The insider

Courtesy iCandy

All about eyes

Long, thick lashes – especially if you weren’t born with them – are big business. While celebs like Nicole Kidman and J.Lo enlist the expertise of renowned makeup artists to dote upon their fringe, the rest of us spend the greater part of our lives experimenting with the latest products (think Latisse and vibrating mascara wands) to increase our batting average.

Hello iCandy Eye Salon.

Opened this year by image consultant Shareen Malik — the mastermind of Stunners n Smashers Spalon in Brentwood and Antioch — this “all about eyes” destination serves up a veritable beauty buffet for the lashes. Mink and silk extensions. Tinting. Perming. While the latter treatment sounds extreme, the results speak for themselves, “opening up” the eyes for a doe-eyed Bambi effect and adding curl to pin-straight fringe. iCandy stylists give your lashes the same attention a hairstylist would give your mane or an esthetician would give the skin, in addition to doing eyebrow threading and airbrush makeup.

Threading services start at $7 for chin and upper lip, and go to $150 for eyelash extensions. 1500 Sunnyvale Ave., Walnut Creek, and 5035 Lone Tree Way, Suite C, Antioch; icandysalon.com

– Stephanie Simons

The big clean

Hammams, the Turkish/Moroccan baths stemming back to ancient times, offer an exotic cleansing ritual that is both invigorating and relaxing (and can be a social event, too).Traditionally, hammams have three interconnected rooms: a warm room to prepare (and perspire), a steamy hot room for massage and washing, and a cool room to rest.

It all sounded good to us, so we tried the Moroccan Hammam Mud Ritual ($135) at Spa Dhara in Fremont. Lying prone on a heated marble slab, we were scrubbed with coarse mitts, lathered in foamy bubbles, patted with oils using a spinning wet towel, covered in black mud and wrapped in a foil heat blanket. Between each step, we were showered down or doused with little bowls of warm water. It was a unique and occasionally uncomfortable experience, but there’s no denying that our skin felt softer and smoother at the end.

Spa Dhara, 43368 Boscell Road, Fremont, 510.256.5001, spadhara.com. Other area day spas with similar – though not authentically hammam – treatments include Watercourse Way, Palo Alto (watercourseway.com); Changes Salon & Day Spa, Walnut Creek (changessalon.com); and Imperial Spa, San Francisco (imperialdayspa.com).