From her “shattered glass” nails and Hustlers-inspired pole-dancing routine to deeper themes of representation, family, and politics, Jennifer Lopez left no stone unturned in her historic Super Bowl halftime show with Shakira. While the entire routine only lasted 12 minutes, the preparation took months — and we’re not just talking about choreographing those booty-shaking dance sequences. We talked to Lopez’s hair-and-makeup team on how they prepped the star for one of her biggest performances — and the exact products they used to withstand the Miami heat.
Lopez’s longtime makeup artist, Scott Barnes, told us Lopez was just as committed to her glam as she was to her choreography. “We’ve been talking about this for a couple of months, and we did dress rehearsals for her look as well,” he told Refinery29 over the phone after the show. “We kept tweaking it and making it better.”
The team finally settled on a ’90’s model-inspired look that complemented her Versace ensemble. “It was a flashback to Linda [Evangelista] and Christy [Turlington] — that Versace iconic image of the girls in the leather jackets,” he says. “Donatella [Versace] put together the outfits for the dancers and for Jennifer, and her entire look just embodies what inspired Jennifer back then.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Scott Barnes (@scottbarnescosmetics) on Feb 2, 2020 at 5:44pm PST
As for her makeup, Barnes relied on two star products: Marc Jacobs O!Mega Bronzer Perfect Tan to contour her forehead, cheekbones, and jawline, and the Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner in Blacquer to define her smoky eyes. “I wouldn’t have been able to get her smoky eye without that pencil,” Barnes says. “It was soft enough where you could work with it.” The makeup artist turned to his own Scott Barnes eyeshadow palette for smoking out her crease and lower lash line. He then mixed the same bronzer with his famous Body Bling shimmering lotion and slathered it across her arms and chest.
Once Lopez took the stage, Barnes held his breath through every hair flip and twirl. “It’s a nail biter for me through the whole thing,” he tells us. “What if she has a malfunction? What if an eyelash flies off?”
But her makeup stayed in place through it all, which Barnes credits to Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Loose Powder. “It’s a tricky balance,” he says of creating the famous ‘J.Lo glow’ without looking greasy. “I put powder in the T-zone, but I let the glow come through at the same time,” he adds.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Chris Appleton (@chrisappleton1) on Feb 2, 2020 at 5:53pm PST
To frame J.Lo’s sultry makeup look, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton created a bouncy, waist-length blowout worthy of her final hair flip. Fighting against Miami’s humidity and the wind machines on stage, Appleton sprayed Color Wow Dream Coat Anti-Humidity Hair Treatment through her hair before blow drying it. Then, he wrapped sections of her hair around a 2-inch curling iron, set the curls at the roots with hair clips, and went in a second time with the iron to enhance specific pieces.
Right before Lopez hit the stage, Appleton ran Tangle Teezer’s Ultimate Finisher comb through the midlengths and ends of her hair for more volume. Then it was time for her glam team, and adoring fiancé, to cheer from the sidelines until their next act: the after-party.
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