I am sensitive to many paints. I like BM Regal better than Aura ... haven't used Ecospec. Aura's pretty thick and thus, I found it to have more irritating fumes than Regal, even tho it's supposed to be lower VOC. But what irritates me could well be different than what irritates you. Do you know what chemicals work best for you? The BM website should have product safety data sheets - you could compare the chemicals in Ecospec to Aura to see the differences in paint. By way of reference, Sherwin Williams paints are awful for me, and I don't like any glaze extenders. If you are similar, be careful with Aura. Many (not all) BM dealers have $4 sample jars of aura you could try. have fun!

I've been using Aura since it came out. I am not a professional painter but repaint my rooms frequently. I do love Aura in any room but bathrooms. I have used it in 2 different houses, and painted in 4 different bathrooms in 2007, 2008, 2012. Each of the bathrooms has proper ventilation and the exhaust fan is always used when showering. All of the walls were properly cleaned before painting. In every bathroom where it was used, the paint has streaks. Some of these can be "washed" off but re-appear soon again. Do a search on Aura paints and you will see this is a wide-spread problem in bathroom use. I will continue to use it in other rooms but no more bathrooms!

Here is a review that I posted awhile back: I got a free sample of BM Aura for being a Bzz Agent (program where you try products and create "bzz" around them) For $55/gallon, I don't think I would have originally thought to purchase this brand. But since it was free, we thought we'd give it a try. Keep in mind that we just finished a 2 story remodel and used, Behr, regular Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams paints thoughout our house. We have been happy with Behr despite not-so-great reviews. BM was ok as well, came on easier than Behr and much easier to paint with but looked the same as Behr once it dried. SW was a nightmare, we used Flat for the kitchen (2nd most expensive type) and it was very thin, runny and needed 3 coats to cover the edges. Not sure if it was mixed properly but it was in a plastic easy-pour container (good) but everytime we closed it for more than 5 minutes, a skin would form on top of it that we had to strain out and throw away. At first, my DH and I thought it was no different from Behr. We were wondering what the big deal was. We did notice that more seemed to come on the roller and the paint appeared thicker. It didn't drip down the way the Behr paint did on my DS's room. However, it coated nice and evenly and dried very quickly (about 60 min) and very evenly. We noticed a difference immedietly when it came to the edging. We only needed 1 coat where we normally use 2 coats for Behr and we used 3 coats for Sherwin Williams. It also had a minimal smell. We had the doors closed (2 sleeping kids upstairs) and the windows open and it didn't smell strong at all. I usually cannot tolerate paint smell and with regular BM, Behr and SW, the rooms smelled so strong that I had to wear a mask (I'm a wimp!). However, Aura was fine and the room we were painting was very small and closed in. We used BM Cotswald (one of the Aura colors) and we painted over an already painted and sanded wall which was a light tan. Since the colors were similar, 1 coat worked, though I'm not sure if it would have worked should I had another color or primer as the base coat. The color really is beautiful and you can tell the difference in quality once it's on the wall. The Aura paint looks richer. All in all, it really is the best paint out there in terms of ease of use, quickness to dry, evenness and overall quality and is perfect for a discerning buyer (or one who is environmentally conscious as its supposed to be "greener"). However, for someone like me, who's on a budget and who doesn't mind putting in a little elbow grease to save some $$, Behr is good enough since I'm not willing to pay double the price. However, if I had to paint for a living, this would be my paint of choice.

New house, high ceiling in kitchen, lots of windows, concrete floors, no trim, oak and sapelle woods. In Seattle area (Whidbey Island), so cloudy. Painting in BM white christmas (slight gray/blue) throughout, and pearl river (gray/blue/violet) in upper den that has wood flooring. A walkout basement studio area will be super white or chantilly lace. I plan to do the ceiling color the same as the room wall color, in each room. I was going to do eggshell, because designers seem to think matte finishes will look dingy over time and difficult to clean, whereas eggshell will last longer. In using most white and light grey with a high LRV (75-88), now I am wondering if it's better to use the eggshell to give the white a little brightness with some light reflective qualities. Anyone think that the Aura matte finish in whites look pasty, bland or blah? I will be using Aura paint and see they now have an Aura spa paint for bathrooms and its in a matte finish! Do people use matte when its rich deep color and an eggshell for whites? I did see that the pigment concentration in the matte and eggshell is high, 47+.