F1761 LED Free-Standing Mirror: a lit border at 55 x 160cm

Most mirrors reflect whatever light the room already has, which is why the one in the darkest corner of a bedroom is never the one anybody uses. The F1761 (LED) Free-Standing Mirror brings its own: a 55 x 160cm floor mirror with LED illumination running around the perimeter, concealed inside the frame so you see the glow rather than the diodes.

A crushed diamond border with light behind it

The frame carries a crushed diamond border, and the light sits behind that same perimeter. The two details work together: a faceted surface with light raking across it throws more sparkle than a flat one, and the frame hides the source so the effect is ambient rather than a row of bright spots. The product page carries six photographs, which is the fairest way to judge how strong that sparkle is in daylight.

Where light on a mirror actually helps

Light from the mirror itself falls on your face from the front. Light from a ceiling fitting falls on it from above, which is why bedroom mirrors flatter and bathroom mirrors do not. For anything done close up, that difference is the whole argument for a lit mirror, and the listing names dressing rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms as the places it is intended for.

Practically, a lit floor mirror wants to be somewhere you will stand in front of rather than walk past: the end of a dressing area, the corner of a bedroom beside a wardrobe, the wall opposite a window so it has daylight to work with as well.

The electrical questions the listing leaves open

This is where to be careful, because the listing describes the effect and not the wiring. It does not state:

• whether the light runs from a plug, a hard wire or batteries
• how it is switched, and whether there is a sensor or a dimmer
• the colour temperature of the light, which decides whether the reflection reads warm or clinical
• any IP rating

The last one matters most. A bathroom has zones with rules about what may be fitted where, and an IP rating is the figure that answers it. Since the listing does not give one, ask the shop before you buy this for a bathroom, and ask an electrician before you position it near a bath or shower. In a bedroom or dressing room the IP rating matters much less, but you still need to know how the light is powered before you decide where the mirror stands, so ask that at the same time.

The same lit border, two shapes on the wall

The F1761 is the floor-standing version. The listing points to two wall-hung relatives: a heart shape at 70 x 90cm, the SY1760 (LED) Wall Mirror, and an octagon at 80 x 80cm, the SY1761 Octagon (LED) Wall Mirror. Those are the ones to look at if the floor is already busy. If the light is not the point and the height is, the F1710 Free-Standing Mirror is an aluminium-framed floor mirror at 50 x 160cm whose listing mentions no lighting.

As with every leaning mirror, clear the strip of floor in front of the wall before the delivery arrives, and ask whether a wall stay is supplied: the listing does not say. The range sits in Wall Mirrors, and the F1761 (LED) Free-Standing Mirror is on its own product page with the full photograph set. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond.