Okay, I was going to wait till tomorrow to post part 2 of the review, but I won't be around, and I had some friends that are interested in the Aura review (who knew?), so here it goes. All about "specialty paints".
When I'm painting, I like to use a paint that is appropriate for the room that I'm painting. So when it came to painting the bathroom and the kitchen, that was no different. For the bathroom I chose another CIL paint, and for the kitchen, the much awaited Benjamin Moore Aura paint.
CIL Smart3 Wash & Wear (Satin finish):
Price: $38.97Availability: All Home Depot stores.
Coverage: This stuff is pretty great as far as paint goes. When you're repainting a space, one of the things that is a pain, is filling in all the holes, and then having to prime all of those holes before painting. This is a 3-in-1 paint so that is not necessary! Just paint and you're done. Most spaces that I use this 2 coats are needed to get full coverage though. Overall coverage: A
Scent: Okay, I mentioned before about how much the Behr paint smells, this one is pretty high up there too. I will give this paint the benefit of the doubt being I was painting a very tiny bathroom with the door closed, but the room smelled like paint for a few days after we were done. Overall Scent: Strong
True to colour: It was true to the colour we had matched it to.
Scrubbable/Washable: For high traffic areas, or areas you just want to be able to scrub, this paint is great. You can wipe the walls with a clorox wipe, and not have a worry. Overall washability: A+
Use it again: For the price I would definitely use this again. It was a great product. I am willing to try a Low VOC version just to avoid the smell though. If anyone uses the new Aura bathroom paint, I'd be willing to find out what they thought!
Low/No VOC's: This paint does not fall under this category
Benjamin Moore Aura (Eggshell Finish)
Price: $66/gallon+tinting fee (ie. the deeper the colour the more the fee)*
Availability: Available only through a Benjamin Moore dealer.
Coverage: The company goes on and on about how you will only ever need 2 coats of paint when using their product regardless of the colour. I would be willing to test this theory with a nice deep wine colour if I had unlimited amounts of cash, and well a room that I wanted that dark. I had to use two coats of paint for the kitchen walls, I can't imagine anyone using less than one coat and getting the results that they are after.
Like the CIL Smart3 paint, this paint is also a 3-in-1 paint. It primes, as well as being able to use this over either oil or latex paint. This comes in very handy when having to paint walls that were last painted sometime in the 70's. I love this these features in a paint.
Overall coverage: A
True to colour: The colour on the walls is exactly the same as the chip.
Scent: One of BM's claims for this paint is that it is "scent free". I hate to break it to them, but they are lying. There is a scent. Was it as bad as the Behr paint, NO WAY! But there is still a scent. I didn't get a paint fume headache, nor did I smell the paint fumes from the second floor of the house while it was drying. You do still need to ventilate with a window and all traces of the smell will be gone by the next day. Overall Scent: Minimal
Scrubbable/Washable: The BM dealer that I worked with assured me that this paint was not only washable, but scrubbable. I'm taking her word on this since I only painted the kitchen a week ago, and we all know I have another week to three weeks before I can safely test this out. I can tell you that the paint does have a very hand print friendly finish, meaning I can touch the walls and not have those tell-tale marks on the wall.
Use it again: Yes I will definitely use this paint again! Now that I have done my test room, I have the tricks down to use this paint in a bigger space. Now I just have to save up my pennies!
Low/No VOC's: Yes! This is a Low VOC paint.
*I have been told by my grandmother (who uses only their paint) that the price of the BM paint varies dealer to dealer. So instead of going to the dealer just down the street, we had to drive 10 minutes to the cheaper dealer on the other side of the city. I'm thinking of calling the closer store, to see if this is really true. Does anyone know if this is true?
Note about the Aura paint: When I decided on the Aura paint my mother and I were given some pointers (she was painting her bedroom). First we were instructed that when using the Aura paint it was recommended that we "cut-in" the space first, followed by painting the walls. The Aura paint has an incredibly fast drying time, so by doing this you ensure that you are not "picking up" the paint if you do this order the other way.
The Aura paint dries very quickly allowing you to re-coat in just 1 hour. I started prepping the kitchen to paint around 11:30am, by the time Andre returned home from work at 7:30pm I had painted two coats on the wall, moved the furniture back, washed the floor, and cleaned up all the paint supplies. The only clue that remained was the fact the kitchen was a different colour.
There is a learning curve with the Aura paint though. With most other paints because they take so long to dry (approx 4 hours before you can re-coat) once you finish painting a wall if you notice there is a drip, or an area is too thick you can fix it and no one will be the wiser. You cannot do this with the Aura paint. It just dries too fast. You have to be very careful when using this paint, and be ready to catch any drips, or thick areas as soon as they occur. Or be willing to sand and fix later.
There is also a lot of paint pick up with this product. This was the biggest problem when applying the second coat. If you so much as hit the wall with the edge of the roller and catch the paint, it will peel off. A major pain in the ass. If you are a perfectionist, or a little clumsy, I would recommend waiting 2 or more hours before you re-coat. I think this would limit the chances of mucking up your paint job.
Overall even with the finickiness and the increased price of this product it was worth it. With no other paint would I have been able to paint two coats of paint in one afternoon and then have been able to cook dinner without wanting to be sick from the fumes. The finish of this paint is also fabulous, and very similar to the finish of the Behr paint surprisingly.
So that's it for the paint review. If anyone has any questions, just let me know!
2 comments:
thank so much for that review--please let me know about the scrubability (sp?) of the aura if you ever have to clean it. I'd be curious to see how it washes.
You're welcome. I knew a few other people who were curious about the Aura paint as well.
I'm just going to mark a date in Sept to "scrub" the walls (or well a patch), a few other people wanted to know the same thing!
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