Review: Revlon Moon Candy in Orbit (280)

I have returned from my hiatus and I've got a ton of product reviews just waiting to be written. Apparently I have a half finished draft of a mascara review that's been waiting to be polished and published for a few months. Coming shortly! Next on the docket is a special haul. My first chance to try NYX products! Are you as excited as I am? Probably not... ;)

Orbit’s base coat is a cream finish which applies well and is opaque in just one coat. The formula is thin but not watery or runny, and it spreads well across the nail for a flawlessly smooth finish. The base coat has your typical polish smell, and slightly perfumed. The odor is relatively faint.

The brush pleased me.… I noted that it appeared somewhat small, without being too small, and was not at all tedious to work with. The bristles were laid in such a way that you could paint a thin line with the “edge” of the brush, or quickly coat your nails with the wider, flatter side. The bristles struck me as being somewhat shorter than those included in some other bottles, which allowed for good control. While there’s really nothing special about the brush itself, it performs well, and I appreciate that!

Immediately as I painted the first streak onto my nail, the words “richly pigmented” came to mind. This base coat seemed to be dry to the touch in a short amount of time. I did read that the top coat tends to “eat” or melt the base coat if not completely dry, leaving unsightly bald spots. I took this into consideration while electing to lay down only one coat of base colour. After the application, I attempted to let the base coat dry thoroughly. This is damn near impossible for me. I’m impatient with my nails and for that reason; I cannot live without Seche Vite.

The base colour itself is a blackened plumy purple. My crappy cell phone camera does this polish no justice so I've "borrowed" pictures from a blog I've linked below. Imagine! A beauty blogger without a digital camera… Call me a starving artist; I sold my camera for groceries months ago. I must make it a priority to purchase one soon. Anyway! The base colour is something I would consider wearing on its own without the flakie top coat. (Keep reading to understand why I may skip the top coat!) In store, the top coat is what caught my eye; It seemed to be glowing! It really stood out under those bright white lights. Well played, Target, well played…

I ended up distracting myself with The Following and Bates Motel (Monday night TV kind of rocks) so I managed to leave the base coat to dry on my nails for about an hour and twenty minutes; A record for me. As far as I could tell, it was completely dry… Then I attempted to apply the top coat. Like most glittery things, this flakie coat had a stronger odor than the base coat  It was thick and gloopy. I tried to apply thin layers with precision but it did indeed melt the base coat and cause some balding/streaking. To make the most of this polish (and it’s really the only option I can see that wouldn't destroy the base coat  I had to gather a thick bead of top coat onto the tip of the brush and quickly slick it across my nail in just one or two strokes. The flakie application was uneven and because the pieces are jagged, some of the edges stick up and are impossible to lay flat... Unruly little devils. It was definitely not a smooth application. Some gurus have used a product called “Gelous” over top of this and a coat or two of Seche Vite to make it smooth. This gives the look a beautiful glassy finish. I am not fortunate enough to have a bottle of Gelous, but if anyone knows where I might be able to purchase it, please leave a comment.


To get a stronger flakie effect I applied two coats of the top coat, which was thick and sticky, somewhat difficult to work with. I finished it off with a generous coat of Seche Vite. I think if I’d been prepared for an application that requires patience, I could have pulled this off a little better. It’s a bit tricky in the application, given the sticky-uppy flakie edges and unevenness that the top coat causes to the base coat. If you didn't have a product to accelerate drying time, I imagine it would take forever with the thickness required to get a good effect from the top coat. The two thick coats of top coat used in this one manicure left a noticeable dent in the bottle. By this, I mean, it used up a lot of the product. I’d guess that you could get about 7-8 decent manicures with this top coat, and then you’d have some of the base left over. Despite all of this, the end result is beautiful, if not a bit lumpy! I didn't have the skills or product required to get an application quite as striking as the picture below. For the most part it looks the same, but mine is nowhere close to smooth.

Narcissistic Nails has applied Orbit beautifully

The price was about $12 CAD when I purchased this at our new Target store. (I was so excited to see NYX in Target! I picked up a few things I hope to review.) I wish the top coat had performed a little better for the money I spent on it, but that’s a standard price where I live. I’m seriously jealous of American cosmetic prices. American ladies can pick up products for just a few dollars, which we Canadians often have to pay three times as much, at least! I definitely do intend to purchase most of the other colours in this line. I’m somewhat infatuated. I’m dying to get my hands on that brick red with gold flakies!

Because my cell phone camera pictures were virtually useless, I had to do a Google Image Search to find suitable pictures for this blog entry. I made sure to find pictures that were appropriately watermarked with the source and in no way take credit for these. Do yourself a favor and check out Narcissistic Nails. :D

(I will add an update about any troubles I may encounter while removing this polish, as it is a flakie and most glittery polishes tend to require foiling or some serious elbow grease.)

-H.Cat