I Candy cater for all your beauty needs from the most up to date nail care, tanning, waxing, Hollywood lashes, massages and therapies. Spoiled for choice on my pamper day I opted for a manicure as I had never had one, followed by a Hydradermie deep cleansing facial.

The salon is in a lovely old building overlooking the high street with many floors, each catering to a different treatment. The nail salon is decorated in a mixture of hot pink, black and white with a reclining chair for those having a pedicure and tables with pink and white towels laid out for the manicures. Besides the Jessica range of manicures, I Candy also do Biosculpture, a new nail treatment that is applied as a gel coating to natural nails; it doesn’t damage the nail and can be quickly and easily removed. You then have a set of perfect nails that don’t chip, split or break and a choice of 24 permanent colours. My manicurist had a set and I must say they looked great but I wanted to see what she could do with my somewhat battered nails on their own!

Firstly, you have a hand and arm exfoliation and massage, your nails are gently buffed, polished, cuticles are attended to and then the nails filed into shape, squared or rounded. The Jessica range of varnishes goes through the full spectrum of colours from dark and sultry to vibrant hot pinks and pearly pales. I chose a somewhat retro 1950’s sticky pink, applied over a base coat, two coats of varnish, finished with a clear varnish for shine. The end result looked so professional and I must say I enjoyed having it done. For the record it lasted over a week (even though I had been Mrs Scrubbit in the kitchen) and I thought it was well worth the £22.00 it cost.

So, onto my Hydradermie facial which deep cleanses, oxygenates and regenerates your skin by way of the Hydraderm machine and manual massage. I was mildly nervous about this as any machinery in theses situations puts me in mind of the dentist but I was put at ease by the therapist who firstly analysed my skin type (dehydrated, but this is a condition that doesn’t apply to the rest of me) cleansed and exfoliated and then applied the Hydraderm rollers to penetrate deeply and remove impurities and toxins. It was quite a nice sensation, especially knowing that I was ridding myself of the city grime and pollution no doubt accumulated over the weeks and I would look glowing and refreshed afterward. However, what I really enjoyed was the massage. My therapist was very good and she told me that she had trained for this but over time had invented her own style which in my view was the tops.

The Hydradermie facial is £44.00 and although I have to say I was ready to be a tad sceptical it really made a big difference to my skin, it felt soft and looked peachy; afterwards several people commented on how well I looked so I told them my secret and pointed them in the direction of I Candy!

Jacquie Vowles