Mario Dedivanovic Just Spilled His Unexpected $10 Highlighter Secret

Makeup By Mario. If you're one of the 3.8 million people who follow the Instagram handle, you know that Mario Dedivanovic's become one of the most well-known makeup artists working today. Thanks, in part, to a signature look he's created for longtime client Kim Kardashian, he's also a veteran of the industry with decades of work under his belt.

He's also a teacher. In case you're unaware of the meaning of "The Master Class" line in his Instagram bio — Dedivanovic teaches a class where he shows an eager audience (those who wish to pay no less than $550 for a nosebleed vantage point) how he gets his A-list celebrity clientele red carpet ready.

Master Class audience members are prohibited from taking any photos or videos of the live event, but we attended his latest class — held last night by Laura Mercier in L.A. only for influencers and beauty professionals — and learned something that shocked us. Dedivanovic revealed that his red carpet highlighting secret is fueled by a completely out of the ordinary product...and it costs less than $10.

Enter: Sweat Effect Transparent Jelly by Kryolan, a stage makeup formula that is used on TV and film sets to fake the look of sweat. "It's my little secret," he said before pulling it out of his kit. Here's how it works: He sparingly applies a classic highlighter (last night he used Laura Mercier's Face Illuminator in Addiction), then taps this over top with a damp BeautyBlender — and that's it.

After applying a little jelly to his model's cheekbones (final result, below) during the class, he stepped back and admired. "See, that's the kind of glow that looks really beautiful on the red carpet and in photos, because it looks, truly, like it's skin — there's no chunkiness or glitters," he says. He then tapped the excess on his model's forehead for just a little more shine.

“You can still wear your powder highlighter underneath — the gel actually picks up shimmer or metallic from the highlighter underneath, and it still shines through,” he explained.

However, you should be warned — while layering makeup underneath the jelly is fine, going over it with powder probably won’t end well. "You don't want to put any powder over it — if you do, you're screwed and you have to start all over again,” cautions Dedivanovic. However, there is one layering exception: Face mist. His final step for glowing skin? An all-over spray of Tatcha's Dewy Skin Mist. Rule of thumb: makeup over jelly is a no-no, setting spray is ok.

His affection for the odd product stems from the lifelike effect, noting that a bold highlight works well IRL and on social media, but the red carpet requires something subtle, which is where this trick originated. And while it may seem odd, it wasn't that long ago that Ben Nye's Banana Powder seemed weird. Moral of the story? This just might be the next big thing to move from the stage to the mainstream.

Kryolan Sweat Effect Transparent Jelly, $9.50, available at Friends Beauty Supply.