A method for matching color and appearance of a target coating of an article, the target coating comprising one or more effect pigments, said method comprising the steps of: A1) obtaining specimen sparkle values of the target coating measured at one or more sparkle viewing angles, one or more sparkle illumination angles, or a combination thereof; A2) obtaining specimen color data of the target coating measured at three color viewing angles of which a first angle is a near aspecular angle that is a viewing angle in a range from 15° to 25° from a specular reflection of an illumination device, a second angle is a mid aspecular angle that is a viewing angle of 45° from the specular reflection of the illumination device, and a third angle is a far aspecular angle that is a viewing angle in a range from 75° to 110° from the specular reflection of the illumination device and one or more illumination angles; A3) generating specimen flop values based on said specimen color data, wherein the flop values are defined by the following equation: Flop value = 2,69 × L * 15 ° − L * 110 ° 1,11 / L * 45 ° 0,86; wherein L ∗ 15° is a lightness at the first angle taken at 15 degrees, and L ∗ 110° is a lightness at the third angle taken at 110 degrees, and L ∗ 45° is the lightness at the second angle; A4) retrieving from a color database one or more preliminary matching formulas based on said specimen color data, an identifier of said article, or a combination thereof, said color database comprises formulas for coating compositions and interrelated sparkle characteristics, color characteristics, and one or more identifiers of articles; A5) generating one or more sparkle differences (ΔSg) between sparkle characteristics of each of said preliminary matching formulas at each of said one or more sparkle viewing angles and said specimen sparkle values; A6) generating one or more flop differences (ΔF) between flop characteristics derived from color characteristics of each of said preliminary matching formulas and said specimen flop values; A7) generating one or more color difference indexes as a function of color differences between said specimen color data and color characteristics of each of said preliminary matching formulas; and A8) selecting from said preliminary matching formulas one or more matching formulas based on said sparkle differences (ΔSg), said flop differences (ΔF), and said color difference indexes. A1) obtaining specimen sparkle values of the target coating measured at one or more sparkle viewing angles, one or more sparkle illumination angles, or a combination thereof; A2) obtaining specimen color data of the target coating measured at three color viewing angles of which a first angle is a near aspecular angle that is a viewing angle in a range from 15° to 25° from a specular reflection of an illumination device, a second angle is a mid aspecular angle that is a viewing angle of 45° from the specular reflection of the illumination device, and a third angle is a far aspecular angle that is a viewing angle in a range from 75° to 110° from the specular reflection of the illumination device and one or more illumination angles; A3) generating specimen flop values based on said specimen color data, wherein the flop values are defined by the following equation: Flop value = 2,69 × L * 15 ° − L * 110 ° 1,11 / L * 45 ° 0,86; wherein L ∗ 15° is a lightness at the first angle taken at 15 degrees, and L ∗ 110° is a lightness at the third angle taken at 110 degrees, and L ∗ 45° is the lightness at the second angle; A4) retrieving from a color database one or more preliminary matching formulas based on said specimen color data, an identifier of said article, or a combination thereof, said color database comprises formulas for coating compositions and interrelated sparkle characteristics, color characteristics, and one or more identifiers of articles; A5) generating one or more sparkle differences (ΔSg) between sparkle characteristics of each of said preliminary matching formulas at each of said one or more sparkle viewing angles and said specimen sparkle values; A6) generating one or more flop differences (ΔF) between flop characteristics derived from color characteristics of each of said preliminary matching formulas and said specimen flop values; A7) generating one or more color difference indexes as a function of color differences between said specimen color data and color characteristics of each of said preliminary matching formulas; and A8) selecting from said preliminary matching formulas one or more matching formulas based on said sparkle differences (ΔSg), said flop differences (ΔF), and said color difference indexes.