Unforgettably Gold

Strong enough that it sets the palette for the room, not the other way around. 0900 in the Vista Paint range.

Chroma 37.5 is high enough that the color will bounce onto light surfaces, so expect it everywhere, not only on the wall. Ideal for a single accent wall or a small room where you want to commit.

Warm bulbs make it warmer still; daylight bulbs cool it back toward neutral. LRV 27.0 tells you how much light comes back, which matters less here than how much color comes with it.

This is one of the colors that can change identity with the light - somewhere between orange and yellow, and near enough to the line between them (10°) that both readings are fair. Rooms already built around blues and cool greys are the hardest fit for this color - the two are opposites, and opposites next to each other rarely feel calm.

Next to it, white trim reads brighter and cooler than it does anywhere else in the house - the gap in light reflectance is what does that, not the trim paint itself. For layering, pair this with a clearly lighter mid-tone on a secondary wall or cabinetry, and keep the ceiling close to white. The gap between each step should be big enough to see without thinking about it (roughly 27.0 / 56 / 85 on the reflectance scale).

Benjamin Moore Misty Memories pairs well as a second surface - close enough in feel to belong in the same room, far enough in lightness to read as two distinct walls (about 32.5 points apart on the reflectance scale). Matte suits a color this strong - a glossier sheen would turn every light source in the room into a visible hotspot on the wall.

Behr Rice Curry (MQ4-9) runs close enough - delta-E 2.34 - that swapping brands should not change how the room looks. Across the other brands, nothing lands within delta-E 2 of this one - there is no easy substitute.

It is lighter than 25 percent of the Vista Paint range. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.