My favorite style of makeup is definitely glam — from elevated natural and timeless makeup to modern soft glam. Think a glowy skin like finish look with soft sultry eyes, curled lifted lashes with a tiny bit of volume, and a smoked out liner. Beautiful makeup, to me, is not only about how you look, but how you feel!

Hi! I’m Sandra!

I’m a Southern California born and raised proud Latina who’s goal in life is to not only make people up with soft and natural glam, but to also FEEL pretty! I love dogs, but I’m such a cat lady. I’m a not so typical Aries externally, but internally yes and if you asked my loved ones they’d say I’m “such an Aries”. It’s very ironic to be a fire sign when I’m such an introvert! In 2020 I became a houseplant mom and I’m happy to say that for someone who believed I didn’t have a green thumb I have kept 75% of my collection happy and thriving!

The most asked question I get from people sitting in my makeup chair is “so how long have you been doing makeup?” Truly my obsession for makeup began as a kid in the 90s when I swooned over movie characters (Selena and Spice Girls’ Spice World) and MTV music video celebrities. I loved smokey eyes and the powerful ‘can’t help but stare’ seeking confidence that women radiated through the TV screen. I swooned over Shania Twain’s smoky eyes in “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and J.Lo’s bronzed sultry glowy LOOKS. All I wanted to do was recreate them. After many years of experimenting with makeup at home, taking MySpace selfies with a regular point and shoot camera as a way to improve my techniques, then earning a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nutritional Science 2015 — I finally began my professional journey when I started working at Sephora.

Throughout my various cosmetic retail jobs over the years customers began asking me if I could do their makeup outside of the retail workspace for their events and photoshoots. As my books began to fill with personal clients I officially left retail all together in 2019 and officially launched my makeup artist business full time! Woohoo! Since then I have mainly focused on working with premier bridal clients, creatives for photoshoots, and assisting other talented established makeup artists on set.

Follow @sandramerlanmakeup or @sandramerlanbridal on Instagram for some more of my recent work!