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That’s why I was relieved to see Lick launch earlier this year. Lick is a new direct-to-consumer brand that's reinventing the paint buying and decorating experience, and it arrived at the perfect time as we decided this would be the year we started adding a personal touch to our home.
Lick sells two types of paint: Matt (designed for interior surfaces from walls to ceilings) and Eggshell (perfect for wetter areas like bathrooms and kitchens). The Matt paint is available in around 50 curated colours in a range of warm, neutral, and cool tones.
If you want to try before you buy, there’s no messing around with tester pots. Lick ships peel-and-stick patches are 100% accurate and delivered to your door free of charge.
After browsing Lick’s website, we ordered some samples (£1/sample) to help decide on the colours we’d paint our master bedroom and spare room. Delivery was quick and the samples were easy to stick and move around our walls so we could get an idea of how the colour would look in various places within each room.
Once we’d decided on the colours we liked (we went for Blue 04 and Grey 02), we used Lick’s simple room size calculator to work out how much paint we’d need. Lick’s paint comes in 2.5 litre containers (£38/tin) and we found the calculator to be fairly accurate — in both cases, it predicted we’d need two tins of paint to get the job done and we didn’t have too much left over after finishing each room.
If you’re new to decorating, Lick also offers a range of supplies including everything you need to paint a room. We picked up its Single-Room Painting Kit which includes a selection of premium tools to help give you a professional finish. The kit comes with a 9" microfiber roller (and frame), a 2" flat brush, yellow decorating tape, and a 9” metal paint tray.
Lick’s paint comes in rectangular jerry can-style tins that are easy-to-open (without needing any tools to hook open the lid). The paint itself is made from a low VOC, water-based formula and is free from animal testing and 100% vegan.
In addition to being environmentally friendly, Lick also supports 4Ocean and with each tin of paint purchased, 18g of plastic is cleared from the ocean.
Decorating with Lick was incredibly straightforward. We decided to prep each room the evening before we painted, moving out any furniture, covering the floor with old sheets and boxes to protect the carpet, and putting decorating tape around the edges of the room.
On the morning of painting, we first stirred the paint to ensure an even texture across our walls (Lick sent a handy wooden stirrer alongside our paint cans). We then poured the paint into the tray and began to tackle the edges of the walls using the 2" flat brush. Once the edging was complete, we moved onto the main areas of the walls using the 9” roller.
The paint seemed high-quality and it went onto the wall with ease and left great coverage. The first coat looked really good with just a few patches that we hadn’t quite given enough attention to. We left the paint to dry overnight (though Lick says you can add a second coat after just a few hours) and the next day we added a second coat. As the second coat was drying we peeled off the decorating tape leave clean, crisp lines (we left it around 30-minutes after finishing the coat before removing the tape).
Overall, the Lick decorating experience was wonderful. At £38 per 2.5 litre tin, Lick might be a little more expensive than the average paint you’d pick up in-store, but it felt value for money based on the quality of the paint and the ease of the service — we didn’t even need to leave the sofa to browse or order.
Lick’s website is beautifully designed, easy-to-navigate, and features plenty of helpful advice for each stage of your journey — from choosing the right colour to how to paint a wall. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or first-time decorator, Lick will have you feeling confident and ready to decorate.
