Johnstone’s Trade Obliterate Matt Review

Johnstone’s Trade have been on a bit of a roll the last few years.  They’ve brought out a succession of “added value” products which are designed to give us more than what a regular vinyl matt emulsion would do.

So we’ve had (in no particular order) StainAway Matt, Perfect Matt, Cleanable Matt (personal favourite!), UltraLast Matt (not cheap, but virtually bomb-proof), UltraFlat Matt (fantastic on ceilings!), and now new Obliterate Matt.  I have to say, having tried all of them except StainAway at this point, there isn’t a single one that I haven’t been impressed by, so hats off to the team at Johnstone’s Trade!

Naturally, these paints are more expensive than a regular vinyl matt, but you’re getting something extra for your money, and the quality of the ones I’ve used has been great.  As a professional decorator I spend a lot of money on paint in a year, and it’s important to me to feel confident in the quality of the paints I’m using in customers’ homes.

So, the latest addition is “Obliterate Matt”. It’s designed to cover just about anything – bare or previously painted plasterwork; because it “obliterates” the colour of whatever you paint with it. Johnstone’s claim that you can get away with just a single coat, so it potentially saves you time and money.

It’s also Class 1 Scrub Rated, so imagine how much time you could save on projects like rentals, new builds or commercial properties; you could give landlords/customers a really durable long-lasting finish in half the time!  So they save money on labour, and you can get on to the next job faster.  I’ve used it a couple of times now, so I thought I’d share my thoughts in this review.

Johnstone’s Trade Obliterate Matt – Key Facts & Figures

• Suitable for interior use only
• Designed as a “premium quality emulsion for interior walls and ceilings with a smooth flat finish, which gives unrivalled opacity in one coat”
• Pack sizes: 10L
• Finishes: Matt
• Colours: Brilliant white, or tinted to lighter shades (“L Base”) only
• Coverage: up to 7m² per litre
• Touch dry: 2 hours
• Recoatable (if needed) – 6 hours
• Can be sprayed, or applied by brush and roller
• Water based – clean tools with water and mild detergent (such as Pretty Boy Brush Cleaner)
• Available from – Click here to see online prices.

Johnstone’s Trade Obliterate Matt In Use

Most of my work in my role as a professional decorator is domestic – redecorating Mrs Johnson’s spare room.  Therefore this isn’t the type of product that I’d use that often compared to someone who does a lot of new build work, commercial properties or rentals.

But I have had a chance to use it a couple of times, and I was impressed. It covers really well, especially if you’re careful not to spread it too thin.  Just make sure you put on a thorough, even coat.

The finish is nice too – it’s a nice, even, flat matt, and if it’s as durable as they say, I can see a lot of decorators using a lot of this paint! To be completely honest and give a fully rounded review, there are a couple of downsides:

• The coverage rate (m² per litre) is a lot less than many “conventional” paints, so although it only needs one coat, you’ll use up more paint to achieve that one coat than you usually would (but you will still have the time saving)
• The Brilliant White isn’t.  It’s more of a pale grey to be honest.  You can see in the above photos – a customer of mine decided to try out a sample pot of a navy blue colour on the white walls of his spare bedroom, to see if he liked it.  He didn’t.  So I painted over it with Johnstone’s Trade Obliterate Matt.  You can see in the second photo that it’s completely covered even a really strong colour, but compared to the existing white walls it’s a bit darker.

The other thing to mention is that according to Johnstone’s it will go straight onto bare plaster (once it’s properly cured/dried).  You don’t need to thin it or use a separate primer or mist coat – just straight on with one coat of Obliterate Matt.  I haven’t had the opportunity to try it myself, but I know other decorators who have, and they tell me it worked like a dream, covered brilliantly (but did drag a bit during application). The video below was filmed by a friend and colleague.

For further proof of how well it covered, I carried out a little experiment at home.  Not proper scientific research, but interesting to see the results nonetheless.  I painted a sheet of MDF with two coats of navy blue emulsion (yes, I used Johnstone’s MDF Primer first!), then taped it up into six sections:

• Top Left – Obliterate Matt, one coat
• Bottom Left – Obliterate Matt, two coats
• Top Middle – Competitor A, one coat
• Bottom Middle – Competitor A, two coats
• Top Right – Competitor B, one coat
• Bottom Right – Competitor B, two coats

As I say, it’s not proper scientific research, but it’s pretty clear that of the one coat samples (top row), Obliterate Matt is definitely the best, and that adding a second coat of it over a really strong colour made a small difference, but not much.

In fairness, it does say on the tin that in some circumstances a second coat may be required if painting over a particularly strong colour.  So I would say that, based on this, as long as you’re not trying to change from black to white, and you’re careful and thorough, you can definitely get away with one coat.

Final Thoughts

Johnstone’s have another really good product here.  It’s probably not something that I personally will use that often, just because of the nature of the work I do. But for decorators who do a lot of work in rentals, commercial properties or new builds, this could provide a massive time saving.

A lovely matt finish with great durability, in only one coat, even over bare plaster. Yes, the coverage per m² isn’t great, so you’ll use more paint that you normally would, but the time savings could be a huge benefit.

Review Summary