The only solution is wall mounted lights at head height adjacent to the mirror above the vanity. This is where good lighting that doesn't cast deep shadows down your face, is crucial for shaving or applying make-up. Also flattering lighting in this location makes you look younger!

Bathroom Lighting · More Info

Avoid downlights above your head when standing at the vanity as they cast a harsh, downward beam that makes you look old and creepy.

Best of luck,

Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits

Thanks Dr Retro - that was the original plan (I'm all for looking younger and less creepy!). But with the space I've got (1675mm wide vanity), I'd have to have pretty thin mirrors and lights right?

Do you need 2 basins, personally I prefer the bench space. I have 1500 bench one sink in middle, mirror full length, with shaving cabinets at each end of mirror, skylight no windows, 2 down lights over bench and two opposite side of room over bath and shower. Not a big room. Happy with that but I’m minimal makeup person so don’t need perfect lighting. With wall lights beside mirrors you prob max mirror widths500- 520

I just finished our new ensuite, which has a 1600mm vanity. I have 4 lighting circuits (switches): 1. 2 x downlights for the main bathroom in a similar place to you. 2. Another 2 x downlights ( 1 over each sink) 250mm off the wall (vanity is 500mm deep so halfway between person and mirror). 3. Extractor Fan / Heat Lamp and 4. Strip light under vanity for late night trips. The downlights are dimmable so you can have the main bathroom in a medium light and then you can choose how much to crank your vanity lights. The idea is that the light should shine onto your face hence they are installed in front of the person and they are on a gimble so they can be tilted to point at your face. I think you are in Australia so I can tell you they are the Domus Aqua Tilt 13 and are fully sealed (ip65) so no issue having over your shower, etc. They are also very bright as the light bounces off the white tiles, so really they are only needed when applying makeup. It's hard to know exactly where your lighting needs to go when you just have plans in front of you, but you could always get your electrician to wire both for wall sconces and downlights and then when you are further along you can choose whether to cut downlights or have wall lights. (Remember to take pictures and measurements of the wire locations before they close in the walls / ceiling!) If you try downlights first, it's also a lot easier to change your mind (i.e patch a ceiling) than wall lights as that usually means drilling through tiles..

Thank you Nick! Can I ask - do you find any shadows from the downlights over the sinks? That's what's been suggested to us instead of the sconces, but I just don't know if I'm ready to give them up yet!

Did you go for one large mirror or two individual mirrors as well?

Another solution with a short vanity bench with two basins is to go with a large, wide mirror, with small pendants hanging down. For two basins use three pendants. You will also get reflected light from the pendants coming off the mirror. I designed something similar for a single vanity.

Just make sure that your pendants are skinny, that they are at the right height for your face and they illuminate sideways, not just downwards. Make sure you have a good sparky who ensure that your three pendants are equally spaced, aligned and hanging at the same height. Not all sparkies are too fussed with accurate positioning of pendants, but in this case, close enough is not good enough.

It looks like the vanity bowls drawn are quite generous for the size of the vanity. I would select something less wide so you have more bench space and more space to hang pendants.

Best of luck,

Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits

No shadows on the sink.. but not sure where these shadows would come from as you stands behind the sink. I will say that there are shadows under my eyes caused by eyebrows (as the downlights are quite high - 277cm from floor level), this is remedied by tilting the head back a bit, but you wouldn't have this issue with a sconce (However you also need to find a sconce that will fit with your design, and would require one on each side of the mirror)

I made a 1500mm wide shaving cabinet, with a 300mm open shelf in the middle and then 2 pairs of mirror doors (each door is 300mm) on each side.

I have a 2000mm long vanity. Lighting is two downlights above each sink, and one LED standard light in the middle of bathroom.
The plans show details. I use the downlights only for makeup. If just general brushing of teeth, then single light is used. My experience is this works well, no shadows. However I do have one large 2000mm mirror, this may make a difference with lighting...
As said by nick, you could install both sconces and downlights for the aesthetic look your going for.

Not quite sure I would go for both as it could look very busy, more that you could wire for both while you make your mind up then decide just before tiling. You could do it after the room is done but while finding cables through a downlight hole is easy, it's not trivial finding it through villa and tile.