I sometimes wonder if we are all being taken for an expensive ride by the paper manufacturers. I base this on a limited (very) palette of choice: Epson Heavyweight Matt 167gsm (that´s heavyweight?); Jessops Heavyweight Photo Matt 230gsm and also Hahnenuehle Photo Rag Bright White 310gsm.
I´m using an HP 9180 and before that I used a pair of bog-standard Epson C82 and C66 printers with the Epson paper only.
How happy am I with these? Mixed felings, to say the least! The Epson material at 167gsm feels like toilet paper compared with the other two; the Hahne stuff is a disaster with model skin - just too much unwanted paper texture, and the Jessops material, for all its own-brand lack of marque glamour, produces the best skin of them all with Epson being quite good in that area too. I think you can only buy Jessops in the UK - I get it brought out to Spain by a friend.
BUT, and as you will have noticed, a capital one at that, only the Hahne offers any hope of longevity.
So what can one use that looks great for skin, is matt and lives longer than any one of us is likely to so do?
On the topic of price - I shall not go there; I already have stress problems enough.
Rob C