A system and method of quantifying a difference between gonioapparent colored surfaces includes determining a lightness (L*), a sparkle area (Sa), and a sparkle intensity (Si) of the first and second surfaces at a first aspecular angle and at a second aspecular angle. A sparkle metric (SpkM) to quantify the difference between the first and second surfaces is calculated utilizing the lightness (L*), the sparkle area (Sa), and the sparkle intensity (Si) of the first and second surfaces at the first and second aspecular angles.