Comparisons & guides

Comparing premium paints, plainly

Before buying a paint at €80 or €120 a tin, you want to know what sets it apart from the others — and you find advertising. These pages do it differently: for each house compared with Mylands, the same criteria, the figures published by the manufacturers themselves, prices checked and dated, and a section "where the other house keeps the edge" that we write with as much care as the rest. The Mylands price — €121.00 for 2.5 L of Marble Matt Emulsion — is read live from our catalogue.

Cluster updated September 2026 · every page cites its sources

A row of open sample pots from different paint brands, lined up on a pale wooden table in front of a wall painted deep green
The same criteria for all, the sample pot to finish

Brand to brand

Mylands against each house

Six head-to-head comparisons built on the same table: history and ownership, manufacturing, palette, flagship matt and sheen, washability, coverage, tin sizes, prices in France, VOCs, where to buy. Then what sets Mylands apart, what sets the other house apart, and how to choose.

An open notebook, a folding rule and an unlabelled dark paint tin on a workbench, beside a board painted green
The method: the same criteria for all, written down before painting

Decision guides

When the question goes beyond two brands

Three guides for the questions people actually type: the panorama of English houses, the method for judging a matt, and the three-way comparison everyone makes in their head.

The method

How we compare

The same criteria for all. Every comparison uses the same grid — founding, ownership, manufacturing, palette, flagship matt and sheen, washability, coverage, drying, other finishes, tin sizes, price, samples, VOCs, where to buy — so a line reads across from one page to the next. The manufacturers' figures. Sheen levels, coverage, drying times and resistance classes come from each brand's data sheets and official pages, never from a review or a memory; where a brand publishes no figure, we say so.

Prices checked and dated. Other houses' prices are those displayed by the brand or seen at a French retailer, with the month of the check; the Mylands price is read from our catalogue as you view the page, so it cannot be out of date. Sources at the foot of every page. And an annual review: third-party figures move, we verify them and update the date.

In all honesty

What these pages are not

These pages are written by Mylands, the brand's official site in France. We sell one of the paints compared, and we say so. That is precisely why every comparison carries a section "where the other house keeps the edge", written with the same care as the rest: Farrow & Ball's and Ressource's shops, Little Greene's and Argile's deeper matt, the wallpapers, the bio-based ranges, the Architectural Colours — we do not hide them.

These pages publish no tables of colour "equivalents" between brands: colour names belong to their owners, and two formulas never give the same result under the same light. Nor do they replace the sample pot — the one method every house compared recommends. If you find an inaccurate figure, write to us: we correct it and cite the source.

Going further

The references every comparison leans on

Mylands paint prices

The full price grid, by finish and tin size, read live — and the cost per litre and per square metre in two coats, to compare like with like.

Paint glossary

Sheen, class 1, coverage, VOCs, emulsion, multi-surface, LRV: a short, factual definition for every term in the tables.

Low-VOC paint

What the regulations require (30 g/L for a matt wall paint), what the A+ label says, and how to read the figures brands publish — or do not.

Find your finish

The seven Mylands finishes, room by room and surface by surface, with their sheen levels and coverage — the Mylands side of every "flagship matt" line in the comparisons.

A living room with deep-green matt walls, a pale linen sofa, window light, a test board leaning against the wall
The sample pot to finish — on your own wall, in your own light

Frequently asked

What we are asked about these comparisons

Are these comparisons objective, given that Mylands publishes them?

They are factual and sourced, which can be checked; "objective" would be a promise nobody can keep. Every third-party figure comes from an official page or a dated check, cited at the foot of the page; every comparison says where the other house is better. Where we are wrong, we correct. The best judge remains a sample pot from each house on your wall.

Why is there no table of colour equivalents?

Because other houses' colour names belong to them, and because two paints of different formulas never give exactly the same result under the same light: an "equivalent" would be a false promise. Our colour team can, however, match a bespoke shade from a painted sample — a skill inherited from the film sets.

How often are the figures updated?

The Mylands price is read live from our catalogue on every view. Other houses' figures — sheen levels, coverage, checked prices — are dated on each page and reviewed at least once a year, or as soon as a reader tells us of a change. The last-updated date sits under the title of every comparison.

Which house is still missing?

We add the comparisons people ask for. If you are torn between Mylands and a house not yet here, tell us: the next page may be that one. Until then, the "Best premium matt paint" guide gives the method for comparing any matt from its data sheets.

"The same criteria for every house, the sources at the foot of the page — and the sample pot to decide."
Order a free colour card See Mylands prices
Sign up to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter

Thanks for signing up to our newsletter!