Yellow Lupine

Strong enough that it sets the palette for the room, not the other way around. 0808 in the Vista Paint range.

Chroma 49.1 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.

It holds up in a north-facing room, which is where warmth is usually missing. LRV 44.0 tells you how much light comes back, which matters less here than how much color comes with it.

Depending on the bulb, this can genuinely read as orange or as yellow - it sits right on the border between the two, only 1° apart. This color and blues and cool greys don't get along in the same room - they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, so pairing them tends to feel like tension rather than contrast.

Warm metals - brass, aged gold, unlacquered fixtures - gain a contrast against this that they do not have against a lighter wall; it is a common reason people choose a color this deep in the first place. If the room needs more than one wall color, keep the steps far apart: this color, then something clearly lighter for a second surface, then a bright white above. Two similar tones just look like a mismatch; three distinct ones read as a plan (about 44.0 to 65 to 85 in LRV terms).

PPG Pale Lilac 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 28 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.

For anyone tied to a different brand, Benjamin Moore Hollywood Gold (279) is the nearest stand-in, at a delta-E of 1.53. Only 1 other-brand color land within delta-E 2 of this one, which makes it comparatively unusual.

It is lighter than 46 percent of the Vista Paint range. This is a crowded part of the scale - 465 colors measure within a point of 44.0 - so most brands will have something close. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.