When you’re building a product line designed to scale—especially in beauty, wellness, or home fragrance—consistency is everything. Your customers notice when the jar of a candle they reorder looks slightly off. Your retail partners pick up on shifts in color that break the visual harmony of your displays. And your brand? It starts to lose that hard-earned polish that sets it apart.
One of the sneakiest culprits behind these inconsistencies is something many brands don’t even know exists until it’s too late: metamerism.
So, What Is Metamerism?
Metamerism is a phenomenon where two colors appear to match under one light source but look completely different under another. You might approve a perfect sample under natural daylight, only to realize that same jar looks off under warm indoor lighting or in a retail environment.
For white/private label brands with multi-channel distribution, different lighting conditions are everywhere—from store shelves to customer homes to unboxing videos on social media. That means even a small metameric mismatch can lead to visual inconsistencies that dilute your brand’s credibility.
Why Should White/Private Label Brands Care?
Let’s break it down:
- Customer Trust: Your customers expect consistency from product to product, order to order. If a matte black jar appears charcoal gray in one shipment and true black in the next, it chips away at the premium experience you’re promising.
- Retail Presentation: When product lines don’t look unified under store lighting, you lose that crucial visual cohesion. Disjointed displays don’t just hurt sales—they hurt brand perception.
- Returns & Complaints: If customers feel the color isn’t what they expected (even if it technically is under certain lighting), they may return the product or leave poor reviews. That’s a direct hit to your margins and your reputation.
- Scaling Pain Points: As your product line expands—whether it’s across SKUs, factories, or international markets—the risk of color mismatches multiplies. Without tight control of metamerism, your color story unravels quickly.
How to Stay Ahead of Metamerism
Avoiding metamerism isn’t just about choosing the right color—it’s about choosing the right partner.
At JAFE Decorating, we specialize in scalable color systems designed to minimize metameric issues. Every glass vessel we decorate goes through color evaluations under multiple lighting conditions using industry-standard lightboxes. We also retain physical retains for reference, ensuring color consistency from one production run to the next—even if you’re ordering thousands at a time.
Our Pro Tip: Always review color samples under the same lighting your customers will use—or better yet, under multiple lighting types. Consistency across conditions is key.
Final Thoughts
Metamerism may sound like a technical nuance, but it can have real consequences for your product line. The good news? With the right awareness—and the right decorating partner—you can eliminate that risk and deliver a seamless, color-consistent experience that strengthens your brand.
Want to ensure your next product run is metamerism-proof?
Download our catalog and schedule a project consultation with a JAFE specialist today. Let’s build a color strategy that scales beautifully—without compromise.