Revlon Moon Candy-- Satellite & Orbit

  Hi all!!  The Revlon Moon Candy Nail Art duos have been around for a couple years and they've never really seemed to catch on, despite the fact that they're easily accessible flakies perfectly matched with a corresponding base color.  The other day I went to the display at my most frequently used watering hole and dusted (yes, dusted) a couple Moon Candies off and brought them home with me.  Brace yourselves because I've got a lot to say about these.

Revlon Moon Candy

  The first one I chose is Satellite, a wine crelly base color matched with iridescent peach flakies in a sheer peach jelly base.  The wine shade is pretty typical, and has a nice red tone to it as opposed to brown, giving it a more cabernet appearance and less fresh blood.  I have at least six shades like this in my stash and they've all got better brushes than this one, which is thick and moppy, and better formulas, which the troublesome brush did not help.  This is thick and runny and not quite opaque in one coat, thick and slow drying in two.

  The flakie portion is actually iridescent gold mylar shards, which are heavier than your typical iridescent flakie (Essie Shine Of The Times, the Finger Paints flakies, Essence Night In Vegas).  This means they don't come out with ease and are harder to place on the nail.  They also have a tendency to misbehave, clumping together, not laying flat, requiring multiple layers of topcoat to smooth out.  Still, I like this look, and was surprised, despite the peachy appearance in the bottle, to see that it very closely resembles one of my favorite glitter toppers, Cult Nails Feedback (seen over one of my six wine shades {HERE}).  The Moon Candy shards flash the same pink and green.  The sheer, lightly colored base doesn't obscure the base color at all, but does add considerable thickness to an already thick base layer.  I used two coats of the wine shade and one coat of flakies, finished with one thick layer of topcoat.  All that thickness leads to near instant shrinkage as everything starts to dry.

Revlon Moon Candy Satellite

  The second duo I chose is Orbit.  Orbit is a slightly warm, dark purple creme coupled with light opalescent blue flakies in a sheer violet base.  The thick, moppy brush is the same but the formula on this creme much nicer than Satellite's crelly.  It's opaque in two coats of standard thickness and consistency and dries quickly.  

  I had higher hopes for this flakie, thinking it might be more traditional but its appearance in the bottle is deceptive.  This is also a mylar shard, and worse behaving than Satellite's.  Orbit's flakes are not as plentiful and they seem to be heavier still.  They apply sparsely and show up subtly.  I used two coats to achieve what you see here and these shards both sunk in and poked out so I used two thick layers of topcoat in an attempt to balance out the texture.  I experienced some shrinkage with all these coats as well, but not to the extent of Satellite and that's due entirely to the nicer formula of the purple base.

Revlon Moon Candy Orbit

  All this is only part of why these Moon Candy duos haven't exactly caught on.

• These retail for $7.49 a piece, which is a lot for 7.68ml of drugstore polish (that's both sides).  15ml of Zoya runs $9-$10, depending on the finish; Revlon's Parfumerie line retails $6.99 for 11.7ml.  I admit that a big sale prompted me to finally try these-- I spent $4.49 for each, which is fair enough, in my opinion.
• The packaging is really awkward.  It's great for display but that's it.  These are double ended, tall, and narrow, and so quite topheavy and something of a balancing act to maneuver and apply.
• Troublesome flakie formulas and thickness of coats do not contribute to an overly polished finished look.
• These are neither as original nor as striking on the nail as they appear in their packaging.

  So there you have it.  Now I understand why the entire display was covered in dust.  Have you tried any of these Moon Candies?  If so, what did you think?

  Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!! ♥