A method for determining a colorant formulation and for performing a quality check of the colorant formulation once it is prepared, the method resulting in a colorant product having a specified shade once the colorant formulation has been applied to a specified substrate using a specified application method, the method comprising: a) providing a database in which a plurality of data sets are stored, each of the data sets containing at least information concerning a colorant formulation, a substrate, an application method, respectively, and information concerning the shade of the respective colorant product produced once the respective colorant formulation has been applied to the respective substrate using the respective application method, b) specifying, by a user, a target application method, a target substrate and a desired target shade for the resulting colorant product produced once a colorant formulation has been applied to the specified target substrate using the specified target application method, c) scanning the database with a computer program to see whether it contains at least one data set, the colorant formulation of which, once it has been applied to the target substrate specified in step b) using the target application method specified in step b), produces a colorant product with a shade that corresponds to the target shade specified in step b) or at most deviates therefrom within a specified tolerance, and d) if at least one suitable data set is found in step c), displaying the information concerning the colorant formulation stored in the at least one data set, characterized in that at least 50% of the data sets also contain information concerning at least one reference shade, one reference application method and one reference substrate, the reference shade resulting when the colorant formulation is applied to the reference substrate using the reference application method, the reference application method being different from the application method of the data set and/or the reference substrate being different from the substrate of the data set, wherein: either i) the reference substrate is a standard paper specified in the standard DIN ISO 2846-1: 2017 and the method further comprises: e) preparing the colorant formulation, applying the prepared colorant formulation to the standard paper using the reference application method and comparing the shade of the reference colorant product so prepared to the reference shade of the data set or ii) at least 40% of the data sets also include information concerning the spectral curve of the surface of a first production colorant product which had been obtained by spreading a portion of a first production batch of the colorant formulation indicated in step d) onto a white spreading paper and recording a spectral curve of the surface thereof between 400 and 700 nm using a spectrophotometer, the method further comprising: spreading the prepared colorant formulation onto the same spreading paper, recording a spectral curve of the surface of the colorant product so obtained between 400 and 700 nm and comparing the spectral curve so obtained to the spectral curve stored in the data set. a) providing a database in which a plurality of data sets are stored, each of the data sets containing at least information concerning a colorant formulation, a substrate, an application method, respectively, and information concerning the shade of the respective colorant product produced once the respective colorant formulation has been applied to the respective substrate using the respective application method, b) specifying, by a user, a target application method, a target substrate and a desired target shade for the resulting colorant product produced once a colorant formulation has been applied to the specified target substrate using the specified target application method, c) scanning the database with a computer program to see whether it contains at least one data set, the colorant formulation of which, once it has been applied to the target substrate specified in step b) using the target application method specified in step b), produces a colorant product with a shade that corresponds to the target shade specified in step b) or at most deviates therefrom within a specified tolerance, and d) if at least one suitable data set is found in step c), displaying the information concerning the colorant formulation stored in the at least one data set, i) the reference substrate is a standard paper specified in the standard DIN ISO 2846-1: 2017 and the method further comprises: e) preparing the colorant formulation, applying the prepared colorant formulation to the standard paper using the reference application method and comparing the shade of the reference colorant product so prepared to the reference shade of the data set or ii) at least 40% of the data sets also include information concerning the spectral curve of the surface of a first production colorant product which had been obtained by spreading a portion of a first production batch of the colorant formulation indicated in step d) onto a white spreading paper and recording a spectral curve of the surface thereof between 400 and 700 nm using a spectrophotometer, the method further comprising: spreading the prepared colorant formulation onto the same spreading paper, recording a spectral curve of the surface of the colorant product so obtained between 400 and 700 nm and comparing the spectral curve so obtained to the spectral curve stored in the data set.