Quick Answer

Buy the Clare Color Fan Deck if you're still narrowing down which colors to consider and want the whole curated palette in one place. Buy the Best of the Blues Swatch Kit if you already know you want a blue and need to see seven specific shades on your actual wall. If you're undecided about the color family, start with the fan deck, then order a swatch bundle for the shades that survive your shortlist.

What Each Product Actually Is

These two products are often lumped together as 'paint samples,' but they do different jobs. The Clare Color Fan Deck is a bound reference of the brand's full palette of fewer, better, designer-curated colors, and it includes colors through the Summer 2023 launch. It's a browsing and specification tool, not something you stick to a wall.

The Best of the Blues Swatch Kit is a curated set of seven blue swatches: Headspace, Goodnight Moon, Frozen, Make Waves, Views, Good Jeans, and Deep Dive. These are peel-and-stick swatches meant to go up on your wall so you can judge how a color behaves in your light.

The Real Trade-Off: Breadth vs. Wall Truth

The fan deck wins on breadth. It lets you flip through the entire curated palette in one sitting, which is useful when you have no idea whether you want green, blue, or something in between. But a fan deck shows color on paper, and paper doesn't tell you how a shade will read against your floor, your furniture, or the light coming through your windows.

The swatch bundle wins on wall truth. Seven blues applied to your wall show you how those specific shades shift from morning to evening. The limitation is scope: it only covers blues, so it's the wrong tool if you're still choosing between color families.

How to Use Them Together

The most efficient path is sequential. Start with the fan deck to shortlist two or three color families or specific shades. Then order the swatch bundle that covers your shortlist, or the closest match, and test those on the wall. If your shortlist lands on a green or purple rather than a blue, the swatch bundle won't help you test it, so plan accordingly.

Once you've picked a shade, the fan deck stays useful as a reference for future rooms and trim pairings. The swatches are disposable once the decision is made.

Trade-Offs at a Glance

  • Palette coverage: The fan deck covers the full curated palette through the Summer 2023 launch; the swatch bundle covers seven blues only. Choose the fan deck if you're still choosing a color family.
  • How you judge the color: The fan deck shows color on paper; the swatch bundle is peel-and-stick and goes on your wall. Paper is fine for shortlisting; the wall is where you confirm.
  • Reusability: The fan deck is a durable reference you can keep for future rooms; swatches are consumed by the testing process. Buy the fan deck once; buy swatches per project.

Product Facts

  • Clare Color Fan Deck: Sample our entire palette of fewer, better, designer-curated colors in one convenient place—the only shades you need for all your upcoming paint projects. It's a must-have tool for interior designers, house painters and devoted DIY-ers. Our fan deck contains colors through our Summer 2023 launch. This is the only one of the two that shows the full palette, so it's the right starting point when you haven't chosen a color family yet. The Summer 2023 cutoff is a real limitation if you're looking for anything launched after that.
  • Best of the Blues Swatch Kit: Keep your cool with seven of our dreamiest blues. From icy hues to indigos, swatches include Headspace, Goodnight Moon, Frozen, Make Waves, Views, Good Jeans, and Deep Dive. If your shortlist is already blue, this gives you seven named shades to test on the wall instead of guessing from a paper deck. It won't help you evaluate greens or purples.

Which Should You Buy?

Best for

  • Anyone starting a project who hasn't picked a color family yet
  • Interior designers and painters who need a full-palette reference on hand
  • DIY-ers planning multiple rooms over time

Not for

  • Shoppers who already know they want a blue and want to test it on the wall now
  • Anyone looking for colors launched after Summer 2023
  • Buyers who only need one specific shade confirmed