I'm hoping to do my own master bath renovation soon, and am also looking at sconces. I'm going to put a simple, contemporary, streamlined soffit above with good downlighting (something that just visually 'disappears'), and then put the sconces adjacent to the mirrors as you described. These will be switched separately from the overhead lighting. It adds some cost, but lets you have the soft glow of the sconces and maybe a beautiful fixture over the tub when you want mainly ambiance, but gives great lighting from above and for makeup when you need it. The deal with sconces is they aren't really meant to give high levels of light and just don't look good if they do, but the supplemental side lighting is great. Do a google image search for Candice Olson's bathroom designs - I think she does a great job of this (though she tends to use recessed cans at the ceiling)...you can purchase her sconces as well if you happen to like them. Have fun with this. I know I'm going to when we finally get started! Here is a link that might be useful: my design blog

Our sconces have 75W halogens in them (they give off the same amt. of light as a 100 watt incandescent light bulb) I do not notice any heat coming from them when I near them brushing teeth or applying make-up. I know the bulbs get hot to the touch. The fluorescents stay cool and come in a bunch of hues, as do some LEDs and there are "daylight" ones too but they looked purplish in our bathroom. You can always put lower wattage bulbs into a fixture, but you cannot go higher than they are rated. The specs on each fixture will tell you how many watts are max. Ours have Edison sockets and we tried 5 different bulb set ups to get the right color and brightness. It ain't easy. Our bathroom lights don't stay on for hours like the ones in our family room so heat doesn't really figure into our equation. When we replaced the 18 recessed (halogen) can lights in the family room and kitchen with LEDs, our electric bill dropped in half, and the room is noticeably cooler. -Babka

You may want to take a look at House of Troy for wall lamps that are used for reading. Although they are not sconces, at least using a wall lamp will allow you to move the light if needed. There are other manufacturers, I believe, that make these types of lamps and may be worth looking into for your purpose. Here is a link that might be useful: House of Troy

Can you post a pic?