Subject of the present application is a method to determine the satin-effect on metal plated substrates comprising the following steps: i) irradiate the sample with light, ii) detect the intensity distribution of the scattered light, iii) determine at least one of the following parameters:—the Aq value of the intensity distribution, wherein the Aq value represents the variance of the backscattered light angle (φi) multiplied with the device constant k and—the integrated intensity of the intensity distribution, iv) compare the at least one parameter to a target value.