To Knightsbridge corner store Harrods for BDK, courtesy of Phoenix Beauty, for a chastening lesson.

Accurate colour is always an issue with digital so I use a ColourChecker card which has a certified neutral tone to use as a standard baseline:

Despite my best efforts (and of the Colourchecker & software), it took a few goes to get the colour of the metallic base correct; client Vernice Walker from Phoenix Beauty, who of course knew the correct colour better than I, gently guided my efforts at adjustment and was very patient while I worked on it.

What was the problem? Hard to say - I worked the same way as usual but the result was unexpected; I didn't have a reference image to work from; colours of reflective surfaces are affected by what's around them; colour perception is subjective and memory is fallible.

All reasonable excuses but in the end the responsibility to get it right is my own; it's no bad thing to have cause to reassess your process from time to time - consider this a lesson learned.

Thanks to Harrods for this memento.