Neon Makeup Range

Neon and UV Makeup, Made in the UK Since the 1980s

Stargazer was making neon cosmetics when UK clubs first started hanging blacklights over dancefloors, and the pigments have not needed much changing since, because the ones that worked then still work. What follows is what each product does, and where it stops.

UV-Reactive Is Not Glow in the Dark

This trips enough people up to be worth stating plainly. Glow in the dark means phosphorescent: it charges up in light, then keeps emitting once the lights go out. UV-reactive means fluorescent: it does nothing in a dark room and lights up only while a blacklight is on it. Every neon product here is the second kind. In daylight they read as strong flat colour, under UV they go bright, and in a genuinely dark room they do nothing at all. If the venue has no blacklight, buy them for the daylight colour rather than the glow.

Neon Eyeshadow, Without a Palette

We do not make a neon eyeshadow palette, and searches for one often land here, so it is worth saying. What we make instead is Neon Eye Dust Pigment, a loose hyper-pigmented powder that goes on stronger than a pressed neon shade normally can, because there is no binder holding the colour back. Use it dry over a tacky base for the most intensity, or wet it with the Mixing Medium to turn it into something spreadable that holds through a night out. It is the closest thing we make to a UV eyeshadow, and it fluoresces properly under blacklight.

Neon Liner and Mascara

Neon Liquid Eyeliner has a thin brush and a smudge-proof, flake-proof formula, so a line drawn at eight still looks drawn at two. Neon Mascara puts the same pigments on a medium bristle wand that separates lashes instead of gluing them together, and it builds if you want it heavier. Both fluoresce under UV. If you only take one neon product out with you, take the liner, because it is the one that reads from across a room.

Neon Face Paint and Lipstick

Neon Face Paint is waterproof once it has gone on, which is why it holds through sweat, and it gives strong coverage in a single pass, so it works for whole-face colour as well as line work. Soap and water takes it off. Neon Lipstick does the same job on lips, long-wearing and bright enough to carry a face on its own. Both are made in the UK and cosmetically approved. Layer either with Face Glitter if you want the colour to catch light as well as fluoresce.

Neon Hair for One Night or for Longer

For a single night, Neon Wash Out Temporary Hair Colour Gel reacts under blacklight, works on any hair type and lasts until the next wash. Neon Hair Mascara does streaks rather than full coverage and is easier to control on a small area. For something that lasts longer, the neon semi-permanent hair dye range needs a pre-lightened base to read as neon. The darker your starting colour, the less a bright shade will show, so lighten first if you want the result in the photograph to match the one in your head.

Where the 90s Rave Look Came From

The neon eyeliners, pigments and lipsticks in this range came out of the UK rave and club scene of the late 80s and 90s, and Stargazer was supplying it at the time rather than reissuing it now. If you are putting together a 90s neon rave look, the reference points are simple. One flat block of bright colour on the eye rather than a blend, liner drawn hard, and something in the hair. Fewer products than modern festival makeup, applied heavier.

Next to this range, the festival makeup range adds the glitter and fixing products, body glitter covers sparkle on its own, face and body paint is the wider paint range including non-neon colours, and the neon hair dye range handles colour that has to last more than one wash.