Pantone to Dulux Converter
Search any Pantone spot colour and get the closest Dulux paint colours, ranked by ΔE*00. For UK and Australian projects where the decorator buys Dulux and the brand book speaks Pantone.
Dulux colour names differ between the UK and Australian ranges, so confirm the name exists in your local market.
Closest Dulux matches
Ranked by ΔE*00Dulux Slate Grey
Dulux Urban Obsession
Dulux Cool Granite
Dulux Grey Steel
Dulux Sapphire Springs
What is Dulux?
Dulux is one of the best-known paint brands in the world, owned by AkzoNobel and dominant across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and much of Asia. In Britain it is close to a generic term for household emulsion, helped along by decades of advertising built around an Old English Sheepdog. Alongside the consumer range, Dulux Trade supplies the professional decorating market and Dulux is a substantial presence in commercial and specification work.
The brand publishes an annual Colour of the Year — Bright Skies, Tranquil Dawn, Heart Wood, Denim Drift — which drives a great deal of what actually gets sold and specified in the following year. Its consumer ranges are organised by colour family and identified by name rather than by a systematic code, which is convenient in a shop and less convenient when you are trying to specify precisely.
One complication is genuinely worth flagging before you use any conversion: Dulux is not one global colour range. The UK and Australian collections overlap but are not identical, colour names appear in one market and not the other, and Dulux in North America is a separate business operating under different ownership arrangements with its own palette. A name that exists in Sydney may not exist in Manchester. The colours in this tool are drawn from the UK and Australian consumer ranges.
For specification work, Dulux stores in most markets will tint to an RAL or BS number, and many will colour-match a physical sample. If your project needs a precise brand colour rather than a stock shade, ask about that route — it is usually more accurate than accepting the nearest name from a consumer chart.
Pantone vs Dulux: how they differ
| Pantone (PMS) | Dulux | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Pre-mixed printing ink on paper | Tinted architectural paint for walls, woodwork and exteriors |
| Origin | Pantone Inc., United States, 1963 | AkzoNobel — dominant in UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ |
| Range size | 1,341 coated colours, over 3,200 in total | Thousands across ranges; a curated subset here |
| Identified by | A number plus a deck suffix — 186 C | A colour name, with no systematic numeric code |
| Consistency | Global — 186 C is 186 C everywhere | Varies by market — UK, AU and NA ranges differ |
| Also tints to | Not applicable | RAL and BS numbers at most trade counters |
| What changes the look | Paper stock and coating | Sheen, room light, orientation, adjacent colours |
| Bought as | A fan deck | A tester pot first, then tins — always sample first |
Worked Pantone → Dulux conversions
Left swatch is the Pantone colour, right swatch is the closest Dulux equivalent the tool returns. ΔE*00 below 2 is a commercial match; above 5 the two colours read as visibly different.
Who converts Pantone to Dulux?
Pantone-to-Dulux conversion comes up wherever a brand identity has to be painted in a market where Dulux is the default tin on the shelf.
- UK and Irish commercial fit-out — Retail units, offices and hospitality interiors are almost always decorated in Dulux Trade. The brand colour has to be translated before the decorator can order.
- Australian and New Zealand projects — Dulux is the dominant specification in both markets, so a global brand rolling out locally needs the equivalent colour name.
- Residential interior design — Designers working from a fabric, wallpaper or artwork reference held in Pantone need a Dulux name clients can buy from any DIY shed.
- Small business and shopfront branding — Independent retailers painting a shopfront to match printed signage need the two to read as one colour.
- Coordinating with printed collateral — Where painted walls sit alongside printed graphics, working from the print specification keeps the scheme coherent.
- Deciding whether to custom-tint — A poor ΔE against the standard range is the signal to ask a Dulux trade counter about matching to a physical sample or an RAL number instead.
How to use this Pantone to Dulux converter
Say you are painting a shopfront to match printed signage specified as Pantone 7686 C. Search 7686, take the closest Dulux name, then buy a tester pot and paint a board you can hold up against the actual sign outdoors — exterior colour under overcast British daylight behaves very differently from the same colour on a screen indoors.
- Enter a Pantone number or name in the search box and select the colour from the suggestions.
- Read the five closest Dulux colours, ordered from the smallest ΔE*00 colour difference upward.
- Confirm the colour name exists in your local range before ordering — UK and Australian collections differ, and some names appear in only one.
- Copy the colour name for your order or specification.
- Buy a tester pot and paint a large board or patch. For exterior work, view it outdoors at the actual orientation the wall will face.
- If nothing is close, ask a Dulux trade counter about tinting to an RAL number or colour-matching a physical sample — usually more accurate than a stock name.
Accuracy — read before you specify a colour
Three limits apply here. The material: printed ink and tinted paint are engineered for different jobs and shift differently under changing light. The coverage: Dulux publishes thousands of colours and this tool matches against a curated subset of widely specified ones. And the market: Dulux ranges are not consistent internationally, so a name returned here may not exist at your local supplier — always confirm before ordering, and treat the swatch as a starting point for a physical tester rather than a decision.
Results are ranked by ΔE*00 (CIEDE2000). Below 1 is imperceptible, 1–2 is a commercial match, 2–5 shows side by side, above 5 reads as a different colour. As with every house paint conversion, neutrals match well and saturated brand colours do not, because consumer paint ranges are built around colours people want to live with. For precise brand work, tinting to RAL or matching a physical sample at a trade counter will beat any stock name.
In short: conversion values on this page are approximate, because the two systems use different colourants and cover different gamuts. Verify against the official physical colour standard before committing to production, tooling or a signed-off brand spec.