The Best Emulsion Paint to Use – And How to Use it
- A& B Trade Paint
- Oct 29
- 4 min read
How’s your home decor looking? Is your paintwork shabby? Maybe you just fancy a change to brighten your life up. You need emulsion paint, and there’s a baffling choice of brands and types. No wonder so many people ask the question ‘which is the best emulsion paint to use’.
This article reveals everything you need to know about the experts’ top emulsion picks for 2022, the five best emulsion paints around at the moment, and why they’re the best products for the job. We’ll also tell you all about emulsion paint and give you some handy tips about using it.
What is the best emulsion paint?
The best emulsion paints are those that give you the best coverage, which means they contain a high level of pigment. If you’ve ever used a cheap emulsion you’ll know how badly it performs, giving you a patchy finish it takes as many as three, sometimes four coats to make even. Their vibrancy isn’t good either, leaving you with a dull finish. In the case of paint, cheap isn’t worth the bother.
The best emulsions contain top quality ingredients and minimal filler. Great emulsion feels silky and smooth to apply and doesn’t get everywhere, the nasty stuff feels jellyfish or watery and splatters easily.
Why use emulsion paint?
Emulsion is the most popular sort of paint for interior walls and ceilings, water-based with added resin for extra strength. It’s carefully designed with indoor walls and ceilings in mind, which means it’s perfect for the job. It’s easy to use, barely smells, dries fast, and offers a choice of finishes. It comes in a more or less infinite number of colours, many pre-mixed and thousands more available for mixing in-store.
Matt emulsion looks and feels very matt. If it says durable, hardwearing or scrubbable on the tin it’ll be tough stuff, resistant to everyday dirt and scrapes, ideal for high traffic areas e.g kitchens, bathrooms and hallways, and can be scrubbed easily and is now the best selling type of emulsion.
Soft sheen emulsion is also called Satin emulsion. It comes with a subtle shine and is durable, again often used in kitchens and bathrooms where it copes well with humidity. It’s also easy to wipe down.
Silk emulsion has the same properties as soft sheen just with a higher sheen finish, it is durable, cleanable, and works well in humid rooms
Quick scientific emulsion paint facts – What’s in it?
Emulsion is made from 45% water, 25% resin, 25% pigment, plus 5% additives and preservatives
The resin is vinyl or acrylic, used to bind the colour to surfaces. Acrylic is the preferred ingredient in some modern paints and better quality brands, and vinyl performs just as well
The 5% biocide stops the paint going mouldy in the tin or in your home
The lower the ‘VOC’, the less biocide the paint contains
Our recommendations for the top 5 emulsion paints
Now you know exactly what you’re buying and what you can use it for, let’s take a look at our top 5 emulsions.
Best emulsion paint 1 – Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt Emulsion Pure White
Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt Emulsion Pure Brilliant White is a high quality, high opacity emulsion with an excellent consistency, which means it’s ideal for covering imperfect surfaces. The unique AkzoNobel technology at its heart means coverage is very good indeed, along with a smooth flow and long-lasting good looks. Being water-based it has almost no odour and doesn’t go yellow with age. You can re-coat it in 2-4 hours, and use a brush roller or spray to apply it. This one is easily wipe-able.
Best emulsion paint 2 – Leyland Vinyl Silk
Another high quality, easy to clean emulsion, Leyland Vinyl Silk comes with a high silk sheen finish designed to reflect light and make spaces feel bigger. There’s 12m2 per litre coverage and you can add another coat after 3-4 hours. It’s washable, dirt resistant, and you can apply it by brush, roller or spray.
Best emulsion paint 3 – Johnstone’s Cleanable Matt
A very tough premium matt emulsion, Johnstone’s high durability cleanable matt paint offers truly excellent stain resistance. It’s ideal for busy areas, containing ingredients designed to resist tough household stains from chemicals and other liquids. With 40x better durability than ordinary matt emulsion, it’s good for more than 10,000 scrubs. 15m2 per litre coverage, touch dry in 1-2 hours, re-coatable within 2-4 hours and a Class 1 Scrub Rating make it a great choice to use where there’s often dirt.
Best emulsion paint 4 - Macpherson Durable Acrylic Matt
Macphersons Durable Acrylic Matt is a hardwearing emulsion for interiors, with a special formula that lets you wipe or wash scuffs and stains away easily. Built-in stain and moisture resistance means your home looks cleaner and brighter for longer.
Best emulsion paint 5 – Johnstone’s Vinyl Silk
When you want a premium quality silk emulsion for interior walls and ceilings complete with an easy-clean, durable sheen finish, this one is for you. It’s also resistant to fading and doesn’t go yellow. Perfect for embossed wallpapers and places where you need an easy-maintenance finish, it gives you coverage of 12m2 per litre. It’s touch dry in 1-2 hours and you can re-coat in 3-4 hours. This paint is washable, resists dirt, and reflects light to make a space feel bigger.
How to use emulsion paint with a brush?
You can use emulsion on walls that have been painted before as well as new plaster walls, where you use a primer first to give you a ‘key’ for the paint to stick to. Otherwise the plaster sucks in the moisture from the paint, it takes more coats, and it costs more.
Here’s how to achieve the best finish with a brush:
Practice first to get the feel of how the paint feels and works
Don’t overload the brush
Hold it at a 45 degree angle
Make confident, even strokes. Don’t dab
Paint diagonally first then use horizontal strokes, then use long, smooth strokes to even out the coverage and get rid of obvious brush marks
Leave it to dry according to the instructions on the tin
Apply your second coat, which is always easier than the first
If you need to, come back again when it’s dry to cover up any ‘holidays’ you’ve missed
Your online and offline paint experts
Come to our place in St Helens or order online for all the best emulsion paints. We’ll help you with expert advice if you need it, and you’ll always get a warm welcome.
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$50
Product Title
Product Details goes here with the simple product description and more information can be seen by clicking the see more button. Product Details goes here with the simple product description and more information can be seen by clicking the see more button.
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