Today paint brand Dulux has revealed its colour of the year for 2025 – True Joy. The Dulux colour of the year reveal is one of the most important on the calendar for setting paint trends, so it can be an indication of where styles are going for the year ahead.
As the name of the shade suggests, Dulux True Joy is a very happy and sunny yellow that is set to lift anyone’s spirit. Bright yellow is known to inspire positivity and hope, so it's only fitting that Dulux has also announced their partnership with YoungMinds, a charity which supports and provides mental health resources for people under 25.
Another reason the brand selected True Joy as the COTY 2025 is to inspire confidence – to remind people to not be afraid of embracing colour and being bold in their homes. It’s an energising and motivating shade that aims to push people to look to the future and explore new horizons.
‘The meaning behind the colour’s choice is so impactful,’ explains Marianne Shillingford, creative director and colour expert at Dulux. ‘The sheer bliss the colour exudes physically pushes us to create something better for ourselves; it allows us to put the past behind us and gives us the inspiration we need to forge a future for our proudest, most confident selves. Put simply, True Joy is a call to action.’
She continues on the process of arriving at this particular shade for the year, 'It starts with a story. And we cross-reference the story with what we're actually seeing in design. We'd seen yellow coming up and used in a really bold and exciting way. So we knew that was a thing.'
'But then there was the story of being more adventurous, taking a leap into the unknown, not sitting around and waiting for things to happen but being active about making them happen in our lives. This sense of activity and positivity and joy. We're hardwired to look for joy. Even when it's going bad, we tend to look to happier times. And yellow just encapsulates all of that. It's one of the most powerful colours of the spectrum that gives us positivity and joy when we need it most.'
How does Dulux COTY 2025 compare to last year’s?
Much like True Joy, Dulux’s colour of the year for 2024 was focused on how paint and colour can contribute to how we feel in our homes. But while the energising True Joy is all about confidence and happiness, the Sweet Embrace shade of 2024 was about feelings of serenity and tenderness – the soft pink shade was meant to recreate the feeling of a comforting hug.
So while the Sweet Embrace was all about softness and pastels, True Joy promotes playfulness and more of the dopamine decor home decor trend.
Dulux Colour Moment 2025
If you’re not quite sure how to decorate with yellow and make the most of their star colour, Dulux also launched the Colour Moment 2025 with outlined colour palette suggestions.
These help you select shades to pair with True Joy, so if you don't want to go for a full colour drench, you can easily find the colours it works best with to use as an accent colour or feature wall.
Marianne shares how to use a bright yellow like this one in your home, especially if bold shades are not something you usually cover whole rooms with. 'It's like seasoning in food. Or a bright-coloured nail varnish. You love it, you're attracted to it but you use it in small amounts. You could use it in a cushion on your sofa, use it in a frame around a picture you really like, buy a vase and paint it yellow, use it in an alcove, use it in a little circle on your bedroom ceiling so you see it when you get up in the morning – do small amounts and see what it does. You don't need a lot of yellow to make a massive difference.'
There are three available paint ideas, which can each be viewed through the Dulux Visualizer app.
First, there’s the Bold story which is filled with vibrant colours like red, blue and yellow (of course); next we have the Human palette which combines True Joy with grounding muted and earthy tones; and finally there’s the Proud colour story filled spice shades as well as dark blues and greens.
True Joy can be mixed into any of the Dulux paint finishes, either online or in stores using a Dulux tinting machine. But if you’re after a ready-mixed yellow paint, the brand has a wide range on offer – from the trendy butter yellows to a deeper mustard yellow. These are some of our favourite shades.
Our top picks
Dulux's Golden Sands yellow is a warming yellow with a golden undertone that's a bit more earthy and grounded compared to True Joy.
If a cooler and softer yellow is what you're after then the Lemon Spirit, reminiscent of a lemon meringue pie, will work perfectly. It's also the ideal paint for small spaces as the formula contains light-reflective particles that will visually expand the room.
Speaking of butter yellow, if you're loving the current colour trend taking both the interiors and fashion worlds by storm, then may we suggest Dulux's Vanilla Sundae? It's beautifully soft and creamy, just like butter!
‘It may be difficult to immediately picture where yellow paint could seamlessly slot into your home, but it’s actually much more versatile than you may first think,’ Marianne concludes. We for one can’t wait to start experimenting with this truly joyful colour.
