Best Glow in the Dark Powder for Resin

Would you like to make art that Captivates & Enchants? Well, adding glow in the dark powder to resin is a great way to make your art stand out from the crowd and WOW your customers! Discover what is the best glow in the dark powder for resin that also works for other types of artwork.

How to Use Glow In the Dark Powder

These bioluminescent powders can be used in resin or acrylic paintings such as galaxies, starry skies, ocean pours, and northern lights. Sprinkle them on top of acrylic paint, a wet coat of varnish, or even a wet layer of resin. Or stir them into your pouring medium or resin mixture.

Use them in casting epoxy to create glow-in-the-dark artwork, skateboards, furniture, and floors. 

What about mixing it into resin and creating glowy tumblers, trays, cutting boards, cheeseboards, coasters, knife handles, and more?

The options are unlimited!

So let's take a look at the best glow in the dark powders for resin and other artwork!

Important Things To Consider Before Buying

Before going into the pros and cons of each of the 3 glow-in-the-dark powders mentioned above, I want to explain a few things that you should consider before choosing a bioluminescent powder.

This will help you understand how the above choices were made and which one will work the best for you. 

1. Glow Intensity & Glow Time

Glow intensity and glow time is probably the most important factor when choosing a glow powder. Some powders made out of cheap zinc sulfide have a very dim glow, whereas strontium aluminate is now the longest lasting and brightest phosphorescent material commercially available.

Strontium aluminate is about 10 times brighter and 10 times longer glowing (but also about 10 times more expensive) than zinc sulfide. So most of the recommendations in this article will be for strontium aluminate powders since those are the ones that will produce the brightest and longest glow.

You also need to know that the glow intensity and glow time for the different formulations of different colors will vary. For example... the formulation for the green strontium aluminate powder will produce the brightest glow while the formulation for the aqua color will produce the longest glow. Other glow in the dark colors, like purple or red, will not glow as bright as green or aqua. 

The glow intensity also depends on the particle size. The bigger the particles, the better the glow.

Also keep in mind that the more glow powder that you add (up to a certain point) to your epoxy mixture, the brighter and longer the glow will be.

2. Mixing Ratio

Like I mentioned previously, the brightest glow will be achieved when you use the correct ratio of powder to resin/pouring medium. Some manufacturers recommend to mix glow powder to epoxy resin in a ratio of 1:4, while other brands recommend mixing their product all the way up to a 1:2 ratio of glow powder to epoxy resin/medium for maximum glow.

Adding more glow powder than that will usually NOT give a brighter or longer glow. 

So follow the recommendations of the manufacturer and play around with the ratios until you get the right glow for your application. 

IMPORTANT: Mix resin into your powder rather than mixing your powder into your resin. This will preserve the structure of the crystals and prevent the glow properties from being destroyed.

Do not mix your glow powders with acidic components or grind the powders any further (except for the GLOW UP powders) as this will also destroy the glow properties.

3. Charging Time

The glow intensity of the phosphorescent powder will be influenced greatly by the source of light used to charge it and the amount of time that the powder is exposed to that source of light.

Expose the powder to Sunlight or UV light for about 10 minutes to fully charge it. If using a regular light bulb, expect the powder to be charged after 30 minutes or more.

After being fully charged, some of these strontium aluminate powders can shine for up to 30hrs plus, depending on the color and how the powder was used or applied. 

4. Glow Lifespan

How long does glow in the dark powder last in resin?

Well, the lifespan of these high-quality powders can range from 15-20 years. But even after 15-20 years, these pigments will still glow but their glowing power will diminish over time.

5. How to Maximize the Glow

In order to maximize the glow of your powders, apply them over a white or a light colored surface. This will enhance their brightness.

Some powders should NOT be mixed with water-based mediums, as this will degrade the powder and reduce the glow, so make sure you read the manufacturer's instructions or make a small test before mixing all of your powder into a water-based pouring medium.

Glow powders tend to work very well in almost any type of resin epoxy!

Best Glow Powder for Epoxy

Great! Now that you know a little bit about how to choose and how to use glow powder, let's now talk about the four top choices of glow powder for epoxy.

#1. GLOW UP Powders

WINNER

GLOW UP Powders

These high-quality powders glow brighter than many other glow powders that I've tested. It's glow lasts 12+ hours (depending on the color and application) and will keep glowing for plenty of years to come. As a bonus, this product is backed up by excellent customer service.

Our TOP choice for photoluminescent powders are the GLOW UP powders from FairytaleApothecary.com! Their formulation provides the highest glow available on the market today.

The price is reasonable and the powder is worth every penny.

It's available in 3 different colors (blue, green, and aqua) and will also soon be available in a bigger grit so you can use it as sand on ocean pours.

Purchase it in a 1 oz or 4 oz bag, or get a 1 tsp sample bag if you want to try before you buy!

Mix GLOW UP powder with resin epoxy, non-water based mediums, and lacquers to create your own glow designs. You can mix the powder directly into the medium or dust it on top. 

The Mixing Ratio should be 10-50% concentration of pigment (by weight) to medium (by volume) to achieve visible glow. The higher the concentration, the brighter the glow. Play around with the ratios until you achieve the desired effect. 

Ratio examples for maximum glow...
1/2 oz Glow Powder: 1 fluid oz Medium
8 oz Glow Powder: 1 pint Medium
1 lb Glow Powder: 1 quart Medium

I love the fact that these powders are a neutral off-white color during daylight. It allows me to create foamy white ocean waves that look normal during the day, but glow at night. The off-white color brightens up my paintings during the day and the stunning glow mesmerizes my clients at night.

Shock your clients and friends with art that enchants!

Pros

  • Neutral off-white color during the day, Glows super bright at night
  • You can choose from 3 colors (blue, green, aqua)
  • Glow lasts a long time (12+ hours) with only 10 minutes of UV exposure
  • Works very well with resin
  • Lifespan is 20+ years
  • Full saturation with photoluminescent compound (rather than just top coated) so you can shape, sand, crush, smash, or do whatever you want to the powder and still have it glow as brightly as when you received it.  

Cons

  • Limited color selection
  • Water-based mediums can interfere with the integrity of the glow crystals, reducing the glow and longevity of the project. 
  • Doesn't ship outside the USA


#2. Techno Glow – Glow in The Dark Powder

RUNNER UP

Techno Glow

This company offers a wide variety of glow powders, ranging from the high-quality powders made from strontium aluminate to the lower-quality zinc sulfide powders (which tend to be less expensive but also glow less brightly). Many colors in different particle sizes are available to choose from. 

If you need a glow powder in a particular color not found at EnchantingFineArt.com, then take a look at Techno Glow.  They offer strontium aluminate glow powders in white, red, orange, purple, and a variety of other colors. They even offer dyed powders so that your art has a fluorescent color during the day (rather than just looking white) but glows at night. 

Their Premium Ultra Glow PRO-series powders available on Amazon are the glowiest powders they manufacture. However, if you are looking for cheaper glow powders (like the ones made with Zinc Sulfide) or powders in different size particles, then go directly to their website to find these options. 

Some of their Ultra Glow powders can be mixed with water-based mediums and some cannot. So make sure you carefully check the specifications of the product that you are purchasing and do a small test previously to using the product. 

The recommended Mixing Ratio for the Techno Glow powders is between 15% to 33% glow powder to medium. See the examples below.

20% = 1:5 = 1 ounce powder to 5 fluid ounces clear medium
25% = 1:4 = 1 ounce powder to 4 fluid ounces clear medium
33% = 1:3 = 30 grams powder to 90 milliliters clear medium 

Pros

  • Available in a wide range of colors, particle sizes, materials, and prices
  • Glow lasts a long time (8-12+ hours)
  • Works really well with resin, mixes smoothly 
  • Lifespan is 20+ years
  • Techno Glow is trusted around the world for the largest selection of glowing powders & paint
  • Ships worldwide

Cons

  • Some colors don't glow very bright (for example red and purple)
  • Some customers claim that the white powder glows blue instead of white.
  • Water-based mediums can interfere with the integrity of the glow crystals in some of their powders, reducing the glow and longevity of the project. 
  • A little confusing to find the right powder since they offer a lot of different varieties of glow powders. 

Here are 2 videos that shows paintings done with the Techno Glow Aqua glow powder!


#3. ArtNGlow – Glow in The Dark Powder

BUDGET PICK

ArtNGlow

This powder can be a little more affordable than the previous glow powders, but does not offer the same high-quality or long-lasting glow.

Art ’N Glow is a good glow powder for those that are maybe thinking of dipping their toes into resin art and would like to start testing some glow powders.

They are a little more budget friendly which makes it great for beginners, but they might not be the best option for experienced artists who are already selling their art and want their artwork to feature high-quality and long-lasting glow power.

These powders come in a variety of colors, and even though some colors glow brightly (like green or aqua), some other colors (like red, purple, orange, pink) are said to not glow as brightly or as long as others or their glow is very short-lived.

Since this is a coated strontium aluminate glow powder (unlike the GLOW UP powders mentioned above), it means you should NOT crush, sand, or smash the powder as this can reduce/eliminate the glow properties.

A nice feature of the Art 'N Glow powders is that all of their powders are encapsulated, which means that they can be used in both solvent (e.g. resin/epoxy) and water based mediums (e.g. acrylic pouring mediums). But keep in mind that the encapsulation can sometimes reduce the glow of the powder as well. So if you plan on just using resin and want the maximum glow, there is no need to use a powder that is encapsulated. If you intend to use a water-based medium, then do take the encapsulation feature into consideration or test the powder in the medium you plan on using, before using it on a big project.

Pros

  • Available in 14 colors
  • Encapsulated particles so it can be used in water-based mediums
  • Glows between 1-12 hours (depending on the color chosen)
  • Free UV LED keychain (with a 2 oz powder purchase) that works well for charging

Cons

  • Some colors don't glow very bright (for example red, orange, pink, and purple)
  • Some customers claim that the colors don't stay lit for very long, claiming that they fade away in 10-15 minutes
  • Not all of their powders might be made with strontium aluminate since some customers have claimed their powders smell like rotten eggs (a typical smell of zinc sulfide)
  • Some customers claim that the white powder glows green instead of white
  • Lifespan of product is not mentioned
  • Colors don't charge very well with light bulbs. Direct sunlight or an ultraviolet/black light is preferred
  • Could not find a mixing ratio suggestion by the manufacturer

Final Thoughts

The above-listed glow in the dark powders for resin work great for a variety of projects, including artwork, industrial purposes, decoration, fun kids' projects, and more!

Whether you are a beginner artist that needs budget friendly powders, a teacher that needs a glow powder for a school project, a homemaker that wants to give some pizzazz to her home decor, or an artist that wants to add some glam to his artwork through the use of high-quality glow powders... rest assured that you will find the perfect powder up above!

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