Makeup Tricks of the Stars

Known as Jennifer Lopez' go-to man, makeup maven Scott Barnes has touched most of Hollywood's "A-list" faces. He's written a new book called "About Face," and appeared on "The Early Show" with some tips from the book on how you can take our looks from average to amazing.

Barnes says his new book is all about empowerment.

"It's about knowing that you already look OK, and we're going to teach you how to look amazing," he said. "People are always asking me, 'How does Jennifer Lopez do it? How does she look so beautiful all the time?' and I tell them that Jennifer understands her power as a woman and she uses her beauty and strength and humility to accomplish what she wants. People have often said that women have to act like a man to succeed and I think the complete opposite is true. It's with your confidence and your femininity that you can get a lot accomplished and I think that's really sexy."

Barnes says he thinks of makeup as an accessory, such as jewelry.

"You can get a lot accomplished if you use it as a tool in your repertoire," he said.
"With the right direction, women can learn how to use this tool the right way."

Barnes said women often go to the makeup counter and get scared, or they do a little bit, and don't make a change.

"You must learn how to apply it properly and have fun with it, it's just makeup," he said. "You will learn by trial and error. Just experiment with it."

The most common mistake women make with their makeup, Barnes said, is not knowing how to minimize what they don't like and bring out what they do.

He said, "You don't need plastic surgery. I see people taking more chances with their hair than makeup, but I promise that the world responds accordingly if you look better."

Barnes said women just need to know how to "pull it together" to create a complete look with makeup, jewelry, clothes and accessories.

Barnes shared three of his famous looks on the broadcast:

SMOKEY EYE, NUDE LIP- It's all about combinations. It's never about here's the perfect brown or black on black. It's using high/low products. It's not about buying expensive products to create a look. It's more about the technique than the product. Use a lighter shadow and a darker liner. This way, you're creating a backdrop with the dark liner, so it makes your eyes pop, creating depth.

Also, burn the tip of your kohl liner with a lighter so that it stays put longer, and is easier to smudge.

For nude lips, you have to figure out your undertones. Don't think that foundation or your skin color means nude; you still want some tones in there. It's not about beige and greys. You will look dead!

Jennifer Lopez's "LIT FROM WITHIN" GLOW- It's all about skin and creating a monochromatic look, which does not mean one tone. It's about taking bronzers and shimmer and pinks and corals and the colors that work for you and layering to create what turns into this sort of monochromatic look.

The mistake people make with bronzer is that they put it by their eyes and nose, and this does nothing but age you. You have to create a sort of halo and build on the outside of your face with the bronzers, and leave the middle part of your face more free of color.

THE 15 MINUTE FACE- When contouring, it's easier to work with light than dark, and harder to make a mistake! Use shimmer highlighter instead of blush so you don't look too pink. Use translucent powder to seal in the look.