Today's Special:Product Highlight

It's summertime in the city and everyone wants to look and feel fresh and renewed! The warm temperatures and the good times are coming so you want to make sure you are looking your best. Who doesn't want to look luminous? Who doesn't want that complimentary, envious glow that makes all your friend inquire about what's different? A highlighter is the key and if you haven't heard about a cosmetic highlighter, it's time to up your make-up game.

Highlighters are the easiest way to give your complexion that gorgeous glow and they are ever-so-simple to apply. I say this all the time and chances are if you have been to my store, The Candy Bar, you have heard me say it;  a product like Kevyn Aucoin's The Celestial Powder in Candelight can take years off your face and make you the envy of everyone you know. Applied evenly to the top of your cheekbone, your brow bone and down the center of your nose, this light, shimmery powder can cause others to inquire about your special "glow". It's like this: You've just bumped into a friend you haven't seen in months at the grocery store. While you are answering her questions about your husband and the kids, her quizzical stare at your face and the distracted manner in which she responds to you is all the answer you need: SHE'S NOT LISTENING TO YOU BECAUSE SHE'S WONDERING WHAT IT IS ON YOUR CHEEKS THAT IS GIVING YOU THAT GORGEOUS GLOW.

Highlighters today are readily available (thank you Kim Kardashian) and come in many packages-creams,  powders and  liquids- and some are packaged with a contour powder or cream to fill in the hollows of your cheeks to expertly to give your face shape. 

A kit like Kevyn Aucoin's The Creamy Glow Duo #4 is the perfect on the go contour and highlight companion. On the right, Candlelight in a cream and on the left, a contour cream in Medium. Users can apply with a brush or their fingers and blend, blend, blend for a gorgeous summer glow.  Apply the Medium cream under the hollows of the cheek (make a fish face ie; suck you cheeks in) and blend a small amount with your finger. Then use a separate finger to apply the Candlelight on the tops of the cheek bones and blend for maximum benefit and shine. 

Grab yourself some summer fun with a fresh, new highlighter and start taking in all the compliments of your friends. Of course, tell them Candy sent ya!

A Gem Of A Tool

After the longest/ snowiest winter on record, I can report that everyone is feeling dry all over. The most obvious place would be our skin. Yes, the skin is tapped out from the climate conditions but our hair has also take quite the beating with all the cold. Dry, brittle hair that lacks any moisture from the atmosphere has left my clients complaining about the look and condition of even the glossiest and most supple hair. Conditioning treatments are great and can nip your hair dryness right in the "split end" bud, but the best way to combat the brittle fly away's is to incorporate a tool into your daily routine that actually uses patented technology from a gem stone to make hair it's healthiest.

The T3 Line of hair care tools are the most technologically advanced that money can buy and they use one ingredient to actually produce healthy hair. Tourmaline.

Tourmaline, a semi-precious stone is also known as the "electric stone". When heated, it produces negative ions that translate into healthy heat. T3 Hair tools use crushed tourmaline which they infuse into the internal tool components, resulting in the healthiest way to style your hair. It actually cuts your drying time in half! Along with a patented technology called  SoftAire™, T3 Hairdryers use negative ions in the air flow to cancel static and quickly seal the cuticle. The results are amazing! You will see a reduction in frizz, and increase in body and shine, and hair that is easier to comb through and manage.

And who doesn't want greater, more manageable hair? Shed the winter dull and dry hair and try something that can actually produce a shinier, healthier looking hair. This one is a true gem!  It's a bit more than you may expect to pay for a hair tool, but the life expectancy of the T3 product will guarantee your money's worth.  I highly recommend it.

Today's Special: Top Five Beauty Must Haves

With the last week of the holiday's upon us, I decided to give you my Top 5 Beauty "Must Haves", so that your and yours can have a merry little, beautiful Christmas now!

Topping my list:

1. Eve Lom Cleanser-Voted by Vogue Magazine "probably the best cleanser in the world", this balm cleanser is no short of a beauty wonder. Created by the legendary, world renound esthetician Eve Lom, the award winning cleanser is the basis of her international, best selling line of skin care. Expertly balanced for all types of skin and skin concerns, it deep cleanses, exfoliates and leaves skin radiant and hydrated. Applied with a dry hand to a dry face, it emulsifies into a sleek oil that removes all traces of dirt and makeup. Using the warm, dampened muslin cloth (that comes in the box) to swipe away impurities, your skin is left with an amazing ENVIOUS glow that your more often than not will be asked to explain. In 3 sizes, it starts at $50.00 for 50 ML of gorgeous skin. You won't believe your complexion, or the fact that you just cleansed it with a gorgeous aromatherapy oil that won't clog pores! PURCHASE HERE.

2. Skin An Apothecary Soy Body Whip-If the previous product is the best in it's category, then this body moisturizer tops all the others for hydrating your body and leaves the competition in the dust! This fluffy, soy based cream is enriched with Vitamin C and Paraben free. The whipped cream soaks into the skin leaving it virtually grease less and amazingly soft. It's like nothing I've ever tried. It literally transforms dry, dull skin into supple, soft glowing skin. It's a Candy Bar best seller and can be PURCHASED HERE.

3. Nest Candles and Diffusers-Nest candles are a long time favorite of mine. These gorgeous scented candles permeate the entire perimeter of your home! My recommendation for this time of the year? Nest Holiday candle in the 3-wick jar is not only long lasting and gorgeous, but will give you the happy scent of the holidays for your friends and family to enjoy. Expertly blended with pomegranate, Mandarin Orange, pine, clove , cinnamon and a hint of vanilla and amber, even Santa will appreciate the joyful scent of the holidays in your home. PURCHASE HERE. 

4. Kevyn Aucoin The Volume Mascara-The Candy Bar's #1 selling product! This tubular formula actually wraps around your lashes creating little tubes that adhere to your own lashes, which allow you to create length and volume with out clumping. It won't smear, smudge or dot onto the eye area and comes off easily with soap and water. This is a stocking stuffer that's sure to please and it only comes in one color-black-so the decision of color is already made for you! PURCHASED HERE.

5. UNO de50 Jewelry-You can never go wrong with a gorgeous gift of jewelry. UNO de50, Spain's premier jeweler has the most unique, distinctive and discriminating designs, perfect for the woman who wants to stand out among the crowd. Sterling silver, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces so remarkable, the toughest decision will be choosing just one! Shop the world of UNO de50! PURCHASE HERE.


Happy shopping bloggers! 10 days and counting!!

A Blank Canvas

I put makeup on people for a living, so everyday, when I go to put on my own makeup, I have a host of choices to choose from. I always start with my complexion. I begin with a simple BB cream, which we already know I love, and I wear it as my primer, before I even out my complexion with a foundation/foundation powder.  My hands down favorite complexion enhancing product is Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder, which is so very versatile and amazing, (with anti-aging properties) my friends call it the "magic dust". But recently I've been working with a wonderful creme-to-powder foundation called Water Canvas.

Vincent Longo's Water Canvas creme-to-powder foundation is a patented and award winning foundation that after one use, is easy to see why it's an award winner. It comes, pictured above, in a small tub and when you touch it, you feel a cool, smooth creme like no other. The touch test alone make you want to apply it immediately. This amazing product is made up of 75% water and oil free. When applied with a sponge or with the Beauty Blender, it gives the skin a medium to full, flawless coverage that looks completely natural and lightweight. Did I mention it feels great?

Water Canvas can be applied to the skin in so many ways. You can use your fingers, a sponge, a Beauty Blender, a foundation brush or a stippling brush and the result is a smooth, flawless complexion you will love.  I sometimes dust my Halo Powder, lightly over it to set. I used it HERE, to apply it over my contour and you can see for yourself the great result. At $57.00, it's not cheap, but it's worth every penny if you covet a flawless look to your complexion.

As I said before, I have many choices when it comes to makeup and people constantly ask me if it's ok to have more than one complexion enhancing product/foundation in their beauty wardrobe. I say YES! It's better to have more than one product, each one giving you a different result for different looks and even better when those products are paired together. You need not worry about looking "cakey" or overly made up, you just need to know what kind of look you want to create that day.

Experimentation is key, and I recommend the Vincent Longo Water Canvas Creme-to powder foundation to create a special glow to your skin. This amazing product can be found at The Candy Bar, and will give your "blank canvas" the right look for any occasion.

I Really Don't Discriminate When I Am Buying Product

So Frack had his math tutor last Wednesday night and I had an hour to kill before I had to pick him up at the library. An hour to kill and Candy unleashed can be a very dangerous thing, indeed. The library is very close to a local CVS so I figured I would go grab a few things like toothpaste and such and effectively kill the hour. Sounds innocent enough, right?

This particular CVS drugstore is open 24 hours and is very large. It has a new area that looks to be it's first foray into the high end cosmetics and skin care market. Of course, I am immediately drawn to the isle, after all I, have an hour to kill. Research and development, I like to call it, and I throw myself into looking at everything. There were lots of brand names that I didn't recognize and I got busy, reading and touching and smelling. Before I knew it, I had about six or seven products in my cart and I was really excited about them.

Lord knows I don't need a GOSH DARN thing, but I just can't help myself. I am a JUNKIE.

Anyway, one of the products I bought is a great product, on the cheap, that I want to share with you. It's by a company called Roc. Roc has a great line of skincare products that claim to be effective. Reasonably priced, and I mean a quarter of the department store brands, these Roc products consistently receive positive reviews on the makeup sites like MakeupAlley.com. The buzz on Roc is you can get a good, inexpensive, anti-aging product at your local drugstore.

I bought the Roc Daily Resurfacing Discs and I am in love with them. At $10.99, these pre-moistened cleansing pads are two-sided. One side is soft and foams up beautifully to gently remove dirt and makeup. This side also works great to remove eye makeup effectively. The other side has a slightly rough, buffing texture that also foams up and sloughs away dead skin cells. I use them at night because I really feel like I am cleaning off the grime of my day and these pads actually re-texturize your skin's surface and give dull skin a fabulous glow. I also love the convenience of the plastic tub, with the flip top for easy access.

Fellas, these will make great prep before shaving. Not only will they cleanse and tone, but the buff side will cause hair follicles on your face to rise to optimise your daily shave. Dare I say it? I actually feel like this products possibly cleanses my face better than my pricey foaming cleansers. Next time you are in your local drugstore, give them a try. I like them so much I am going to buy them for Frick. It's hard to get a 17 year-old to understand that taking care of your skin is important at any age. I think she will love the easy access to these pre-moistened, self foaming pads. Maybe now I can get her to remove her eye make up before bed because she hardly has to do a thing but rinse!

And as soon as Frack's whisker's come in, I'll buy him some too which could be a lot sooner than later.

I just noticed for the first time this weekend that his voice is changing...