Benjamin Moore Regal Select: Honest Review (2026)

Disclosure: Affiliate links — we earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Picks are based on independent testing.

Verdict: ★ 4.3 / 5

Regal Select is the wall paint most homeowners should buy from Benjamin Moore. It’s the middle rung: better than Ben, cheaper than Aura, and good enough that the jump to Aura only pays off in deep colors and high-abuse rooms. It wins on washability, on the 3,500-color deck, and on a one-coat hide that holds up in mid-tone colors. It falls short on deep-color richness and on a recoat-too-soon habit that can lift the first coat if you rush it.

Buy this if: you’re repainting interior walls in a home you’ll live in for years and you want BM quality without the Aura price.

Skip this if: you’re chasing the deepest possible navy or charcoal saturation (go Aura), or you need a paint that doubles for exterior work.

What Is Benjamin Moore Regal Select?

Benjamin Moore sells through independent paint dealers, not big-box stores, and that channel is the whole identity. No Home Depot shelf, no Lowe’s endcap. You walk into a local BM store, someone who tints paint all day helps you, and you pay a bit more for the service and the color science. Regal Select is the line that’s been carrying that reputation on walls for decades. The current formula uses BM’s Gennex colorant and a proprietary resin the company calls its self-priming wall technology.

In the lineup, Regal Select sits in the middle. Ben is the entry wall paint at $35–40/gal. Regal Select is the mainstream premium at $50–60. Aura is the top tier at $80–95, with a thicker film, deeper color rendering, and the GREENGUARD Gold certification Regal doesn’t carry. Most BM dealers will steer a homeowner to Regal Select by default, and for most walls that’s the honest recommendation, not an upsell dodge.

Which Regal Are You Buying?

The “Regal” name has history, and the cans on the shelf have changed. This review covers Regal Select Interior, the current waterborne wall line. Read elsewhere if you need a sibling.

If a dealer hands you “Regal” without the “Select,” ask. The older Regal Classic was discontinued in favor of Regal Select years back, and you don’t want leftover stock for a real repaint.

Spec Sheet

Per-Attribute Sub-Scores

What It’s Good At

• Brush and roll feel. This is where Regal Select earns its money. Long open time means you can cut a whole wall’s edge and roll into it without lap marks chasing you across the room. With a Wooster or Purdy sleeve it lays flat and levels clean. For a homeowner doing it by hand on a Saturday, that forgiveness is worth more than a spec sheet line.
• One-coat hide on mid-tones. Going from a warm white to a greige, a soft sage, a clay, a muted blue, it pulls clean in one pass over a similar base. I tested an eggshell over a beige builder wall going to a mid-green and it covered in one with a 3/8-inch microfiber roller. Ben needed two.
• Washability in eggshell. A wet rag with mild dish soap takes off greasy fingerprints around switchplates and the gray scuff a chair back leaves. At month two the wall doesn’t polish up where you wiped, which is exactly where cheaper wall paint gives itself away.
• The color deck. 3,500-plus BM colors, the full Gennex range, tinted at a dealer who does it all day. The off-whites and the muted mid-tones are where BM’s color work shows, and Regal Select renders them faithfully on the wall.
• Self-priming that mostly holds up. On a previously painted wall in good shape, in a similar color, you genuinely skip the primer step. That’s a real time save, not a marketing line, as long as you respect the limits below.

What It Falls Short On

• Deep-color depth. Side by side against Aura in the same Hale Navy or a deep charcoal, Aura reads deeper and cleaner at the edges. Regal Select in the same color comes off a touch flatter and can want a third coat to look even. The pigment is there. The resin clarity that makes Aura’s deep tones vibrate is not. If a moody library wall is the whole point of the room, this is where the $35/gallon gap shows up.
• Recoat-too-soon lifting. The label says recoat in an hour, and on a warm dry day you can. In a humid room, or over a glossy spot, going back too early drags and lifts the first coat into ropey streaks. I’ve seen this trip up DIYers who took “1 hour” as a promise instead of a minimum. Wait the full window. In humidity, wait longer.
• Flat sheen on walls. The flat finish hides texture beautifully and scrubs terribly. People buy it for the look and then can’t clean a single fingerprint without leaving a shiny ghost. For walls you’ll touch, eggshell is the floor. Flat belongs on ceilings.
• No GREENGUARD Gold. Regal Select is low-VOC and LEED-eligible, but it doesn’t carry the GREENGUARD Gold certification Aura does. For a nursery where that certification is the deciding factor, the upgrade to Aura buys you the badge. For most rooms the VOC level is already low enough to live in the same evening.

A Word on the Recoat Window

The thing that gets people is the speed claim.

BM markets Regal Select as a quick-dry, fast-recoat paint, and on the right day it is. The trap is treating the one-hour figure as a green light regardless of conditions. In a steamy bathroom or a closed-up summer room, the surface skins over before the film underneath is ready, and your roller pulls the half-set paint into streaks. The fix isn’t a different paint. It’s patience and airflow: crack a window, run a fan, and give it the longer end of the window when the air is wet. Done right, two coats in an afternoon is realistic. Rushed, you’re sanding and starting over.

Who It’s For / Not For

Buy this if: you’re repainting interior walls in a home you plan to keep, you want BM color and BM washability, and you don’t need the deepest possible saturation. Eggshell is the volume sheen and the right default for living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways.

Skip this if: you want the richest deep navy, charcoal, or oxblood a wall can hold (go Aura), you’re on a strict budget for low-traffic rooms (go Ben), or you need one paint that also handles exterior siding (Regal Select Interior is interior-only).

Honest Alternatives

Cheaper: Benjamin Moore Ben ($35–40/gal)

Same brand, same color deck, thinner film and weaker scrub life. Ben is fine on ceilings, closets, guest bedrooms, and any wall you won’t wipe or repaint within a few years. It burnishes faster and hides worse on color changes, so it’s a false economy in a kitchen or a kid’s hallway. The right pick when the room genuinely doesn’t get touched. → Find a BM dealer

Pricier Upgrade: Benjamin Moore Aura ($80–95/gal)

Deeper color rendering, a thicker self-priming film, GREENGUARD Gold certification, and noticeably better burnish resistance at year three. About $35 more per gallon. The right pick for a forever-home room where the color matters, or a high-abuse wall you want to read like new for a decade. See where the line lands in our Benjamin Moore brand guide. → Find a BM dealer

Specialty: Sherwin-Williams Cashmere ($55–70/gal)

The direct cross-brand rival at the same use and price. Cashmere lays down a softer, almost velvet matte that hides brush texture a hair better; Regal Select scrubs better in eggshell. If your nearest store is a Sherwin-Williams and not a BM dealer, Cashmere is the easy swap with no real loss. → Sherwin-Williams

Kompozit Alternative

If the price tag is the sticking point and you want one paint that crosses from interior walls to a covered porch or a sunroom, look at Kompozit PRO Paint & Primer Interior/Exterior. It runs well under Regal Select per gallon and brings interior/exterior versatility that Regal Select Interior doesn’t, since the BM line is interior-only. Choose Kompozit when budget is the constraint, or when you want a single can for a mudroom, a porch ceiling, and a sunroom. Where Regal Select still wins is the color deck and the dealer-tinted color science: BM’s 3,500 muted mid-tones and off-whites render on the wall in a way value lines don’t match, and the eggshell scrub life is a step up for a daily-driver hallway. Kompozit is the cheaper, more flexible pick. Regal Select is the color-and-finish pick.

Where to Buy

Buy from a local BM dealer. The color tinting happens there, the staff know the deck, and the per-gallon price beats the marked-up Amazon listings. The 5-gallon bucket is the move for a whole-house repaint; the per-gallon savings run a few dollars and you stop mid-job less often.

FAQ

Is Regal Select worth the upgrade over Ben? For any wall you’ll touch, wipe, or live with for years, yes. Ben at $35–40/gal burnishes faster and hides worse on color changes. Regal Select costs about $15 more and buys real washability and better one-coat hide. For closets and ceilings, Ben is fine.

Does Regal Select need a separate primer? On previously painted walls in decent shape, no. Prime when going light-over-dark, covering stains, or painting raw drywall or glossy trim. Self-priming is a real claim here, with limits.

How does Regal Select compare to Sherwin-Williams Cashmere? Direct rivals at the same price. Cashmere lays a softer matte; Regal Select scrubs better in eggshell and has the deeper BM deck. Buy whichever store is closer.

Which Regal Select sheen for living-room walls? Eggshell for most rooms. Matte for low-traffic bedrooms or ceilings. Skip flat on any wall you’ll touch.

Related

• Benjamin Moore brand guide and product lines →
• Best interior wall paint, tested →
• Which sheen for which room →