Bathroom Lighting Gets Overlooked Until Its Genuinely Unflattering

I found myself stood in front of my bathroom mirror at half ten on a Tuesday night, phone raised at a slightly hopeful angle, desperately trying to capture a flattering photo of an outfit for my hen do WhatsApp group chat who have strict “no repeats” rules that I personally think are ridiculous for a collection of women in their thirties. The dress was navy blue, a colour I’ve worn countless times before. A colour I know looks good on me. In that photo it made me look grey. My skin looked the sort of green you associate with lethargy rather than nightclub LED lighting. I sent the photo anyway with a caption “don’t mind the lighting”, and three separate people messaged me asking if I was OK.

I was totally fine.

The dress was totally fine.

The lighting was not fine, and hadn’t been fine for about two years, since my previous landlord before this one replaced the bulb with a single cold white pendant dead centre of the ceiling that I never once thought to question at the time because honestly who thinks about bathroom lighting? You think about the tiles. You think about the taps if you’re a person who gets excited about taps, which I am. You do not stand in a bathroom showroom asking to see the lighting options first thing. But ever since that bulb had been quietly making me look tired, unwell, or both. And I only realised because a hen do WhatsApp group cared enough to ask.

I’ve never really thought about bathroom lighting until my bathroom lighting screwed me over. It always feels like the bit people screw up because they don’t think about it. If they think about it at all. But your bathroom light is above you every morning, every evening, every time you go to the bathroom deciding how you feel about your own face before you’ve had your coffee. It dictates how you apply your makeup, whether you can actually see the grey hairs you’re trying to pluck out, whether your bathroom feels relaxing or a police interrogation. And yet almost nobody gets it right.

So here’s everything I wish I’d known about bathroom lighting, from tone and shadows to safety and regulation. I didn’t know until leaving my flat two years later because someone had taught me well.
[Bathroom Lighting Inspiration]

Warm White Bulbs, Not Cold White Bulbs. I Will Die on This Hill

Ok, let’s address the most Googled question I’ve seen while writing this. The actual query plugged into the search bar at eleven pm while stood on your bathroom floor scrubbing blue toothpaste out of the sink like I was. “What colour light should I get for bathroom?” The answer is warm white, between 2700 to 3000 Kelvin, and if the packaging your bulb came in doesn’t tell you the Kelvin rating, leave it right back on the shelf.

Cold white lighting, aka anything between 5000 to 6500 degrees Kelvin, is what was happening with my old bulb and it is what makes bathrooms universally feel like Eastenders clinic scenes. It washes everything out. It drains warm toned skin of all colour, it made my navy dress look wet and dotted with mud splats, and it made any skin flaw or dark circle look like a serious concern by morning. Trust me, you do not want cold lighting on your commute.

I’ll give you cold lighting an avenue where it excels though, and that’s if you’re doing a particularly serious skincare routine and need true colour to keep an eye on everything going on in there. Some people love it for that reason, swear by it. But as your general, every day bathroom light? No, it’s doing you no favours.

Warm white lighting on the other hand, literally gives your skin warmth back. Especially first thing when your bathroom won’t be getting any natural light through a window because, yup. Mine doesn’t have one. Most rented buildings in London don’t. Natural light becomes a lovely bonus, sure. But when it’s cloudy in the morning you’ve got nothing making your skin look better. Which is where your bulb comes in, to pick up the slack.

I now have a 2700K bulb and my god it changed my whole routine. Same lighting, same me, same navy dress and suddenly I looked human in photographs rather than parsley.

[Warm White Light Bulbs for Bathroom]

Vanity Lighting That Actually…Lights Your Face

I knew I never put mirror lights above my bathroom mirror because…? Wait for it. I thought the ceiling light would do that job for me. Huge mistake and one I’m not afraid to admit. The reason you buy lights specifically for your bathroom mirror is because a single downlight on the ceiling, no matter how warm the tone of that bulb is, casts shadows beneath your eyes, beneath your nose and if you’ve got one of those fancy oversized mirrors mounted too high, beneath your chin too.

You end up applying eyeliner by phone light for god sake. A costly version of phone light where someone else has bought and installed a ceiling mounted phone light and called it efficient.

A true vanity light hits you from both the left and the right, at about head height so those shadows are dispersed and you can actually see what you’re doing when you’re doing your hair and makeup. The most popular, Hollywood style bulb strips? Also known as vanity bars these days. Do this on steroids obviously, and if that’s your aesthetic? Amazing, have fun with it! Don’t let me stop you.

But you still don’t need those powerful bulbs to reap the benefits of having two light sources rather than one. Two bright enough wall sconces either side of your mirror, will give you all the same benefits of even lighting on your face, with a warmth that cold overhead lighting will never replace.

I picked up two slim LED lights and stuck them either side of my bathroom mirror. Simple enough that I bought them without over thinking, but easy enough to see my cheekbones properly come morning that my flatmate at the time asked if I’d changed my face mask. I hadn’t. I’d just changed my lighting, and apparently myfoundation think had been sabotaging me since we lived there.

[Vanity Lighting for Bathroom]

Install Dimmers, Because They Are 110% Essential

I want to scream at every interior designer who decided full on full brightness was the only option for bathrooms. You are under oath when picking that light fitting. You do not understand how people use bathrooms at 3am when they barely can function and then again at 7pm when they want to relax into a bath.

You are setting everyone’s morning routine to unbearable by refusing to accommodate a dimmer switch. Is every interior designer purposely making our lives harder? Asking yourself right now. I thought so.

A dimmer is honestly the single cheapest, easiest thing you can add to your bathroom and it makes more difference to the overall feel of your bathroom than anything else on this list. You want full, oftentimes brighter light for the getting ready bits. Makeup. Shaving. Stuff that requires you to be able to see detail.

Then you want that dimmed right down for baths. Dimmed down for cleaning teeth past 10pm when everyone else is in bed. Dimmed down for sleepy kids who need to visit the bathroom at 4am but don’t need to be blasted awake by the full force of the light every time they push the bathroom switch.

I didn’t have one for my entire first year living in this flat and I felt like I was being interrogated by the police every.single.time I went into the bathroom after dark. Once we’d had it installed, properly by an actual electrician (don’t DIY this guys, bathrooms and electricity are not a Sunday YouTube job, trust me) it completely changed my relationship with my bathroom. Same shower. Same tiles. Completely different vibe, just by having the option to turn it down.

Ps. Not all bulbs will dim. Just keep that in mind when you go searching for your dimmer, that was literally me driving around B&Q looking like I’d lost my mind.

[Dimmer Switch Lighting for Bathroom]

Distribute the Downlights, Don’t Subject Your Face To One

Your general bathroom light, or the one single bulb if you have one general bathroom light, is like using one radiator to heat your entire house. It works. Your house will get hot. But it’s not how the job was designed to be done, and unless you live in a tiny flat flat your bathroom will feel like a few patches are lukewarm while others mega blast you with heat.

Similar concept with your bathroom lighting. Multiple recessed downlights spread across your bathroom ceiling, rather than in the very centre of the room, will distribute the light better and stop you looking like you lived in Miami with all the light being dumped in one direct spot.

This also matters because bathrooms are, by and large, smaller rooms than the rest of your house. Badly distributed lighting in a small room is far more obvious than it is in a big open plan kitchen. That shadow in the corner by your towel rail. The dim bit above your toilet. It all stems from putting all your lighting eggs in one basket.

Alternatively, you can go too far with this. Got it out of my system now but my boyfriend installed six downlights in my friend’s bathroom last year. It was a strip lighting arena. Like, truly overlit because they were bright warm lights but six points of light in a tiny bathroom is six too many. Is at the point you need downlights at all. Three, sensibly spaced would give you the exact same effect for a third of the price.

tl;dr more lights, doesn’t always mean better. But better placed lights spaced throughout your bathroom, will look and feel a lot better than leaving all your hopes and dreams with a single bulb.

[LED Downlights for Bathroom Ceiling]

Double Check IP Ratings Because Your Bathroom Is Preeetty Wet

This is where I will preach. Understand what IP rating is before buying any sort of light fitting for your bathroom. Seen fancy light fixtures on Pinterest that ‘would look great in my bathroom’? Chances are they aren’t properly rated for a bathroom and you shouldn’t be using them there.

Quick science lesson. IP stands for ingress protection, basically a number that informs you how well the light is protected against moisture. Anything directly above or around your shower/bath should be IP65+ rated as a minimum. You have wider ranges acceptable for light further away from your shower like over your bathroom door or sink, as long as they’re IP44+ usually.

I make this next bit sound like I’m mother Teresa but bathroom/regulation fitting IP ratings are not a mood, they’re legally required safety standards. Zones, trust me when I explain this to you. There are zones. An electrician will go over zones 1, 2 and 3 with you when you get your lighting fitted. You will listen. And nod along like you understand when in actuality you have no clue what they’re going on about but it sounds really important so you just sort of smile and leave.

I don’t care about any of the other stuff on this list as much as IP ratings. Your bathroom can look however the fuck you like if you please, but don’t compromise on the IP rating of anything near water. Full stop. Because that’s where people start getting drastically injured by shoddy light fittings that “look so much better than the options on John Lewis”. Please. Don’t be that person.

I’ve seen so many nice looking pendant light fittings for sale online purpose built for bedrooms, started styling them into bathrooms photos for no reason other than they photograph ‘well’ over a bath. ZERO IP rating mentioned anywhere on websites that clearly aren’t built for bathrooms. Poor sales tactic if you ask me. Asking your electrician if they’re safe is asking your electrician. Ask.

[IP Rated Bathroom Lighting]

Wrapping It All Up

I promise you none of this was difficult to Google, scroll through Pinterest for, or realise on your own. It’s just so ingrained in bathrooms that you literally don’t think about it until one day you suddenly do. And your whole outlook on how you perceive your bathroom space every day is changed forever.

Warm bulbs, not cold.

Vanity lighting that lights your actual face and isn’t your ceiling light pretending it can do that job on its own.

Dimmers, so your bathroom can exist in two lighting modes, not just screaming full brightness one. Multiple smaller downlights over gathering all the light into one spherical bulb, and understanding IP ratings before you go and drill holes for a light that’s going to electrocute you.

I didn’t realise any of this for two years because no one ever mentions it. It’s not the biggest expense when renovating. It’s not the funner part to pick tiles vs bulb temperature. But out of everything in your bathroom, the lighting is the single most important.

You spend time every day staring at your bathrooms ceiling so make that ceiling something you like. Spend more time thinking about lighting temperatures and if your bulb dims before you buy that matte black surround you’ve been lusting after on Pinterest. Your skin will thank you. Your selfies will thank you, and you can stop sending boring.inlineMarkup“When you look like this in the mornings” captions to people.