The Best Lighting for Your Makeup Mirror

It can happen to the best of us. You’re applying your make up in the mirror and everything looks flawless – or so you think. Just after you jump in the car to head off to dinner with friends, you pull down sun visor for one last look in the mirror. Much to your dismay, you see that your foundation is uneven and your eye shadow just isn’t quite the color you thought it was. Most likely, these are all symptoms of poor makeup mirror lighting. When it comes to applying makeup, there are a few lighting factors you should always consider.

How you perceive different colors is extremely important when it comes to makeup. A foundation color may look like it matches your skin tone under a certain light, but if that lighting has a low CRI, you may realize that it doesn’t match at all once you step out into the daylight.  If you normally apply your makeup in the bathroom, make sure your vanity lighting has a high CRI so that you’re able to see the true color of your foundations, eye shadows, etc. As a general rule, try to keep your lighting’s CRI above 80. For lighting with a perfect CRI of 100, you will want to go with incandescent bulbs to light your vanity.

Have you ever been in a fitting room and noticed that harsh, overhead lighting accentuates every tiny flaw on your body? The same thing can happen when applying your makeup under a single overhead light. Using only one light source above you will cast accentuate shadows that are created under the eyes or other areas that won’t do your makeup application process any good. One pendant light or flush mount fixture won’t give you the smooth, even illumination you need in order to see all of your face in its best light.

When choosing bulbs to use for the area where you usually apply your makeup, remember that high wattage and lumen output does not equal quality makeup lighting. The best lighting for makeup is anything that produces a soft light that isn’t terribly bright. This effect is best produced by lamps that are diffused through shades or glass that you might find on wall sconces or pendant lights.

Even if we can’t all have mirrors surrounded by light bulbs like movie stars do in their dressing rooms, there are still ways to surround your face with light. Using a bathroom vanity fixture with more than one light is one way to achieve more even illumination. But an even better solution is to use light sources on either side of your face. Placing two fixtures on either side of your mirror at eye level will highlight all areas of your face and provide great task lighting.