Candlesticks are built for counter-trend trades.
See my review of a Nison book here on TL.
Just one piece of advice - the shorter the timeframe, the more important additional confirmations are needed in order to use candlesticks as a reversal signal. In other words, if trading a 1 minute chart, you NEED some sort of additional confirmation to take that candle signal. Candles in and of themselves are not terribly reliable on very small timeframes.