GLOW parties are all the rage these days! This UV tribal butterfly design is sure to wow your clients when they turn on the blacklight and watch the rainbow butterfly come to life!Supplies used:

Diamond FX Neon Nights rainbow cake

Always Wicked Art Butterfly Sponge

Global Strong Black

Loew-Cornell #4 Round Brush

Festival Glitter - Rave

Step 1: Apply the Base

Using an Always Wicked Art butterfly sponge, load it well with Diamond FX Neon Nights rainbow cake, or any Neon/UV paint of your choice, making sure that all the colors in the cake are UV-reactive. Line up the corner of the butterfly sponge with the corner of the eye, angling out and up cutting through the eyebrow to create the upper butterfly wings. Then create the bottom wings by repeating the process above, this time angling the sponge down and out pointing the corner of the sponge to the focal point in the center of the forehead. 

Step 2: Tribal Lines

Using a Loew-cornell #4 round brush loaded well with Global Strong Black, create tribal lines on the butterfly wings. Aim for having your lines go from thin, to thick, to thin. Tribal lines often have parallel wavy lines that are linked together with curved lines, as well as swirls with spikes coming off of them. Have fun with experimenting how different lines and shapes fit inside your design, while making sure that the lines and shapes point toward the focal point.

Step 3: Repeat on the other side

Trying to keep both sides symmetrical can be tricky! One suggestion I've been given is to do your weaker side first and then try to match it up with your stronger side. Looking back to your first side for each line is also helpful in trying to obtain symmetry. 

Step 4: Centerpiece and Lips

Using similar shapes that are found in your design to keep the look cohesive, create a centerpiece for the butterfly's body. If you have UV-reactive gems, you could also place a bling cluster here for the centerpiece. I tried to create a shape that simulated a butterfly's body, head and antennae, still keeping in line with the tribal look.  

Using the pink, purple and blue from the rainbow cake, I did an ombre effect for the lips, keeping the darker blue on the outer corners of the lips and blending with the purple and then pink in the center of the lips.

Step 5: Final Touches and Glitter!

To bring some UV color to the butterfly's body centerpiece, I used the blue and pink from the rainbow cake to outline the butterfly's body. Then I added UV Festival Glitter around the edges of the design and carried it up and into the hair for extra flair! Be careful if you decide to apply the festival glitter directly onto the paint, as it could smudge the paint and ruin your design.

Now it's time for the wow effect! Turn off the lights and turn on the blacklight to watch your design come to life as it glows in the dark! 

Natalia Malley is the owner and lead artist of Peace Love and Paint LLC in the Washington DC metro area. She has been face painting for about 10 years, has won numerous face painting competitions and has been published in several face and body art magazines including SkinMarkz Magazine, The Colored Palette, QMagazine, FABAIC Magazine and Silly Farm Newsletter.


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