How to Add Black Wax to a Mirror

I love antiquing wax! Antiquing wax can add depth to a piece of furniture or in this case a mirror. 🙂

I was working with a client who had recently built a home and she had purchased beautiful white mirrors for her and her husbands master bathroom. She loved the shape of the mirrors but, she felt as though the white mirrors looked too bleached out when the lights above the mirrors were turned on. Making it difficult to see the mirrors. She wanted to make the mirrors a bit darker and she LOVES the dark antiquing wax.

I was SO excited to paint these mirrors for her! I thought the paint really helped make the mirrors pop more from the walls so that they could be seen!

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I want to share with you the exact paint and tools I used to achieve this look!

Supplies to Antique Black Wax a Mirror

A mirror! (preferably one that has some details, or lines, curves…etc. something that the black wax can catch the edges or get into the creases of.)
Painters Tape!
Chalk based or Mineral Based Paint. I Used Joanna Gaines Magnolia Home Line “Garden Trowel” on this mirror. Dixie Belle’s Hurricane Gray is very similar!
Clear wax (optional sometimes I find this helps the black wax go on smoother.)
Antique black finishing wax
Your favorite paint brush! (this is mine, your hand will not hurt after painting because of the rubber handle!)
Wax Brush (for applying the black wax.) I actually used stencil brushes for this! They are small and perfect size for the small details of a mirror.

Steps to Adding Black Wax to a Mirror

Begin by taping the mirror’s inside edge. This will protect the mirror from any brush marks. While you are taping turn your can of paint upside down! (crazy, I know) This will make sure that all the good stuff from the bottom of the can gets to the top!

After mirror has been taped flip can of paint back over and lightly dip your brush into the can of paint. and begin brushing your paint onto the mirror in thin coats. You will need 2-3 coats of paint depending on the underneath finish. For this mirror It took 2 coats. I did touch up a couple spots adding 3 coats in some places. 🙂

Let mirror dry. (since I was in a bathroom there was a hair dryer on the counter! SCORE! This helped my dry time! If you use a hair dryer make sure that the paint is not thick or you will accidentally create a crackle effect with your paint. 🙂 Dry time with a hair dryer took about 30 minutes.

Once mirror is good and dry you can you can start begin the fun part! Adding black wax! Take your stencil brush and dip it into your black wax. Being careful not to have too much on your brush at a time. Begin by making light brush strokes IN THE SAME DIRRECTION (very important, or else you’ll end up with black wax smeared everywhere) going back and forth until you have added enough black wax to the raised edges of your mirror. If your mirror has lots of creases you want to pack the black wax into those creases with your brush.

PRO TIP: You can wipe away excess wax with a shop towel, paper towel OR old cotton t-shirt