Best LED lighting for vanity / makeup mirrors?

onesizefitsnone

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Apr 30, 2011
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Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good lamp for lighting up my vanity mirror when I apply makeup? I placed my vanity table beside the window so I have natural light during the day. But at night I want to get good lighting. What is the best way way to do this? The options I am considering are buying clamp on lamps, use LED bulbs in them, and attach them to the top of the mirror. Or buy a desk lamp like the FLOS Kelvin LED. I live in an apartment so I can't install anything like Cree ceiling downlights. Thanks for the help!
 
Joined
Jul 15, 2007
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Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good lamp for lighting up my vanity mirror when I apply makeup? I placed my vanity table beside the window so I have natural light during the day. But at night I want to get good lighting. What is the best way way to do this? The options I am considering are buying clamp on lamps, use LED bulbs in them, and attach them to the top of the mirror. Or buy a desk lamp like the FLOS Kelvin LED. I live in an apartment so I can't install anything like Cree ceiling downlights. Thanks for the help!

Actually a strip light might work best for this.

Typically you want as soft lighting as possible- so take a look at DealExtreme and their 1M or 5 M lighting strips. If you get a neutral one you could then wrap that around the outside of the mirror. They're powered with a 12V supply- not constant current.
 

gsegelk

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In our bathroom over the mirrors, I am using the Philips Ambient A19 soft white light bulbs and my wife seems to be happy. If I compare one of these side-by-side to the regular bulbs we were using the color looks identical. I have nothing but the Cree can lights in the house and was definitely hesitant about these Philips bulbs...especially since they look so odd!

So far I haven't found a better option for a regular light bulb so I'm guessing this will work for your scenario?
 

skyled

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ecosmart at home depot has a globe LED but i've tried it for our above-mirror fixture and it was too directional, light came straight out and was not comfortable on the eyes.

this company Tuwago http://www.tuwago.com/globe-led/56-globe.htmlalso has something that might fit into a mirror vanity fixture. purchased 2 and should be on its way.

by the way i got their candles before from a lighting store near me and the quality is very good so im hopeful. we'll see.
 

onesizefitsnone

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Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I guess there is a reason dressing rooms use bulbs surrounding the entire edge of the mirror but I'm going to have to find an alternative to that.

It's surprising how little help my makeup artist friends were when asked about this. I might ask some photographers instead.
 

Optical Inferno

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There is one downfall to using an LED type source for this. An incandescent emits accross a larger spectrum then an LED. As such, an LED system may make your makeup look a little different compared to an incandescent light source.

However, after getting used to it you should have no real problems. As an interesting experioment it would be cool to see makeup under different light sources like cool, neutral, and warm white LEDs as well as an RGB setup and compare it to incandescent light.
 

Yoda4561

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A strip of high CRI LED's around 3000k would be ideal for this, maybe throw in a few cooler 6000k LED's on a separate switch so you can have a better idea of how things look under different lighting conditions. Might require a bit of DIY'ing to get exactly what you want.
 

fyrstormer

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Those Tuwago bulbs look interesting. I also have the EcoSmart bulbs and they aren't as omnidirectional as I'd like, but they work well enough for a single guy like me. I'll have to try one of the Tuwago bulbs, though, to see what I think. Might be worth upgrading.
 

skyled

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ok i've had the Tuwago globe LEDs up in my bathroom for over a week now and i gotta say, i really like it. when i opened it up i could tell it was a quality bulb just like their candle (had the candles for about 6 months now and no problems - outdoor on my porch, around my house at the deck, and in two "chandelier" type fixtures (ceiling hanging). the top is made of glass as far as i can tell, heat sink is cast solid aluminum but overall the bulb is very light and the heat sink to glass proportion is good, meaning the light is nicely diffused with so much glass wrapped around the globe. with these kind of prices and quality, im definitely going to try their A19 and reflectors. I got a bunch of track lights and cans i could replace with some decent flood lights.

i will try to get some pictures of the globe in my bathroom later this week. hope they stand the test of time.
 

deadrx7conv

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Look up LED in the Ikea catalog. Tived or Sunnan table lamps are not too bad. And , the 'Ribba' picture lighting could make a decent mirror light too.

Visit your local hardware or department store and see what they have for table lamps. Lamps, lighting, or fixtures can be treated like 'furniture'. You need to make sure it matches your style and surroundings. I wouldn't be solely concentrated on LEDs here. Search for the Bluemax 96-cri CFL table or work station lamps.

The other option is to convert a lamp with a Citizen, Bridgelux, Sharp, or other high CRI LED.
 

skyled

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finally...
notice the heat sink is barely noticeable. behind that big glass globe. i should also note that this one 9 watt globe replaced all 8 CFL globes. i know it looks ugly without all the globes in but to match the light output, i probably only need 1-2 more globes, literally. right now 1 is sufficient surprisingly. the lights are bright but not blinding as the pictures may depict...took the pictures with my android phone so quality isnt great.
 
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Mungoo

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I want to know if it's possible to wire a 2 AA battery pack to one blue LED light. The output of 2 AA alkaline batteries is 3v, but I don't know what LED and resistor to buy. Please don't tell me I would want to get a 4 AA battery pack, I need to be as cost efficient as possible.
 
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I want to know if it's possible to wire a 2 AA battery pack to one blue LED light. The output of 2 AA alkaline batteries is 3v, but I don't know what LED and resistor to buy. Please don't tell me I would want to get a 4 AA battery pack, I need to be as cost efficient as possible.
Get a 'boost' driver. DX sells many.
 
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