Candace Marino and Tab go back to scene haircuts, early photo shoots, and her sister's wedding. Tab cut her hair and did the wedding hair; Candace did makeup for his shoots. The wedding stories alone could fill another episode. Today she's The LA Facialist, with a Beverly Hills studio and clients who have flown her to Dubai and India. The studio is hers now. The easy back-and-forth is the part that hasn't changed.
When Candace left her last job, she says she had $1,500, a 500 credit score, and a repossessed Fiat. She had barely launched on her own when California's closures stopped her from doing facials. She offered virtual skin consultations and packed customer orders herself. In 2020, she says she made half a million dollars in sales from her computer. The number is startling, but so is her admission that it took her years to trust herself enough to go out on her own. Tab, who always saw her as confident, wants to know what changed.
Her hands still matter. Candace explains why she calls herself a facialist, why she hasn't built her practice around machines, and why her “omakase” facial changes with the person in front of her. She talks about the employer who trusted her with Halle Berry, the pressure of preparing skin for an event like the Met Gala, and the pricing decisions that let her build a team without pretending every client has to book with her.
There's plenty of skin talk, too: collagen, retinol, sunscreen, pores, acne, and what one facial can and cannot accomplish. Candace explains why she teaches clients how to care for their skin between visits instead of treating a facial as a one-day fix. The $500K year and celebrity clients are here, but so is the skin education that made her The LA Facialist, delivered in a conversation between two old friends.
