As an artist I started using glow in the dark paint in 2011 and it is an amazing medium of constantly moving and changing light. 

All my paints are exclusive, almost every project I paint requires a different formula, these are many times brighter than glow in the dark printed inks.
The paint I select, how the art is charged and different lighting conditions all work together to make the art change and look different from night to night, and even at different times of the night.

All my work glows for approx. 12 hours with sufficient charging with bright light. Using a room's natural daylight and a 10 minute top up with a bright light at night is sufficient to get that all night glow.

There's no need to buy LED UV bars or flood lights unless you want an extremely quick maximum charge and to be able to see the colours at full charge. UV floodlights and bars (395nm at 30 - 100 watt) are especially good for home theatres/ darker rooms or basement rooms. 

I've painted for over 10 years without using UV lights at all so while they super charge glow art really brightly, they aren't completely essential. They actually used to be harder to get and expensive for my customers so I skipped them and used only the brighter colours in my art. As the LED UV lights are everywhere now and cheap and easy to get I use more colours than I used to. 

Bright fluorescent lights (compact or tubes) also work well to get the stars to glow brightly all night. Most rooms already have perfect lighting conditions for the stars to charge and glow well.

The only lights I’ve found that are not suitable for charging are dim incandescent bulbs and halogens. Bright LEDs are also fine. 

Glow in the dark paint does not fluoresce under UV light much. It mainly glows in the dark. Fluorescent neon coloured paint is the type that reflects psychedelically under a black light. For the realistic illusion that happens with my star ceilings you need to view the stars in the dark and not under UV light. (UV light is for charging only.) 

If you have a dark area like a basement, home theatre, or room with little daylight you must use a bright light to compensate. In those dim or dark areas it is best to get as much direct light on the stars as possible. This is where UV LED bar or flood lights are especially useful. 

I work in an area that never gets natural daylight and yet it glows very brightly in the dark. I use bright CFL room lights and the paint closest to the light source obviously glows the brightest. If you want your posters or murals to glow brightly don’t put them in a distant shady corner of the room! I also use a high powered flashlight for when I want to charge a mural up fast or to see the colours at their most intense. 

You’ll only see glow colours when the paint is 100% charged. As the stored light starts to run out and fade the glow will always be a white colour. This is common to all glow in the dark paints. The white after-glow will continue to fade but you will easily see it glowing all night long. The best way to get the colours to full charge is to use UV light. 

Lastly some of the decals are transparent. It helps to place them on a lighter surface as lighter colours will reflect the light from the paint. Very dark colours and black can reduce the appearance of the glow. 

Glow decals are intended for use in a dark room at night. If you have the windows open on a moonlit night you won’t see the glow so clearly. If you are applying glow in the dark star stickers at night it always helps to give your eyes time to adjust after flicking off the lights to see your progress.

All spaces have different lighting conditions but the general recommendations for any Stella Murals products are:

⭐ Use daylight or sunlight if possible.
⭐ Top up with a bright light at night for 10 minutes if needed.
⭐ Use LED UV lights if you want to supercharge your glow stuff.
⭐ Keep the room dark for viewing.
⭐ Give your eyes time to adjust to the dark.

A well lit space = bright glow!