How much longer are you going to put up with leaning over the bathroom sink and straining to see to put your makeup on?  There's no need for it, you know, not if you invest in an illuminated bathroom mirror.

In today's doll-sized houses with squeezed in bathrooms, not everybody has the benefit of natural light flooding into the bathroom, particularly when it comes to en suites.  And even if you are lucky enough to have an enormous bathroom with dual aspect windows, you still need to use some sort of lighting illuminate your beauty at night.  You don't need us to tell you that the central ceiling light just isn't up the job.  At the very best this type of light casts unflattering shadows, at the very worst it can make you look as if you've died but not lay down yet.

All that functionality aside, illuminated mirrors also provide very relaxing light levels that are ideal for a long relaxing soak in the bath.  Like candle light but without the flames.

Returning to the facts, by choosing a mirror that incorporates halogen lamps you will also eliminate that persistent problem of fogging.  It's all down to basic physics: steam hits the cold glass and turns back to water, i.e. condensation.  Because halogen lights emit heat, the mirror is warmed and the condensation doesn't happen.  Add to this the fact that halogen light is very flattering to skin tones and it would seem to be the only sensible choice for bathroom lighting.  You should be aware though that there is a downside.  Relative to other light sources, halogen is expensive to run and, also relative to the other types of light, these bulbs have a short life-span: up to 2,000 hours.

If you're less interested in looking good than you are in saving energy and running costs, then modern fluorescents are the way to go.  Don't be put off by memories of flickering tubes and the popping as they are turned on because these disadvantages don't apply to modern fluorescent lamps.  And their greatest benefit is that they have a useful life of around 10,000 hours - so they live five times longer than the average halogen lamp.

Whatever light source you choose, you'll be pleased to hear that illuminated bathroom mirrors are very easy to clean.  Because the lights are set behind the glass, there are no fiddly bits to clean, just the flat glass surface.

For those of us whose eyesight isn't what it once was, you can even get illuminated magnifying shaving mirrors! Whilst it's impractical to produce large magnifying mirrors due to the processes involved, it's relatively easy to produce smaller mirrors.  And that means no more wearing your mascara as eyeliner because you couldn't quite see where it was going.

Putting practicality aside for just one moment, if you are looking for the wow factor, there are some stunning mirrors available where the designers have used arrangements of LED lamps to create all sorts of effects:  from optical illusions, through movie star glamour, to the frankly futuristic.

Illuminated bathroom mirrors - how many more benefits do you need?