Perfect Matt is Johnstone’s premium emulsion, designed to rival the designer brands. Available in white, or just about any colour from the vast range at Johnstone’s Trade. This emulsion is available online by clicking here, and used on interior walls and ceilings. Touch dry in around 2 hours, recoat time is approximately 4 hours, depending on conditions. This is my Johnstone’s Perfect Matt review. I hope you find it useful.
- Smooth Layer Technology eliminates visible application marks highlighted by critical lighting for example large windows or spot lights.
- Flawless, flat matt finish in every colour
- Effortless spot repair
- Class 1 scrub resistance
My Johnstone’s Perfect Matt Review Review
When I got asked to review this Perfect Matt from Johnstone’s, I was looking forward to it. Previously I have used Dulux Diamond Matt, Crown Clean Extreme and Tikkurila Optiva 3 & 5. I wanted to know how perfect the white really is. Personally, I think the name is wrong as my idea of “perfect” may be different to someone else’s. However, I had already painted the kitchen ceiling in Macpherson Eclipse brilliant White which is only about £18 for 10L. So, you would expect a paint of £70 would be far brighter. However, not only could I not tell the difference, but neither could the customer! Maybe I should have tested it somewhere with a bit more lighting.
I painted the walls with 2 coats of Johnstone’s perfect matt via brush and roller. It flowed lovely from the brush and roller and cut in like a dream. I would normally cut in, then go over with a mini roller to avoiding picture framing, but with this I decided to test it by not using the mini roller. So, after cutting in and rolling, no picture framing was evident.
The paint has a lovely viscosity to it, no water required (unless spraying of course). The paint just flows from the brush, making it a pleasure to work with.
The opacity is good too, better I would say than Crown and Dulux. When dry it is a matt finish as stated, unlike diamond Matt that has a soft sheen finish.
Wipeable/scrub rate: 10,000
As you can see from the photos, I marked the walls with Tomato Ketchup (Heinz), mustard and a non-permanent pen. I felt this was a great way to review it’s durability.
The sauces wiped off with ease and the pen needed a slight scrub with scotch brite. This test was done only after 4 hours of drying time and after the 1st coat as I wanted to give it a challenge. No visible marks were left on the wall after wiping or scrubbing.
Overall the Johnstone’s Perfect White is a good paint to use, but does it warrant the price tag?
Well it’s on par with Crown and Dulux and has the same Class scrub rate, but Tikkurila Optiva 3/5 is nearly 30% cheaper and I believe it to be a better product for walls. Tikkurila Anti-reflex 2 for ceilings is only £40 avg 10L, but Johnstone’s Perfect Matt does leave you with a much nicer finish.
One thing I would say is anyone can get a flawless finish with Johnstone’s perfect matt. If price doesn’t come into it and you’re not bothered about other products being better value for money, then perfect matt may be the product for you. It’s also worth mentioning that I’ve only given you a review in white, but this product can actually be tinted into any colour from Johnstone’s vast range.
And that is my review of Johnstone’s Perfect Matt. For more information about the product, check out Johnstone’s website
You can buy this product from any Johnstone’s Decorating Centre, but unless you qualify for a trade discount, it will almost certainly be cheaper to buy this paint online. Click here to see online prices.
The Best Tools to Use to Apply Johnstone’s Perfect Matt
If you’re going to spend good money on a premium emulsion, then it makes sense to choose the best tools to apply it. That way, achieving a good finish is made easier. You should treat Johnstone’s Perfect Matt like any other durable matt emulsion. A good-quality medium-pile roller is perfect for this type of paint. You can use a soft brush when working with Perfect Matt, but it still needs to hold its shape, and strike sharp lines.
You won’t find a better brush than ProDec Ice Fusion. You’ll find it glides when using Johnstone’s Perfect Matt. Easy to use, holds plenty of paint, and it’s easy to manipulate the material. Click here to see online prices.
As for the roller, I like using Hamilton Perfection (Green). One of the best things about this roller is its even distribution of paint and the overall finish. There’s no flashing or picture framing. Click here to see online prices.
Johnstone’s Trade Perfect Matt has been designed for use mostly on large areas where critical lighting is an issue – we understand it’s a high value product, so wanted to provide a bit more background as to why we’ve introduced it to the market. In a survey we recently carried out, 73% of decorators told us that visible application marks are a problem in the industry – Johnstone’s Trade Perfect Matt has been designed to eliminate the risk of visible application marks, particularly on those larger jobs or where the light in a room makes these issues more visible. We’re really pleased that Daniel had chance to test the scrub resistance because this is a key point of difference for us as the product has been designed for walls as well as ceilings.
Additionally, where professional painters and decorators are called back to a job to spot repair where other trades have unintentionally damaged fresh paintwork, we know that labour and time on site will often outweigh the cost of product, and it’s this unexpected cost that can damage an overall project. The idea behind Johnstone’s Trade Perfect Matt is that it allows you to retouch an area without having to paint the whole wall. With all this in mind, even though Johnstone’s Trade Perfect Matt costs more than a standard matt emulsion, choosing Perfect Matt up front can reduce the overall cost of the project.
Great finish that does not flash but would like to see a less durable cheaper version for ceilings that dont need a scrubable finish.
Well who writes these reviews ? I’ve got to repaint my entire hallway tomorrow as perfect Matt has got roller marks all over it , I let the first coat dry until the next day when I recoated , it looks terrible , if you touch the dry paint with your hand it leaves marks , well I will paint again tomorrow with farrow and ball , I wish I hadn’t wasted all that money on 10 ltres I’m a decorator by trade, I’ll never use perfect Matt again
I will back Michael’s comments.
Bought this tinted to black for a home theatre room (Ceiling & feature wall). 2nd coat completed this morning and 7 hours later, low and behold, streaks/flashing galore.
Horrendous paint for the price. I previously had the feature wall painted with Crown trade soft sheen dark grey. The crown paint offered a flawless finish in 2 coats.
I have to say, I’m very disappointed with The Decorators Forum as I specifically went for the Perfect Matt due to this site. 12.5lts purchased and this stuff ain’t cheap.
An update on my previous comment.
I’ve now used Perfect Matt in 3 different colours.
Overall I’m unimpressed by this product considering the premium price. As stated before, I’m painting a small home theatre and wanted a high quality flat matt which is at least wipeable.
I bought it in Black, Dark Grey and a really nice Red ( Little Greene Theatre Red colour match)
Positives – It leaves a stunning flat matt finish with fantastic colour depth
Negatives (quite a few) :
Streaks and picture framing apparent even after 3 coats which are supposed to be non existent with this paint.
3 coats minimum needed to get a decent finish
Not durable from my experience and definitely not wipeable. The black in particular is really fragile. Touch it in the slightest and it’s marked.
I only cut in one section at a time before rolling and still got lots of picture framing. I painted the red last and with this I used a mini roller in conjunction with the brush to try and avoid the picture framing as much as possible. The end result was better but you can still see slight picture framing at the very edge and slightly around sockets.
I also purchased Tikkurila Optiva 3 in the same black colour for the doors. This is a great paint and much better than the Perfect Matt imo. 2 coats left me with a near factory finish. Really stunning flat matt and while it’s early days, I think it’s much more durable than Perfect Matt also. The doors are 6 panel and I can see absolutely no difference between the rolled and brushed areas so I think Tikkurila really have solved picture framing with this.
Honestly, I wish I’d painted the whole room in Optiva 3 now.
These comments are extremely surprising.
I used Perfect Matt (dark grey tint) in my living room as a feature wall.
The finish was absolutely flawless after 2 coats. Zero framing/roller marks/streaks. The finish appeared to be sprayed on.
I think this paint is excellent and will happily use again.
Very good paint zero framing and no streaks wood recommend.
Also just done a 65sqm ceiling in white superb .
Farrow and ball dead flat is very good with same sort of finish as well.