Jennifer Lopez at the 2014 American Music Awards had the most ethereal, gorgeous makeup on the red carpet. She is my all-time favorite makeup idol ever, but to see her on the red carpet a couple of nights ago looking like she was glowing from within…well, you know I had to recreate it! Her eyes are smoked out with shimmering taupe-brown and champagne shades, and her skin is lit from within with contoured cheekbones, coral cheeks, and highlighter for days. I’ve got plenty of tips on how to get the “J.Lo Glow” as I call it, and also a full tutorial on this look.
[Some products may be press samples.]
THE MUSE: Jennifer Lopez at the 2014 American Music Awards. Her signature look of contoured cheekbones, coral blush, and loads of highlighter was on display. Her eyes were dressed up in cool-toned shimmers and smoked out.
HOW TO GET THIS EYE MAKEUP: I pulled out my Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette because it is a very cool-toned palette in general, which is what Jennifer is wearing on her eyes. J.Lo is wearing all shimmer shadows on her eyes, which can be intimidating, especially if you’re older and worried about the shimmer settling into the lines around your eyes. I find that as long as you use a good eye primer and do your eyes before your face makeup, you can pull this look off. It helps not to get any fall-out from the shimmer shadows on your face, which will inevitably happen, so do your eye makeup first and then your foundation routine.
- Apply Shade 1 and Shade 2 (Verve/Suspect) together over your entire eyelid, the inner corners of your eyes, and along your lower lash-line.
- Apply Shade 3 (YDK) to your lower lash-line.
- Apply Shade 4 (Busted) in the crease and socket of your eye, using a fluffy blending brush. Also apply this into the outer corners of your eyes, both upper and lower lash-line. Start off with a small amount of product and blend, blend, blend. You can always go back and add more to darken it up. I did this step about 3 times before I got my desired intensity.
- Apply Shade 5 (Bootycall) to your brow-bone for extra added shimmer there and to blend everything out.
J.Lo didn’t have any harsh eyeliner on her eyes, which helps to give her that really soft, healthy, “lit from within” look. I used a brown eyeliner to lightly line my lower lash-line. I then curled my lashes and applied false lashes like J.Lo has on. I used House of Lashes “Bambie” Lashes for this, as they give a very doe-eyed look.
The rich metallic shimmers will make your eyes glow and the false lashes make your eyes look huge and doe-eyed.
HOW TO GET THIS FACE MAKEUP (AND THE J.LO GLOW):
- Make sure your skin is properly moisturized and use a good face primer that has a luminous finish. I used Almay’s Luminous Face Primer for this.
- Use a dewy, luminous foundation. There are endless choices from the drugstore and high-end stores. I love L’oreal’s Lumi Foundation from the drugstore and YSL’s Touche Eclat Foundation as a high-end option.
- Use a concealer that is 2-3 shades lighter than your foundation. J.Lo conceals and highlights her facial features with a lighter concealer shade. Apply this shade underneath your eyes, around the sides of your nose, the middle of your forehead, and the center of your chin. Blend this concealer out well and set it with your favorite powder.
- Using a matte powder shade (I love NARS Paloma Contour Blush) that is 3-4 shades darker than your skin tone, contour your cheekbones. Go a little heavier with the contour since J.Lo contours heavily herself. Also, contour the sides of the bridge of your nose to slim your nose profile like J.Lo.
- Apply a coral-pink shade (I used the middle shade from the Hourglass Ambient Blush Palette) to your cheeks, but apply this cheek color further back from the apples of your cheeks. FInd the apples of your cheeks and swipe the blush on about a half-inch back toward your temples. This gives you more of a sculpted look and makes your cheeks look less round.
- HIGHLIGHT, HIGHLIGHT, HIGHLIGHT! I have used literally hundreds of highlighting products in my years of makeup artistry, and none of them have come as close to the J.Lo Glow as BECCA Cosmetics’ Opal Highlighter. It is a MUST-HAVE for those of you looking to get an exact J.Lo highlight. Generously apply this to the tops of your cheekbones, center of your chin, center of your forehead, down the center of your nose, and on the Cupid’s Bow of your lips. J.Lo does not skimp on highlighter and it shows up well on the red carpet. If you’re going to be photographed for a special event, you can apply highlighter with a slightly heavier hand in order to get it to show up when the flash goes off.
- Set your makeup with a setting spray. I used NYX’s Dewy Setting Spray which just added to the highlighted, lit-from-within effect.
The result is angelic, ethereal looking skin that glows when the light hits it. Nothing about the face makeup is harsh, despite the fact that we contoured our cheekbones and nose heavily. Everything is blended and highlighted!
For the lips, I used Dose of Colors “Playdate” Lipstick with Gerard Cosmetics “Butter Cream” Lip Gloss on top. It creates the perfect J.Lo coral-nude lip shade. The gloss adds to the glowing effect.
If you have any questions about the products or techniques used, feel free to leave them below!
[ALL PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS SITE IS TAKEN BY REBECCA KAZIMIR. NO PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.]
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