I’m the queen of putting on my makeup in weird places on a time crunch. Whether in a passenger seat, on a plane, or in a tent at a festival, I’ve done a full glam in minutes. I even taught a class to my WIRED colleagues on how to get ready in a hurry. I am, for better or for worse, that girl.
So it makes sense that I would test the ultimate in It Girl innovation. I’m talking about lighted makeup mirrors, including my favorite—the Fancii Taylor ($46). These mirrors shine a light on your face so you can see it from all angles (and in some cases, they have magnification that will show you every single pore, whether or not you want to see it). You’ll be able to use the power of Seeing Correctly to ensure a flawless finish, whether you’re going with heavy contour or a smoky cut crease like it’s 2016 again, or you simply want to make sure your overlined lips aren’t too obvious.
Be sure to check out our related guides, including the Best LED Face Masks, Best Hair Straighteners, Best Curling Irons, Best Diffusers for Curly Hair, and the Best Beauty Subscription Boxes.
Updated March 2025: We’ve added two new makeup mirrors, the Simplehuman Sensor Mirror Trio and the Impressions Vanity Touch Pro, and updated pricing and ensured accuracy throughout.
About CRI (Color Rendering Index)
Some lighted makeup mirrors feature specific CRI (Color Rendering Index) measurements. It’s a way to measure how closely artificial light can mimic natural light (like daylight). The scale goes from 0 to 100, with 100 being the perfect indication that colors appear the same as they would in natural sunlight. I think this is a nice thing to know about, but ultimately, your environment will affect your makeup application more than a mirror’s CRI score (if listed). Placing your lighted makeup mirror in front of a window or in a well-lit area will give you just as good of an idea of how your makeup looks in any room. Once my makeup is finished, I usually cycle through any mirror’s available lighting schemes to ensure it looks good in all of them. So, in a nutshell, a high CRI is a good indication of a mirror’s color accuracy, but it’s not the only thing you need to care about.
How We Tested
I completed my go-to makeup look (sparkly nude eyeshadow, winged liner, lots of blush and highlight, penciled-in brows, heavy mascara) using each of these mirrors at least twice—once in a dark environment, and once in natural daylight. I tested each lighting mode and fully cycled through every battery at least once.
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews