Use what you like. There is no 'best paint'.

BM Aura sure seems to stand out in terms of how it looks, imo. It is also quite scrubbable.

Get a pint of the SW and test it. I tried their paint and did not like it, however, I don't recall which line of quality it was. I would head over to the paint forum to see what they say.

Maybe I should have made the title "Will I regret SW paint?"

Why not just use the paints you already know and love. Don't let a business dictate to you what paint you can use. Does a painter need to know Aura to be able to apply it well? Ask over in the paint forum. Certainly you don't want his learning curve taking place on your walls.

In my opinion there is a huge difference between paints. My favorite for interior is SW Superpaint. I just finished painting our kitchen yesterday; satin sheen for the walls and I'm still pleased with superpaint.

Over the years I tried many brands and many different product lines within those and I always go back to SW. Years ago I learned my lesson when I painted closet interiors through our house and in an attempt to save some money I used a valspar product. It was so awful in the first closet that I gave up and went back to SW to get them done nicely in one quick coat.

We painted our house a dark gray in 2009 and the painter used SW Duration or Resilience (I can't remember) and the paint held up beautifully with no fading in spite of being in full sun. A friend of mine had to repaint her house because her similar dark paint faded so badly in the same time frame.

If you're not confident in SW, I'd just go to your local Ben Moore and ask them for a few painter referrals and hire someone different who uses BM.( Your painter probably doesn't have an account at BM.)

These paint companies get bought and sold all the time. Additionally they change formulations at will. A paint you used and liked 2 years ago - may not be the same paint today.

That's probably true but unless they change the name of the line, they still have to live up to their claims. Aura is not only scrubbable but is not supposed to fade either. You can retouch 5 years out and it should not show.

I agree there is a huge difference in paints. Whether each brand has an equally superior product, dunno.

I need a paint that I can wash & I don't see brush stokes in it. That drives me nuts.

We had quite a bit of our house painted using the SW Emerald line. It's horrible. The paint store acted like my painter didn't apply it correctly (he did). I'm very unhappy with the way it's worn, and will not use SW again.

We absolutely love BM Aura. Just did the Starting From Dirt basement bathroom with it in the Bath & Spa formula on the drywall walls (did all the woodwork in another BM semi gloss formula and was sorry we didn't wait for the Aura semi gloss to arrive (my supplier had a temp shortage)). I've used the regular Matte Aura in the Practically Perfect Powder Room, and my library. I'll never use another brand. Easy to work with, amazing color depth, cleans well, touches up easy. I've used other brands - both various big box versions and Delux Lifemaster (now owned by another company) - and other older BM formulas - and Aura is the best.