Lick Matt Emulsion Review

These are my initial thoughts having tried out the new Lick matt emulsion. I should start by saying that this is just my opinion, based on one feature wall in a modern house – it’s not exactly an in-depth analysis or review, so don’t read too much into it, but I thought it might be useful or interesting to someone.

So, Lick paint. A few months ago I’d never heard of it, but if you’re active on social media, or read publications such as Good Homes magazine, you can hardly have failed to see their publicity in the last six months. They are all over Facebook and Pinterest, and their marketing strategy has been focused on getting the opinion leaders of the yummy mummy set on board (I’m sure there’s a more politically correct term for this particular demographic!); it’s been about “look how fabulous your living room could be with our  Lick paint”.

We all know that the same look could be achieved with other paint brands, but their target market fall in love with the images of wonderful rooms, and the fact that it’s new and trendy. Oh, and did I mention that they make wallpaper and window blinds as well as paint? It’s all about recreating that room that you saw on Pinterest, darling!  So, there’s been very little communication to decorators, it’s all been aimed at the end customer with the goal of them either using it themselves, or specifying it for their chosen tradesperson to use.

And, judging by the number of posts on the forum along the lines of “I’ve got to use this for the first time next week, what do people think of it?”, it seems to be a strategy that’s working (and one that is now being followed by another brand called “Coat”, (if anyone’s seen them on social media).

The other thing that they’ve done differently, which people seem to like, is that they’ve done away with paint sample pots. If you want to see what their paint looks like in your chosen room, you can order a sample, but it’s not a mini pot of paint – it comes as a sheet of card/paper pre-painted in your chosen colour, which you can then stick up on the wall.

My Lick Matt Emulsion Review

So, what is Lick Paint like to use? Well, the first thing that’s different for us decorators is buying the stuff. You can’t stroll into your local Brewers…. and ask them to mix up 5L for you. You have to order it online… from the manufacturer. Their web site is well laid out, easy to use, and I have to say the delivery process was first class in my experience. The paint came quickly by courier, was well packaged up, and I was kept well informed at all stages about the progress of my order. Lick Paint is not cheap – a 2.5L tin of matt emulsion costs £45 plus £5 postage and packing (although apparently on orders over £50 P&P is free), so £45 total. For 2.5L. Think what £45 would buy you in your local CDC for example…  And there’s not a lot of choice – pick your colour, then choose between a 2.5L tin of either matt or eggshell emulsion. That’s it.

As you can see from the photo, the paint tin is an unusual shape. I was concerned at first about how easy it would be to pour into a kettle, scuttle, tray or whatever, but actually the consistency of the paint is such that it pours quite easily. It’s not too thin, but thin enough; comparable with Crown Clean Extreme for example, if that helps. Getting any leftover paint back into the tin at the end of the job however, that’s not so easy, and this seems to be the only real gripe I’ve heard from other decorators online…. – the paint itself is fine, but why the weird tin? Obviously it’s all to do with image and wanting to look new and different, but it is a bit of a pain trying to pour half a tray of unused paint back into the tin.

Once you’ve got it out the tin though, the paint itself is actually OK. As I said, I’ve only used it once, and that was on a large feature wall in the living room of a house that was only built about 5 years ago. The walls hadn’t been painted since the builders did it originally, they’re dry-lined, and the heating was on, so I had to work quickly – this stuff was drying on contact!

So yeah, I had to work quickly to try to get a decent finish, but actually it turned out OK. Initially I was concerned about picture-framing; as it was drying, I thought it might be an issue, but it was fine, and once the second coat was on it looked pretty solid (going from Crown Soft White previously to a mid-dark green) and overall the finish was OK (and most importantly, the customer loved it).

Overall conclusions? It’s pricey, your choice is limited (matt or eggshell emulsion only, 2.5L tin), but the customer service was good and the paint itself is decent. Would I have been happier using Crown Clean Extreme? Probably, but customers are going to be buying or specifying this stuff because of the marketing, so sooner or later we’re going to have to use it. And basically, it’s nothing to worry about – the paint seems to be decent enough quality (although of course I can’t vouch for how hard-wearing it is over time).

A Review Update

I just thought I’d come back to this Lick matt emulsion review and add a little bit, as I feel some of what I wrote is now out of date. The review was first published in February 2021, it is now October 2022, In the last 18 months or so, Lick Paint has continued to make headlines. They’re adapting to the market and changing their strategy, and it’s working very well.

Now you can buy Lick paint in Screwfix! What a revolution, the first designer paint available in Screwfix! All of a sudden, Lick is a mainstream product used by thousands of homeowners and professional decorators alike.

Review Summary