Makeup has become one of the avant-garde ways women showcase their beauty and tell the world a bit about who they are. And in the local landscape,
31-year-old Janica Sandy has been blazing the trail in helping women flawlessly enhance their beautiful features.
In her interview with the Guyana Inc. Magazine, Sandy explained how her interest in makeup began while growing up in Berbice. She said, “Since growing up as a child, I always liked to play dress-up and I was always self-conscious about the way I looked as a little girl. I had a passion for make-up from the age of 11, but I never thought I would have reached this far to becoming an international professional make-up artist.”
Influencing her even further was the fact that Sandy competed in two pageants while residing in Berbice. These were the Miss Berbice Mash Queen and the Miss Region Six Pageant in 2004, where she was the First Runner Up in both events.
Most of her initial skills were self-taught. Sandy said that she constantly practised on herself and received much praise from her friends who encouraged her to take up the field. Even at that point, she doubted her ability to work on other people. However, one particular friend kept banging the idea into her head and invited Sandy to her salon to work on the face of a client.
It was after this experience that Sandy’s career kicked off. “With that, people started to recognise me. I was like, ‘Wait, this is something I can actually do.’ So when I did work for different people, they would recommend me to their friends and I began building a clientele from then.”
Recognising her talent, Sandy was made an offer in 2014 by a relative to undergo formal training in a cosmetology course in the twin island republic, Trinidad and Tobago. She admitted that she was not interested in the program at first, but later decided to take up the opportunity as it was there. She has not regretted it since.
“It worked out really well. From that, it just gave me a boost and I started working; being a freelance makeup artist and going to people’s homes.” According to her, the experience in Trinidad opened up her eyes to a lot of things. As a result, she wishes that more Guyanese would be more open to the idea of using makeup. Indeed, she believes that the industry is beginning to have more prominence in the country.
Sandy started her salon and make-up studio in Berbice some years ago, called ‘Ultimate Image’. When asked what the reason behind the name was, the talented woman said, “I created the name, ‘Ultimate Image’, because our image as women or people, in general, is very important in today’s society.”
Aside from dealing with her clients, Sandy has been involved in a number of projects, which include the
Caribbean Premiere League cricket tournament, where she was tasked with doing the make-up of the cheerleaders. Additionally, Sandy is the official make-up artist for Homestretch Magazine.
She told the Guyana Inc. Magazine of one of her biggest projects, which was doing the makeup for a 21-person bridal party. According to her, all the faces took eight hours to complete, with the aid of her two assistants. “That was a short time. Doing a full and neat or more creative make-up would take like three hours on one person.”
Knowing how to treat each client, as it relates to the colours to use and the like, Sandy said that she uses certain determining factors, such as skin tone, the outfit to be worn and the attitude of the individual. “From the minute a client walks through my door, I can tell what would best suit this person, or I would ask the client what they want and advise them on what would work.”
It brings much joy to her heart to see the effect that her work has on clients, as many of them cannot contain their smiles or are unable to resist the temptation to take numerous selfies to post on social media to show off their new look.
“When you apply make-up, your self-confidence is boosted. Right away my clients would want to take selfies. If they are not going anywhere special, they end up finding somewhere to go after.”
Knowing that men usually criticise the use of make-up, saying that it is not necessary for women to do all that extra work, Sandy said that it needs to be understood that make-up only serves to enhance a woman’s appearance and features and add confidence.
“You don’t even have to be going anywhere to apply make-up; you can apply make-up in your own home just to boost yourself, especially if you are having a bad day.” Sandy has been teaching persons, for eight years now, how to apply their own make-up. She works every day, only by appointments, at her Lot 27 Gordon Street, Kitty location. She believes that the industry can be enhanced with a number of activities; one such being a “Make-Up Expo” where artists can come together, showcase their Pure elegance! talent and pass on knowledge to others, while at the same time making them comfortable to use beauty products.