Which paint should you actually buy?

Yes, at the premium tier. Independent benchmark testing by professional painters put Marquee ahead of Aura, Emerald, and Duration on one-coat hide, at $16–27 per gallon less. Consumer Reports rated it 89/100. The honest trade-off: Aura has the edge on color depth, specifically how a deep navy or rich green holds up over years on the wall. If you're DIYing and buying at Home Depot, Marquee is the right call. If you're hiring a painter for a room you'll live with for a decade and want the most color-accurate finish, the Aura edge may matter.

Not necessarily. This is the most important thing homeowners don't know. Sherwin-Williams makes paint ranging from builder-grade (ProMar 200, A-100) to flagship premium (Emerald, Duration). When painters say "we use Sherwin-Williams" without specifying a product line, they almost always default to SuperPaint, their mid-tier daily-driver. SuperPaint is fine for low-traffic rooms, but it doesn't hold its sheen when scrubbed. Always ask which product line is in the proposal. For premium results, specify Emerald Interior or Duration Home by name and get it in writing.

Both are premium SW interior paints, but built for different things. Duration Home was the flagship before Emerald. It's built for durability in busy, high-traffic homes. Emerald Interior is the current top-of-line and adds noticeably better color depth and washability. For households with kids and pets battering the walls, Duration Home is still excellent. For rooms where you want the best-looking finish and don't mind the slightly higher price, choose Emerald. One critical clarification: Duration Exterior is a completely different product, an exterior paint for harsh climates with no relation to Duration Home.

Benjamin Moore Aura Bath & Spa is the singular pick. It is the only major paint that lets you use a matte finish in a high-humidity bathroom without it failing. Most matte paints bubble, peel, or grow mildew in wet rooms. Aura Bath & Spa is specifically formulated to handle steam and humidity while keeping the flat look designers and homeowners want. One caveat: spot-cleaning any matte finish can leave visible wash rings, so if you need to clean a spot, clean the entire wall section rather than just the stain.

Benjamin Moore Advance or Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel: both are waterborne alkyds that cure to near oil-based hardness. The difference is time: Advance needs 16 hours between coats but delivers a finish that can look like custom cabinetry. Emerald Urethane recoats in 4 hours, making it practical for a weekend DIY. Important: both are unforgiving if applied too thick, and runs are difficult to fix. Painters who haven't worked with waterborne alkyd before should practice on a less-visible surface first.

Sherwin-Williams Duration Exterior is the Gulf Coast painter default. Florida-based contractors specify it for coastal homes facing salt air, UV, and humidity, and the 2020 reformulation made brush application noticeably easier. Benjamin Moore Aura Exterior is a direct competitor with excellent fade resistance. Main watch-out for Duration: don't let rain or humidity hit the surface before it cures fully. Surfactant leaching can leave streaks. Behr Marquee Exterior is a credible budget alternative that Florida painters report performs competitively at roughly half the per-gallon cost.

Aura ($90–105/gal) is Benjamin Moore's flagship with the best color depth in the lineup. Regal Select ($65–80/gal) is their pro-standard daily driver. Wirecutter named it the top interior latex paint out of 60 products tested. For most rooms and most colors, Regal Select delivers what looks like premium results at a meaningfully lower price. The real difference shows on deep, saturated colors: a dark navy or forest green will look richer on the wall with Aura. For light and mid-tone colors, most people can't tell them apart.

That depends entirely on why you want it. The chalky 2% sheen on Estate Emulsion is genuinely unlike anything American brands make. It absorbs light differently and the colors photograph beautifully. That look is real. The performance is another matter: Consumer Reports ranked it last among 67 interior paints in a head-to-head hiding test. Coverage is poor (three coats is common), touch-up is essentially impossible, and you should budget 30–50% more in painter labor than you'd spend for BM or SW. Dead Flat is the better choice if you want the chalky aesthetic in rooms you actually use, with the same look but washable. Don't put Estate Emulsion in a kitchen, bathroom, or hallway.

You can get close enough to fool most people in most lighting. But the authentic F&B finish has more depth, particularly on dark and rich colors. The chalky, light-absorbing quality of Estate Emulsion comes from F&B's specific water-based formulation, not just the pigment mix. A color-matched American paint in the same hue will typically look slightly shinier and more plastic under raked light. Whether that difference is worth $80–100 more per gallon is a personal call. For a feature bedroom or dining room where the look is everything, most designers who've tested both say yes.

Two main reasons. Availability and relationships: professional painters buy in volume from stores with pro accounts, delivery schedules, and consistent batch matching. Sherwin-Williams' 4,500+ stores and Benjamin Moore's 5,000+ independent dealers are built around contractor relationships. Home Depot's paint counter isn't. Brand stigma: Behr's cheaper lines (Premium Plus, Premium Plus Ultra) genuinely underperform dealer brands, and many pros won't look past the brand even though Marquee and Dynasty compete directly with Aura and Emerald. If a contractor specifies Behr, ask which line specifically. If it's Marquee or Dynasty, that's a legitimate premium choice.

It's fine, and that's the honest answer. SuperPaint is what most painters reach for when not directed otherwise. It covers well, applies easily, and looks good on the wall when first painted. The limitation shows over time: it doesn't hold its sheen well when scrubbed, so kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, and kids' rooms will start looking dull after regular cleaning. For low-traffic rooms like guest bedrooms, it does the job. For anywhere life actually happens, spend the extra $15–25/gal and specify Duration Home or Emerald. The difference in durability is significant over a 5–10 year paint life.

Pro Standard ($45–75/gal) is what most professional painters use as their baseline for typical residential rooms: solid coverage, predictable application, enough durability for normal family use. Think Regal Select, SuperPaint, or Cashmere. Builder Grade ($20–40/gal), including ProMar 200, A-100, Ultra Spec 500, and Behr Premium Plus, is designed for new construction and rental turnovers where someone else will repaint in two to three years. If you're painting a room you plan to live with for five or more years, Pro Standard is the minimum worth considering. The cost difference per gallon ($20–30) sounds large but becomes small compared to painter labor when amortized across the life of the paint job.