This is EXACTLY why I always tell customers at our store...NOT...to paint those damn "sample-squares" on the wall!!!

Use Foamboard samples instead! This way, you can "move" your samples to different areas in the room, and...you'll have a realistic sample to take shopping for other decor options!

Now the "Bad" news...you can put on 17 more coats...it won't make a difference. You'll STILL see the original profile of those "extra" coats of sample paint.
Priming and sheen differences wouldn't have changed anything.....if you follow my logic here!

>>> It's the "altered profile" of your wall that you're seeing at angles. It doesn't take much change to be visible, as you're finding out now....

Faron

Actually, customers do this to me all the time and primer does help. The problem with Benjamin Moore products is that they are not really as good at self priming as other brands. What I do is prime over the color swatch areas, then prime the entire wall corner to corner. If that doesn't work, I may skim coat over the samples then prime the whole wall again.

Interesting....Do you think Aura have done a better job? I usually use it but for one wall I couldn't justify shelling out premium bucks at the time. Although, the profile theory says it would not have helped either.

I do use foam boards to start with -- I have 2 milk crates full of them from over the years!! But when it gets down to the wire and its really close, I like to actually put paint on the wall to get a true feel.

So I tried a third coat yesterday on just the bad section without priming and it did improve the situation, but I can still see the squares. Probably at this point, it is only me who will know it is there. I saved the tray and roller in plastic. If they are still usable this morning maybe I will go over it one more time.

I can't detect any break in the wall (yet) from the multi-coat area to the two-coat wall. That was my biggest concern - that I would take a small problem and make it a big problem!!

In my experience, Aura is the worst of all Benjamin Moore lines at self priming. It's gotten so bad lately, I've stopped using it.

Oh, no.
I have paint squares all over my entire house.
Much of my drywall isn't finished yet, so I can skim coat the darker ones.

Well. I'm glad I read this thread.

@CEF glad I posted it and could help. It really seems to depend on the lighting and viewing at just the wrong angle during a bright day.

I think if I were doing it again I would just prime the squares. As a matter of fact, that's what I've done in the past. I just wasn't thinking this time. Got sucked in by the self-priming new and improved marketing crapola.

Many of you may know this already, but as I said above, priming in-and-of-itself won't do ANYTHING to change the samples profile-HEIGHT.
All you're really doing in THESE kind of cases is just adding another layer of a coating. Doesn't matter WHAT it is...it's just another layer that will reveal the added thickness of the "samples" underneath it.

Faron

Do you suggest I sand the squares?
I get the Profile part and what you mean. Essentially it's adding a layer of texture -- which I can see on some of the squares I've painted.

Oh, shoot. Just another thing.

Paintguy ... slight highjack ... I'm painting the exterior of my house with BM paint ... does the whole thing need to be primed first since their paints aren't so good at "self-priming"? I shudder to think of doing three coats.

Faron, I get the profile thing in theory, but an extra coat resolved most of the problem, so I'm not convinced.

I know I've primed samples in the past and never had a problem (albeit the problem only will show up in certain lighting so I can't know for certain if the previous priming had the desired impact).