Brushed brass is the finish everyone is asking for right now, and it earns it: warm, golden, and it flatters a plain white suite far better than chrome ever will. But bronze, gunmetal and matt black each do a different job, and the right one usually comes down to the taps and towel rail you have already picked. Here is how the four finishes actually differ, what each one pairs with, and which stocked mirrors are worth a look.

The single biggest mistake is choosing the mirror finish on its own. A mirror hangs a foot above your taps, so if the mirror is brushed brass and the taps are polished chrome, your eye clocks the clash straight away. Match the mirror to the brassware, not to a mood board. Everything below is built around that.

• Brushed brass
• Brushed bronze
• Gunmetal
• Matt black
• Framed, edged or frameless?
• The finishes compared
• Cleaning and care, finish by finish
• FAQs

Brushed brass: warm, forgiving, and everywhere right now

Brushed brass is a soft, satin gold. The brushed part matters: it is not shiny polished brass, so it does not throw glare back at you and it does not show every fingerprint. That makes it the easy warm finish to live with. It sits well against white, warm greys, wood, and deeper colours like sage green or navy, and it takes a cold white bathroom and warms it up without shouting.

The one to look at is the Macie round brushed brass LED mirror, 600mm, from £149. It is a backlit round mirror with a brushed brass frame, colour-change LED lighting so you can flip between a cool white for shaving or make-up and a warmer glow, and a demister pad so it clears itself when the room steams up after a shower. If brass turns out too warm for your scheme, the same Macie is made in matt black, so you can see the shape both ways before you commit.

Pairs with: brushed brass taps and a brushed brass towel radiator. Keep the whole set in the same finish and it reads deliberate. Our bathroom tap finishes compared and towel rail finishes compared guides walk through matching the rest of the room, and there is a fuller look at the whole scheme in brushed brass bathroom style.

Brushed bronze: darker, browner, harder to find

Bronze is brass with the volume turned down. It is a deeper, browner metal, closer to aged copper or dark gold than the bright satin of brushed brass. In a bathroom it reads richer and a bit more vintage, and it comes into its own with warm materials: wood, stone, terracotta tones, deep green or oxblood walls. If you want warmth without the room looking too golden, bronze is the move.

The catch is supply. Far fewer mirrors are made in a true bronze than in brass, so you will have less to choose from. If you cannot find a bronze mirror you actually like, brushed brass in a warm, low-lit room reads surprisingly close, so it is a fair fallback rather than a compromise. Have a look through the full mirrors range to see what is in stock in the warmer finishes.

Pairs with: bronze or oil-rubbed brassware. The trick with bronze is to keep the whole scheme warm and avoid dropping a cool grey or bright chrome into the mix, which fights it. If you are not sure whether your room is a warm or a cool one, warm vs cool bathroom tones is the quickest way to settle it before you buy.

Gunmetal: the cool, dark one

Gunmetal is a dark, cool grey with a metallic sheen, somewhere between graphite and charcoal. It reads cooler than black and a lot more interesting than chrome. It is the finish for a modern, slightly industrial room: concrete-effect tiles, cool greys and blues, black or dark timber. Where brass warms a room, gunmetal sharpens it.

Gunmetal punches above its weight in what people search for, but stock tends to be thinner than brass or black, so it is worth checking what is live before you set your heart on a shape. The illuminated bathroom mirrors range is where the gunmetal LED options turn up, and an edged gunmetal mirror (a slim grey border rather than a chunky frame) is the usual format.

Pairs with: gunmetal or matt black taps and a matching towel rail. Do not pair gunmetal with warm brushed brass, the two pull in opposite directions. The towel rail finishes compared guide covers what is available in the cooler dark finishes.

Matt black: the safe bet that goes with anything

Matt black is the finish that never lets you down. It is flat black with no shine, it reads graphic and modern, and it sits happily against white, grey, wood or a bold colour. It is also the most stocked mirror finish by a distance, so you get the widest choice of shapes and sizes. If you are unsure and want a finish you will not fall out of love with, this is it.

Three stocked black LED mirrors, three different shapes:

• The Martha matt black LED touch mirror, from £159. Touch-sensor switching, a built-in demister pad, and it mounts either portrait or landscape, so it fits an awkward wall either way. It comes with a 2 year guarantee and is a straightforward install.
• The Mono black soft-square LED mirror, 500x700mm, from £189. A softer black frame with rounded corners, colour-change lighting that holds on the sensor to switch between a cool white and a warm soft light, and a demister pad.
• The Passa matt black hexagonal LED mirror, 600mm, from £179. A six-sided shape for something less obvious than a rectangle, built from aluminium with safety glass and a built-in demister. It is also made in brushed brass if you want the shape in a warm finish.

Pairs with: matt black taps and towel rail for the tight, all-black look. Black is also the one finish that sits fine next to chrome if you are mixing metals on purpose. The bathroom tap finishes compared guide is the place to sanity-check that pairing.

Framed, edged or frameless?

This trips people up, and the search data shows it: plenty of people look for a “black framed” mirror and plenty look for a “black edged” one, and they are not the same thing.

Framed means a proper visible frame in the finish, all the way round the glass. The Macie round brass mirror is framed, the brass border is the whole point of it. Pick framed when you want the finish to stand out and do the work in the room.

Edged is subtler. The finish is a slim border around a mirror that is otherwise mostly plain glass, a thin line of colour rather than a chunky frame. The Aubrey Slim Black Edged LED mirror (400×800, £169) is the worked example: a narrow black edge, not a bold frame. Pick edged when you want a hint of the finish, not a statement.

Frameless is plain mirror glass with no finish showing at all. The LED and the demister do all the work and the colour comes entirely from your taps and rail. Pick frameless when the brassware is already carrying the scheme and you do not want the mirror competing with it.

The finishes compared

Four stocked mirrors, side by side, with the cheapest current price:

All four carry an LED and a built-in demister, so the split is really about finish and shape, not features. Prices are the cheapest live price at the time of writing, so check the product page before you order.

Cleaning and care, finish by finish

None of these are high maintenance, but the finish decides what you are allowed to clean them with.

Brushed brass and bronze: a soft damp cloth and a dry-off is all they need. Keep abrasive creams and anything acidic well away, so no limescale removers, no bleach and no scouring pads, which can dull or mark a warm metal finish over time. The brushed texture is forgiving and hides day-to-day marks better than a polished finish would.

Gunmetal and matt black: the enemy here is anything abrasive. Scouring cream or a rough pad leaves shiny scuff marks on a matt finish that you cannot buff back out, so stick to a damp microfibre cloth and dry it off. Fingerprints wipe straight off matt black, which is part of why it is such an easy finish to own.

All finishes: these are wall mirrors with electrics and a demister behind the glass, not shower-screen glass, so keep direct spray off them and wipe rather than soak. Treat them gently and the finish will still look right years in.

FAQs

Can you get a bathroom mirror with a bronze frame?

Yes, but they are rarer than brass. True brushed bronze mirrors are made in smaller ranges, so you will have less choice of shape and size. If you cannot find a bronze one you like, brushed brass in a warm room reads close, and it pairs neatly with bronze or oil-rubbed taps.

Is a matt black mirror hard to keep clean?

No. Fingerprints wipe off with a damp cloth and the flat finish does not show water spots the way a shiny one does. The only rule is to skip abrasive creams and scouring pads, which leave permanent shiny scuffs on a matt surface.

Do brushed brass LED bathroom mirrors come with a demister?

Many do, and it is the feature worth holding out for. The Macie round brushed brass LED mirror, for example, has a built-in demister pad and colour-change lighting, so it clears itself after a shower and switches between a cool white and a warmer tone. Always check the individual spec, as not every mirror includes one.

What is the difference between a framed and an edged mirror?

A framed mirror has a full visible border in the finish all the way round, so the colour is a feature. An edged mirror has only a slim line of the finish around otherwise plain glass, so it is far subtler. People search for both separately because they look quite different on the wall.

Whichever finish you land on, match it to your taps and towel rail first, then pick the shape you like. Start with the full mirrors range or narrow straight to the illuminated bathroom mirrors if you want the LED and demister sorted in one go.