Hard Candy is an American cosmetics company, founded in 1995 by Iranian-American sisters Dineh Mohajer and Pooneh Mohajer (who now owns tokidoki), along with Dineh's ex-boyfriend Ben Einstein (who now owns Einstein Cosmetics and several successful sport media companies). The company's first product was nail polish that Dineh mixed herself - a shade of baby blue named "Sky" to match her Charles David sandals. After receiving scores of compliments on the unique shade, Dineh began selling it at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, and Ben began selling to many other top retailers including Nordstroms. In that same year, actress Alicia Silverstone appeared on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' and, when asked about her pastel blue fingernails, replied, "It's sky blue," causing an overnight explosion of the brand. Ben and Dineh appeared on segments of MTV House of Style program several times. A mere 18 months later, the brand was quoted as generating $10 million a year in a

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advertisement featuring Dineh. Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), who owns

Donna Karan Donna Karan (, born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as "DK", is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabin ...

Givenchy Givenchy (, ) is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de ...

, Sephora,

TAG Heuer TAG Heuer S.A. ( ) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker that designs, manufactures and markets watches and fashion accessories, as well as eyewear and mobile phones manufactured under license by other companies and carrying the TAG Heuer brand name. ...

, and

Veuve Clicquot Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and ...

, acquired Hard Candy in 1999 for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition afforded Hard Candy greater distribution and a larger brand to attach itself to. It was later sold to Falic Fashion Group, a Hollywood, Florida-based corporation operating on the

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

market, and a subsidiary of Duty Free America. In 2009, Hard Candy announced a partnership with

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

to take the brand to mass. NuWorld Beauty and Wal-Mart have worked together for over a year on the marketing concept, product creation, and package development of Hard Candy. Hard Candy's new line, which premiered in the fall of 2009, consists of 261 products. The company kept some of the original Hard Candy products, among them their iconic nail polish, and introduced new products, such as Kaleyedescope Baked Eyeshadow, Eye Tattoo, Press-On Eyeshadow, and Take Me Out Eyeliner, which doubles as a

hair stick A hair stick (also hairstick) is a straight, pointed device, usually between five and nine inches (13 cm to 23 cm) in length, used to hold a person's hair in place in a hair bun or similar hairstyle. Unlike many hair pins, which are usually smal ...

References

9 Under The Radar Beauty Brands You Need To Know About

Hard Candy Files Suit Against P&G for Katy Perry CoverGirl Branding

Why Indie Beauty Brands Are Dominating The Market

External links

Hard Candy, official siteHard Candy, Glitter Glue Review
{{Cosmetics History of cosmetics Nail polish Cosmetics companies of the United States 1995 establishments in the United States