Buying guide

Which English paint to choose?

There is no single "English paint", but a family of houses that share an idea of colour — deep, matt, pigmented — and differ on everything else. Farrow & Ball for fame and shops, Little Greene for the range of finishes and wallpapers, Mylands for a class 1 washable matt at 15 m²/L for the cost per square metre of a merely wipeable one, Paint & Paper Library for its graded neutrals, Designers Guild for its bold colours, Zoffany to match its fabrics, Edward Bulmer for the all-natural approach. This guide puts them on the same criteria, figures included.

Guide updated September 2026 · sources at the foot of the page

Seven open tins of English paint on a wooden table, from off-white to deep green, in window light — Seven houses, one idea of colour: the deep, pigmented matt that lives with the light

The starting point

Why an English paint?

The reputation of English paints rests on three things. First, colour: short, edited cards of complex neutrals and historic shades, rather than thousands of references. Then material: matt emulsions loaded with pigment and mineral, which absorb light instead of throwing it back. Finally a culture of the house — family-owned, old, tied to a place of manufacture — found at almost all of them, from London to Manchester.

That common ground makes choosing hard: at first sight the seven houses below look alike. Yet they differ on very concrete points — who owns them, where they make, whether their matt washes or only wipes, how many square metres a litre gives, what the tin costs in France and how you buy it. The table puts them on the same criteria; the cards that follow decide by what matters to you.

houses compared

2–3%

sheen of the flagship matts

14–15

m²/L stated by the best

matt rated class 1 and washable without changing product

Side by side

Seven houses, the same criteria

Every line cites the figures published by the brand itself or seen at its French retailers; the Mylands price is read live from our catalogue. Other houses' prices are indicative, for 2.5 L of matt wall paint, seen in September 2026.

House	Founded & ownership	Flagship matt (sheen)	Washability of the matt	Coverage	Guide price 2.5 L	Buying in France
Mylands London	1884; Myland family, 6th generation, independent; one manufactory at West Norwood	Marble Matt Emulsion — 3%; crushed Carrara marble	Washable, class 1 EN 13300	Up to 15 m²/L	€121.00 incl. VAT	mylands.fr, the official site — delivery in 2–3 days, free from €75
Farrow & Ball Dorset	1946; Hempel group (Denmark) since 2021; made in Dorset	Estate Emulsion — 2%; Modern Emulsion 7%	Estate "wipeable, not washable"; Modern Emulsion washable	Up to 14 m²/L	≈ €115–116	Own showrooms, stockists, the brand's site
Little Greene Manchester	Heir to a 1773 dye works; Mottershead family, independent; bases made in Wales, tinted in Manchester	Absolute Matt — 1–2%; Intelligent Matt 2%	Absolute Matt wipeable; Intelligent Matt washable, class 1	≈ 14 m²/L	≈ €111–113 (Absolute); €127 (Intelligent)	Showrooms in Paris and Nice, approved stockists, littlegreene.fr
Paint & Paper Library London	1990s, by David Oliver; Little Greene group since 2016; made in the UK	Pure Flat Emulsion — 2%; Architects' Matt 3–5%	Pure Flat "gently wipeable"; Architects' Matt washable	Up to 15 m²/L (Pure Flat); 14 (Architects' Matt)	≈ €116 (European retailer)	No French shop or site; European online retailers
Designers Guild London	Fabric house founded in 1970 by Tricia Guild; paint in 193 colours	Perfect Matt Emulsion — 2%	Not quantified by the brand	≈ 15 m²/L	Not seen in France	Fabric stockists and decorators, the brand's site
Zoffany Sanderson Design Group	Fabric and wallpaper publisher; Sanderson Design group; paint alongside the collections	Elite Emulsion — "the lowest sheen technically possible"	"Washable and stain resistant" (per the brand)	Not published on the pages consulted	Not seen in France	Fabric stockists and decorators; the brand's site
Edward Bulmer Herefordshire	Decorator and architectural historian; "natural", plant-based paint in 102 colours	Emulsion — 2%	"Wipeable and scuff resistant"	Not published on the page consulted	Not seen in France	Online from the UK

Third-party figures are those published by each brand or seen at its retailers on the date given and may change. Sheen levels are light-reflection reference figures from each manufacturer's data sheets. "Not seen in France": the brand publishes no euro price and we found no French retailer displaying one. The Mylands price is read from our catalogue as you view this page. For each house compared in detail with Mylands, see our comparisons.

Seven brush-strokes of different colours on a strip of white paper, from off-white to deep blue, on a wooden table — Seven houses, seven brush-strokes: the comparison starts on paper and ends on the wall

Deciding

Choose by what matters to you

The deepest matt

Little Greene Absolute Matt (1–2%), Farrow & Ball Estate Emulsion, Paint & Paper Library Pure Flat, Designers Guild Perfect Matt and Edward Bulmer (2%) sit one point below Mylands Marble Matt Emulsion (3%). At that level the difference shows only in raking light — and is paid for in upkeep: all these 2% matts wipe rather than wash.

The matt that washes

Three houses publish a washable matt: Mylands (Marble Matt Emulsion, 3%, class 1), Little Greene (Intelligent Matt, 2%, class 1) and Paint & Paper Library (Architects' Matt, 3–5%). Farrow & Ball asks you to move to Modern Emulsion (7%). For a hallway, a kitchen or a child's room this is the criterion that counts most — our guide "Best premium matt paint" goes into detail.

Price per square metre

Always set the tin against coverage: 15 m²/L at Mylands and Paint & Paper Library, 14 at Farrow & Ball and Little Greene. At €121.00 for 2.5 L against €111–127 for the other houses seen in France, Mylands sits within the range by the tin; per square metre, the houses' entry matts are within a few tens of cents of each other, and Mylands is the only one at that price to be class 1 washable. Our Mylands paint prices page does the sum live.

Seeing and buying in a shop

Farrow & Ball (own showrooms and stockists) and Little Greene (showrooms in Paris and Nice, approved stockists) have a real shop window in France; Designers Guild and Zoffany go through their fabric stockists. Mylands, Paint & Paper Library and Edward Bulmer are bought online — Mylands being the only one of the three with an official French site, stock in France and delivery in 2–3 days.

Natural ingredients and indoor air

All are water-based and low in VOCs. Edward Bulmer goes furthest in the "natural" story (plant-based formulas, VOCs stated at 0.07%); Little Greene publishes an Absolute Matt with 40% recycled content; Mylands claims Carrara marble, mineral pigments and the EN 71-3 toy standard. Our Low-VOC paint page explains what those figures mean.

Matching walls, fabrics and papers

If your scheme starts from a fabric or a wallpaper, the publishing houses have the edge: Zoffany and Designers Guild match their paint to their collections, Little Greene and Farrow & Ball publish wallpapers. Mylands devotes itself to paint — but matches a bespoke shade from your fabric, a skill inherited from the film studios.

In all honesty

What "English paint" still means

Not all are still independent

Farrow & Ball has belonged to the Danish Hempel group since 2021; Paint & Paper Library to the Little Greene group since 2016; Zoffany to the Sanderson Design group. Little Greene and Mylands remain independent family houses. That does not change the colour in the tin — it changes who decides the recipe, and for how long.

Not all make their own paint

Mylands, Farrow & Ball and Little Greene are manufacturers: they formulate and produce. The publishing houses — Zoffany, Designers Guild — sign the colour and entrust manufacture to an industrial partner, a common and honourable practice, but a different thing you are buying. We say so where the brand publishes it.

A 2% matt is not a washable matt

This is the most frequent misunderstanding. The deepest matts in the table — Estate Emulsion, Absolute Matt, Pure Flat, Perfect Matt — are described by their makers as wipeable, not washable. The houses that want both offer a second product; Mylands is the only one to publish a 3% matt rated class 1 without changing tin. That is a difference of formulation, not of marketing.

An English living room with deep-green matt walls, a marble fireplace, a velvet armchair, light from a sash window — The finished room: deep green, English light

Frequently asked

What we are asked most often

Which is the best English paint?

The one that answers your priority. For the most absorbent matt on a wall nobody touches: Little Greene Absolute Matt or any 2% matt. For a deep matt that washes in a room that gets lived in: Mylands Marble Matt Emulsion (3%, class 1) or Little Greene Intelligent Matt. For fame and shops: Farrow & Ball. For price per square metre: Mylands. None is "the best" on every criterion, which is why this guide exists.

Farrow & Ball, Little Greene or Mylands: what is the difference?

Three English manufacturers, three deep matts at 2–3% — and three answers to the washing question: Farrow & Ball moves you to Modern Emulsion (7%), Little Greene to Intelligent Matt, Mylands keeps the same tin. Add ownership (Hempel, the Mottershead family, the Myland family), price (€115, €111–127, €121.00 for 2.5 L) and distribution in France (shops, showrooms, official site). We have made the three-way comparison.

Are English paints more expensive than French ones?

Not necessarily. The premium French houses — Ressource, Argile — sit in the same bracket, €80–125 for 2.5 L of matt, and the Belgian Flamant by Tollens collection starts at €98. At €121.00 for 2.5 L and 15 m²/L, Mylands is towards the top of the bracket by the tin, but moves ahead of Flamant and Argile per square metre, thanks to its coverage. What costs money is not nationality, it is pigment load.

Can all these brands be bought in France?

Farrow & Ball and Little Greene have shops or showrooms in France, Designers Guild and Zoffany fabric stockists; Mylands sells on its official French site, mylands.fr, with stock in Occitanie and delivery in 2–3 days; Paint & Paper Library, Zoffany and Edward Bulmer are bought from retailers or from the UK, with the costs and lead times that entails. See Where to buy Mylands in France.

Does an English paint suit a French wall?

Yes: plaster, plasterboard, render or old paint, English water-based emulsions go on like their French equivalents, with a suitable primer on new or porous surfaces. Two habits: check the stated coverage to order the right quantity (our finishes guide helps), and test the colour at home, because the light in a Lyon living room is not that of a London one.

Why is Mylands less known in France than Farrow & Ball?

Because it long worked for professionals — British film sets since 1928, royal palaces, museums — rather than the public, and has no shop network. Mylands, its official site, is changing that from Occitanie: free colour card, sample pots, advice in French. Our Our paint page tells the story of the house.

Sources

Mylands data: the Our paint and Find your finish pages and the Marble Matt Emulsion product page of this site. Farrow & Ball and Little Greene: detailed sources on our Mylands or Farrow & Ball and Mylands or Little Greene pages (farrow-ball.com, littlegreene.com, Hempel, Knight Frank, 2026 price checks). Paint & Paper Library: paintandpaperlibrary.com (Pure Flat Emulsion, Architects' Matt, About us), Companies House (Little Greene control, August 2016), meinewand.com (€116), September 2026 — detail on our comparison. Designers Guild: the "Perfect Matt Emulsion" page of designersguild.com (2%, 15 m²/L, 193 colours, touch-dry 1–2 h), September 2026. Zoffany: Elite Emulsion listing on paint-direct.co.uk ("washable and stain resistant", 125 ml, 2.5 and 5 L), September 2026. Edward Bulmer: the "Emulsion for walls and ceilings" page of edwardbulmerpaint.co.uk (2%, "wipeable and scuff resistant", 102 colours, VOC 0.07%), September 2026. All brands and colour names cited are registered trademarks of their owners; Mylands is affiliated with none of them.