Any ideas on how to add lighting to a mirror for putting on makeup? 

I was fortunate to have my mom buy me a magnifying vanity mirror that had a light with it.   I'm not sure if there is a way to really replicate that by adding your own lights though :(

I would just get one of those.  I absolutely loved mine...until it broke.  C'est la vie.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=lighted+vanity+mirrors&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3324818748012423752&ei=jzGmTLb1HoL0swPl3OX-Dg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDgQ8wIwAA#

I love just sitting in front of my Vanity desk & mirror that was give to me by my Mother. Everytime I sit down I think about how she used it as a young woman and how my daughter will eventually use it. Of course when I'm not at home... any place will have to do. But I always make sure I have time to sit at that vanity and doll myself up!

Have you tried propping a mirror next to a window? I'm not sure if that's actually any cheaper than buying lights for your mirror, but if you got one that you could prop against the wall near your window and bring your makeup over that could work -- it's what I do.

I had a floor lamp in the bathroom once, the kind you can move the individual lamps on it is not real pretty but these days you may be able to find one at a garage sale and I think Wal Mart may still carry them.  What was nice about it is that you can aim one directly at your face and one kind I had, each lamp you could adjust the height on.  I have small children so I had to get rid of all of mine.  So I put on my make-up and then I go and look in the mirror next to my bedroom window and it never looks as good.  When using those light up mirrors have you noticed a difference when then looking in a mirrror in natural light?

I feel like how my makeup looks in natural light is what I trust most. I did have one of those mirrors that light up and I thought that was great for tweezing and focusing on tiny things like black heads etc, but I would still always value how i look in the natural light with more so.  At night time however I don't have it so I just judge by my bathroom mirror. The lighted mirror sometimes can be too small to give you a good idea about your entire appearance too.

At least that's this girl's opinion.

I have one of those makeup mirrors that have four types of lighting: Day, office, evening, and home.  It is very old, from the 1980's I think!  So the lighting is not what it used to be I'm sure.  They are fluorescent bulbs and have never burnt out.  One side of the mirror is magnified, but I never want to see my face THAT closely, and no one else is going to look that close!

I have it on my dressier by the window, so I use the "day" setting which is supposed to simulate daylight (or sunlight), but I also have the natural light to see what I look like.  I've always heard that this is the best type of lighting to do makeup in, and fluorescent lights in places like restaurant bathrooms are the worse!  They cast these shadows that make your face look a lighter or darker tone than it really is, so you end up putting on too much.  I can't understand these women at the gym putting on their makeup in that kind of lighting!

I know my mirror has fluorescent lighting, but at least it's not the same type of "yellowish" light.  I'm sure they make much better simulations of light now, but I never got around to getting anything new.

Natural lighting is supposed to be the "safest" to use, even though you may end up in various types of lighting through the day & night.

I use a small lighted mirror at my writing desk. I keep my products in a couple of baskets next to the mirror because there are books everywhere else. It looks like this http://www.overstock.com/Health-Beauty/DMA-Elements-Lighted-1x-5x-Makeup-Mirror/5086095/product.html?rcmndsrc=2