Cheating Heart vs Northern Mystic
Where Cheating Heart belongs to Benjamin Moore's range, Northern Mystic is a Jotun color. Hue-wise, Cheating Heart belongs to the grey family and Northern Mystic to the green-grey family. Northern Mystic (LRV 15) reflects noticeably more light than Cheating Heart (LRV 9), a difference of 6 points that becomes especially apparent in rooms with limited natural light. Cheating Heart runs blue while Northern Mystic is decidedly neutral, which means they'll respond very differently to warm vs cool light sources. With a ΔE of 15.3, the contrast is hard to miss. These aren't variations on a theme — they're two different answers to the same question. Below you'll find 5 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Cheating Heart vs Northern Mystic in Real Spaces
5 real rooms side by side. Seeing Cheating Heart and Northern Mystic in actual rooms makes the difference concrete; browse the spaces below to get a feel for how each color lives on a wall.
Living Room
In a living room, color works across both daylight and evening light — the same wall can read very differently at noon and at 8pm. The brightness difference is modest but present — Northern Mystic gives the walls a little more lift.
Kitchen
In a kitchen, colors are seen under bright task lighting that amplifies undertones — what reads neutral elsewhere can show its hand here. Northern Mystic reads slightly lighter here — a subtle but real difference in how open the space feels.
Dining Room
A dining room lit by a dimmed pendant or candles is one of the most forgiving environments for paint — warm light softens almost everything. Northern Mystic has the edge in reflectance, which shows as a quiet sense of added space rather than an obvious contrast.
Bathroom
Bathrooms are one of the few spaces where you're genuinely enclosed by the paint color, which makes the choice between these two more consequential. Northern Mystic reads slightly lighter here — a subtle but real difference in how open the space feels.
Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchen cabinets are constantly compared against adjacent materials, which means subtle differences between these two become much more visible. Northern Mystic reads slightly lighter here — a subtle but real difference in how open the space feels.
Color Details
Cheating Heart vs Northern Mystic Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Cheating Heart on one side and Northern Mystic on the other.
Digital color is approximate. These simulations are generated from the manufacturer's hex values and overlaid on grayscale room photos — your screen's calibration, brightness, and viewing angle all affect how they render. Before committing to either color, test physical samples in your own space under the light you actually live with.
More Cheating Heart comparisons
See how Cheating Heart stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
