Features & reviews

Review of Dulux Trade high gloss-pure brilliant white

TAs a professional decorator, the difference between a good job and a perfect job is the finish. You can spend days on preparation work, which is very important, but if the final coat of paint you apply looks inadequate then all of your previous hard work has been wasted.

In this review I've been looking at the Dulux trade high-gloss. I've been using this product for around 15 years and due to different European regulations - mainly VOC 2010, paint has changed a fair bit in this time. As with many other decorators I found the new paint that met this regulation yellowed after a small amount of time. Dulux however seemed to have now resolved this issue, and their latest figures suggest after reformulating their gloss range in 2011 the chance of yellowing has been dramatically reduced - however it is worth noting that according to Dulux's own tests it's still not quite as good as the pre-2010 paints. Something I guess we will just have to live with.

With the small yellowing issue aside and resolved it is by far the best gloss product on the market today.

The pure brilliant white colour gives a bright shiny finish. It is easy to apply however sometimes (mainly in warmer weather), I have found it needs slightly thinning with white spirit - not tat that's such a bad thing, as I'd much prefer my paints to be too thick but have the ability to thin them as required. The flow rate is excellent and the opacity is 2nd to none within this range of products. Once dried, this paint is easy to wipe clean, and is very resistant to knocks and bumps. Because of the new VOC 2010 regulations this paint now smells a lot less than it used to in the past, which is great news when working in small rooms or public areas.

The Dulux trade high-gloss is available in 1 litre, 2.5 liter and 5 litre tins. This product can be used on both interior and exterior work and is touch dry after 4 hours. Dulux recommend a re coat of 16 to 24 hours however due to its excellent coverage I rarely need to apply any more than the one coat.

Do remember though that this gloss won't solve all of your problems in one go. To get the best out of this paint you must still make sure that all areas have been fully and correctly prepared and I would recommend that at least one coat of Dulux trade white undercoat is applied. Personally, before glossing I then rub down with some 320 grade sandpaper and wipe over with a tack cloth before I apply the Dulux trade high-gloss with a good quality brush.

Even with water-based gloss products rapidly advancing to take over the oil-based market, I believe that this gloss is here to stay with us for a long time yet.

Related articles

You may also be interested in the following articles

Comments (2)
  • adam f April 15th 2011

    is the long term plan to faze out solvent based paints? and if not will they be more work done to stop the paint yellowing?

    and will they be demonstrations in DDC stores to show off the water based gloss?

    i use the water based gloss, i use the water based undercoat as standard, but can the water based gloss live up to the same standard of oil based gloss?

  • Rob G November 15th 2011

    Hi Adam
    according to Dulux, the new white gloss formula that they have brought out in recent months, is now better then the formula prior to the VOC regulations (2007). therefore we should stop seeing such a rapid yellowing from their solvent-based products.

    Paint companies will not phase out oil based paints and if anything, they are only now set to improve us technology in this market becomes better. This is with exception of solvent-based paints for walls and ceilings(i.e- eggshell for walls), as the government has set unrealistic VOCs levels on these products but currently cannot be made at the moment.

    In answer to your question–can water-based gloss live up to the same standard as oil based gloss? the answer is simply no. Waterborne paints will never have the same machine level as its oil based equivalent, and it will always (even with the best of brushes) leave brush marks as it is unable to flatten as good as a solvent-based product.

    hope that helps, Rob

Want to post a comment? Please login below, or if you are not a user of TradeXpress please register now.

Join the TradeXpress club

Sign up today and receive regular TradeXpress emails.

Register