The ultimate guide to Armstead Trade paint finishes

How well do you know Armstead Trade paint finishes? Use our paint finish guide to brush up on the different paint sheen levels in our range, the benefits of using each product and the jobs they suit the most.

Sheen is the measure of how much light is reflected from a surface. The shinier the surface, the higher the reflectance. Paint sheen levels can also affect how the colour looks when applied, which is why it’s important to pick the right paint finishes for your projects.

We’ve organised our paint finish guide in order of paint sheen levels – soft, mid, high, and matt – so you can find exactly what you need for your next job, or so it’s easy for you to refer to later.

The products we talk about:

Armstead Trade Vinyl Soft Sheen
Armstead Trade Vinyl Silk
Armstead Trade Acrylic Eggshell
Armstead Trade Satin
Armstead Trade High Gloss
Armstead Trade Vinyl Matt

Armstead Trade Vinyl Soft Sheen is a durable emulsion that’s suitable for all normal interior wall and ceiling surfaces. It’s water-based and wipeable too. In terms of paint sheen levels, it has a soft sheen, which can be useful for highlighting certain areas and producing a subtle shine with good durability.

Armstead Trade Vinyl Silk is a wipeable emulsion that resists scuffing and abrasion, with good opacity and coverage. It’s suitable for all normal interior wall and ceiling surfaces. This silk paint finish has a mid-sheen, which means it looks slightly polished and reflects some light.

Armstead Trade Acrylic Eggshell is a tough and durable paint finish with good flow and application properties. It’s suitable for all normal interior wood, plaster and masonry surfaces. It works best in high traffic areas. This eggshell paint finish has a mid-sheen and sits somewhere between matt and a silk finish to create the classic eggshell look.

Armstead Trade Satin is a wipeable emulsion that resists scuffing and abrasion, with good opacity and coverage. It is self-undercoating and suitable for all normal interior wall and ceiling surfaces. This satin paint finish has a mid-sheen like a silk paint finish, which means it looks slightly polished and reflects some light.

Armstead Trade High Gloss is a high gloss finish with excellent durability. It’s suitable for use on interior and exterior wood, metal and suitably primed masonry surfaces. A gloss paint finish like this reflects a lot of light, which gives you a glossy, shiny finish. It’s designed for woodwork and good for paler colours.

Armstead Trade Vinyl Matt is a matt emulsion with good opacity that minimises surface imperfections. It’s suitable for all normal interior wall and ceiling surfaces. Unlike the sheen paint finishes above, a matt finish is smooth, so it doesn’t have a shine to it. However, this makes it brilliant at disguising imperfections and reflecting light from uneven surfaces.

Armstead trade contract matt paint finish

Good to know

Every product we’ve listed in this paint finish guide are professional quality and the smart choice for tradespeople. They team brilliantly with the Armstead Trade Colour Guide, BS4800 and RAL classic colour ranges. For more advice on finding the right colour Armstead Trade paint, click here.