shade. And then I wanted to maybe include a green, but it wasn't sitting in the palette for me. Then, Kim, if I recall, said, 'I could live without it.' That's what gave me the okay to let go of it."
When looking at the palette, the aforementioned mustard shade, which is called Look Up!, seems unexpected among the browns and creams. Well, remember the cobalt blue that everyone raved about in the first collection? Look Up! is the standout of The Artist & Muse Palette. "I'm a makeup artist, but I also play it safe a lot of the times," Dedivanovic explains. "I stay true to who I am, and I do love natural tones. That's what I love. That's my favorite, but when I see shades like that mustard one, it inspires me to dip into the palette."
Although you can simply sweep Look Up! all over your lids, Dedivanovic layers it in fascinating ways. For one, it tones down burgundy shadows without making them ashy. You can also use it as a transition hue for smoky eye looks. "I use it to blend out the crease of the Glam King shade," he adds. "The yellow prevents anything from getting really runny and muddy because yellow is a very warm tone."
Those tips may sound technical, but Dedivanovic has a simpler way to approach any shade in the palette: "You can also mix them with the shade that's either above them or to the left or right of them, to either soften them or warm of them to make them deeper."
Ready to try out the ultimate Kim Kardashian West makeup starter pack? The KKW x Mario: The Artist & Muse collection will be available starting tomorrow, November 22, on kkwbeauty.com.
Read more about Mario Dedivanovic:
Makeup Artist Mario Dedivanovic on Coming Out: He's "Finally Free”
Mario Dedivanovic Is Selling a Masterclass Ticket for $400,000 This Holiday Season
This Is the One Celeb Mario Dedivanovic Would Love to Work With (and Hasn't Yet)
Now, watch Mario Dedivanovic break down some of KKW's most iconic makeup moments:
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