Lighting Tips To Make Your Powder Room Glow For Every Guest

Hollywood folklore tells tales of starlets throughout the ages adding a clause to their contracts to be lit with diffused pink-hued lighting, so they look incredibly beautiful at all times. After all, pink is the most flattering of all hues — it gives a soft, healthy, rosy glow, as well as reducing the appearance of wrinkles. Sounds cheaper than plastic surgery to me!

However, before you go filling up your shopping cart with pink-tinted light bulbs, it is worth noting that this pink hue would not be the best for accurate lighting throughout your entire home. Imagine trying to put on makeup or cooking an entire meal with dim, rosy lighting ... not practical! However, there are clever tricks you can use with regular light bulbs and fixtures to achieve the same glamorous Hollywood aesthetic. The perfect place to pull off this soft, warm glowing effect? The powder room.

Since your powder room is for guests to use while entertaining, you want it to have wow factor, as well as make guests feel welcome and pampered. By taking tips from your favorite Hollywood stars to create the perfect lighting for your small guest bathroom, you will essentially create a look good, feel-good effect, with your guests leaving your powder room feeling attractive, confident, and ready to have fun! Here are my favorite ways to achieve that radiant Hollywood glow in your powder room, no special pink-hued light bulbs required.

Instead of grabbing a way-too-saturated pink light bulb that may be off-putting or jarring, the truth about the rosy glow is that any warm source of light will create a similar effect. Think about candlelight — the soft, warm twinkle makes everyone look so healthy and beautiful, while setting an intimate vibe that fosters connection. This is precisely the hygge mood you want when entertaining, so the key to creating that lovely glow comes down to choosing the right light bulb that is both warm and soft.

Candlelight has a light color temperature of about 2000 Kelvin (K) and gives off a warm, yellow tone. Standard light bulbs marketed as warm white will be between 2700K and 3000K, which also have yellow undertone but become progressively more neutral as the number gets higher. The trick to creating the flattering glow is choosing a light bulb with a warm color temperature of 2700K. Anything higher will look too cool or stark in a small, intimate space. While there are 2100K bulbs on the market, the strong amber hue may be too much.

The next piece of the puzzle is determining the correct wattage. The simplest solution is to install everything on dimmers or use smart bulbs with adjustable settings to pinpoint the perfect balance of function and mood for your particular bathroom. Alternatively, keep the LED wattage equivalent for vanity fixture bulbs under 60W to maintain that soft vibe. I personally prefer something 40W or even lower depending on the number of bulbs in the fixture(s). This isn't a space for daily tasks, so make the vibe slightly dim, moody, and a little sexy!

The second trick for Hollywood-ready lighting is to make sure that the light sources are properly balanced. The major disadvantage of candlelight is that, because it is a singular pinpointed source, it casts harsh shadows unless you have filled the space with flames (please don't!). Movie stars are lit using balanced three-point lighting, with two lights in the front and one in the back. The same idea applies to powder room lighting to achieve that dreamy enveloping glow.

Similar to the Hollywood method, the most flattering powder room vanity lights are two wall sconces on either side of the mirror, mounted with the center approximately around eye level. Wider linear fixtures mounted over the mirror can have a similar effect but cast slightly less flattering downward shadows. My preference is always wall-mounted sconces for creating even illumination. For a super-soft effect, look for fixtures that diffuse the light output rather than having exposed bulbs. Balance the front task lights with ambient backlighting to bring the halo of light all the way around your guests. Ideally, install a decorative chandelier or semi-flush mount fixture with dimming capabilities. 

A dimmer is essential if you have recessed cans, in order to tone down their overpowering output. In addition to controlling the wattage, swap out cooler temperature recessed can bulbs for 2700K alternatives to warm things up. By choosing the perfect warm color temperature bulbs and creating a well-controlled, balanced lighting layout, your powder room will envelope your guests in a flattering, soft glow fit for the big screen and make them feel like the most glamorous guest at your next dinner party.