eye candy

E

eye candy

Meaning

• attractive visually but uninteresting in other ways
• aesthetically pleasing to look at or pleasing to the senses
• something nice to look at but has little substance or use
• slick animations/graphic effects to entice users to websites or apps

Example Sentences

1. The company website was pure eye candy because it looks good, but nothing is interesting when you dig deeper.
2. Although Pete was eye candy and dressed very smartly, he was, unfortunately, the most boring man she’d ever met.
3. She had paid an excessive amount for these shoes, but they were eye candy only, seeing as she couldn’t walk in them.
4. The film was excellent eye candy, but I couldn’t tell you who it was in or what it was about.

Origin

This informal phrase usually has negative connotations about someone pleasing to the eye. Appearing in the late 70s in the US, it was first used to describe a beautiful woman who was as sweet as candy to look at but not highly educated. Nowadays, you might also hear this said any gender and about things such as films or websites with superficially pleasant appearance but not a lot of substance.

Beauty, Eyes, Feeling