8 Best Bathroom Vanity Lights To Liven Your Space

What To Consider When Buying Vanity Lights

Finding the perfect vanity lights for a bathroom can be tricky, since they’re equal parts design and task lighting. The right lighting also helps people with delicate bathroom tasks — applying makeup, shaving, catching a stray eyebrow, tweezing a sliver — and can have a big impact on self-image.

A few things you should consider when shopping for your bathroom vanity lights:

• Size/location: “Vanity lights are the fixtures installed near a mirror, either above or next to,” says Andra DelMonico, lead interior designer of Trendey. “If you’re installing your vanity light over a mirror, the light should be about 75 percent of the width of the mirror. This keeps the mirror and the light looking balanced while ensuring there is enough light created for the vanity.” If you have double sinks, choose two matching lights or separate sconces rather than one long light fixture.
• Light warmth: Bathrooms are often one of the darkest rooms in the house, so the right temperature, or warmth, makes a difference. Designer Sara Sain of Sain Homes says to check bulb or fixture packaging for its Kelvin rating — the way we categorize how warm or cool light is. That’s the key to the right warmth. “The wrong Kelvin on the bulb can change how you look from drab to fab,” she says. “A good warm but natural light recipe is 3,000K. It’s bright, but inviting, without being too gold or too clinical.” Also, check the packaging or product or bulb specs for the Color Rendering Index (CRI), which measures how like natural light it is. A rating of 90 to 100 is the closest to natural light and/or the incandescent light bulbs most of us use to judge color.
• Damp/Wet ratings: Fixtures marked with damp or wet ratings indicate they’re safe for humid bathrooms or near water. Important for fixtures in the ceilings of showers or bathtubs for safety, this also may affect how a product finish wears or ages. If water can land on the bulb, consider a damp or wet rating. But your bathroom has a small sink, away from lights, it may not be as critical.
• Built-in lights: Watch out for fixtures that have LED lights built in, rather than bulbs. Although they can be long-lasting, you often have to ditch the entire fixture when the light eventually goes out. It doesn’t necessarily make them nonstarters, but you should be aware when you buy.