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Hues, Shades and Tints of Purple – Common Names, Their RGB and HEX Codes

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More than 200 purple shades with names, hexadecimal codes and RGB values

Welcome to the always growing list of purple colors with their names, HEX codes and RGB values. First of all, we have to offer some kind of definition of purple. For the majority of users, it’s a color made of blue and red, but scientists are much more strict. They, for instance, clearly distinguish between violet (another color between red and blue) and purple colors.

shades-of-purple-color

It is not our intention to go too much into the physical details with exact wavelengths and similar data, because the main purpose of this article is only to inform the readers about different purple shades (or, to be more specific, hues), with corresponding names, HTML codes and other info, useful to amateur or professional designers, stylists, programmers and just everybody who might be interested in naming a certain hue of purple color or finding more about its background.

Many colors, including purples, are connected with interesting stories, what gives us a lovely opportunity to present them in a readable, hopefully, amusing way with all the necessary data, which have been checked in numerous places, including dozens of international standards. Welcome in our exploration of the magic world of purple shades!

What the Word Purple Actually Means?

types-of-purple

#800080 (128, 0, 128) Purple (HTML/CSS color)

#9B30FF (155, 48, 255) Purple 1

#912CEE (145, 44, 238) Purple 2

#7D26CD (125, 38, 205) Purple 3

#551A8B (85, 26, 139) Purple 4

All colors above are called purple, yet they don’t look the same. Similar is the story about the origin of word purple. It probably comes from Greek porphrya, used for the dye obtained from shellfish. It was used for coloring clothes even before Christ’s birth, but thanks to its cost (roughly measured by its weight in silver) mainly reserved for the wealthiest class. Romans changed the name to purpura and in the 7th century, it became purpul in Old English.

It took almost seven more centuries to use the word purpul / purple for the color, not just for a dye, as well.

purple-shades

#A020F0 (160, 32, 240) Purple (X11 color)

#9F00C5 (159, 0, 197) Purple (Munsell)

#85467B (133, 70, 123) Purple (AS 2700)

#4F284B (79, 40, 75) Purple (Murasaki)

#AFADD5 (175, 173, 213) Purple (BS 381)

As you already noticed, the same name is used for more or less similar colors between red and blue. Several standards were established and most of them are still in use in different areas of life. It’s obvious one single word is not enough to describe so different hues, so numerous adjectives were (and are!) used to further explain the color purple.

Different Purple Colors

Naming the colors with a dozen basic terms and set of adjectives is exactly what ISCC (Inter-Society Color Council) tried to establish in 1930. In following years the idea was adjusted and adapted until in 1955 NBS (National Bureau of Standards) published The Color Names Dictionary, where we can find colors like:

shades-of-purple

#9A4EAE (154, 78, 174) Vivid Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#D399E6 (211, 153, 230) Brilliant Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#875692 (135, 86, 146) Strong Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#602F6B ((96, 47, 107)) Deep Purple (ISCC-NBS) aka Imperial Purple

#401A4C (64, 26, 76) Very Deep Purple (ISCC-NBS)

You can imagine this is only a beginning of the list. Combinations of names and modifiers give us 267 categories, but we should know we can’t apply all modifiers to all hues. We will still present 25 different shades of purple according to just to this system.

types-of-purple-colors

#D5BADB (213, 186, 219) Very Light Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#B695C0 (182, 149, 192) Light Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#86608E (134, 96, 142) Moderate Purple (ISCC-NBS) aka Pomp and Power

#563C5C (86, 60, 92) Dark Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#301934 (48, 25, 52) Very Dark Purple (ISCC-NBS)

We could also include colors with adjective purplish as a modifier!

shades-of-purple-names

#D6CADD (214, 202, 221) Very Pale Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#AA98A9 (170, 152, 169) Pale Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#796878 (121, 104, 120) Grayish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#50404D (80, 64, 77) Dark Grayish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#291E29 (41, 30, 41) Blackish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

As we can expect, several combinations of modifiers lead to hues very close to gray, what is exactly the same situation as at watercolors, when we mix too many different hues – we’ll get brownish or grayish results.

different-types-of-purple

#870074 (135, 0 ,116) Vivid Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#9E4F88 (158, 79, 136) Strong Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#702963 (112, 41, 99) Deep Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS) aka Byzantium

#54194E (84, 25, 78) Very Deep Reddish_Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#B784A7 (183, 132, 167) Light Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

Next set concludes the selection of purple shades in ISCC-NBS standard.

shades-of-purple-colors

#915C83 (145, 92, 131) Moderate Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#5D3954 (93, 57, 84) Dark Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS) aka Dark Byzantium

#341731 (52, 23, 49) Very Dark Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#AA8A9E (170, 138, 158) Pale Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

#836479 (131, 100, 121) Grayish Reddish Purple (ISCC-NBS)

But it soon became clear this system can’t offer enough, so enthusiasts from all over the world offered more alternatives. In the world of computers numbers were by far the most popular solution in naming the colors and purple is no exception (names are for CSS / HTML):

medium-purple-color

#9370DB (147, 112, 219) Medium Purple

#AB82FF (171, 130, 255) Medium Purple 1

#9F79EE (159, 121, 238) Medium Purple 2

#8968CD (137, 104, 205) Medium Purple 3

#5D478B (93, 71, 139) Medium Purple 4

Unfortunately, numbers don’t guarantee avoidance of confusion. Several companies and organizations suggested different standards. Less known VMG World Wide is only one, yet interesting example, naming similar colors with other numbers:

medium-purple-codes

#7A5DC7 (122, 93, 199) Medium Purple (VMG) aka Purple Sage Bush

#9E7BFF (158, 123, 255) Medium Purple 1 (VMG) aka Purple Mimosa

#9172EC (145, 114, 236) Medium Purple 2 (VMG) aka Crocus Purple

#8467D7 (132, 103, 215) Medium Purple 5 (VMG)

#4E387E (78, 56, 126) Medium Purple 9 (VMG)

Where are the missing numbers? Thanks for asking. Apparently they used the same codes as in CSS coding system above, but ‘moved’ some of them:

 

Medium Purple 3 (VMG) #8968CD (137, 104, 205)

Medium Purple 4 (VMG) #5D478B (093, 071, 139)

Medium Purple 6 (VMG) #9370DB (147, 112, 219)

Medium Purple 7 (VMG) #AB82FF (171, 130, 255)

Medium Purple 8 (VMG) #9F79EE (159, 121, 238)

 

See? We could go on and on with such details, but this is way more than we intend to achieve with this article about the purples.

How About Naming Even More Purples?

Another attempt to name the purple is the addition of descriptive adjective with some kind of association, which may or may not be known to the wider audience.

purple-hex

 

#524F81 (82, 79, 129) Deep Purple (BS381) aka Pageant

#5946B2 (89, 70, 178) Plump Purple (Crayola)

#9EA0D6 (158, 160, 214) Almost Purple (Porter Paints)

#AA00FF (170, 0, 255) Purple 6 (Hex3)

#D982B5 (217, 130, 181) Middle Purple (Crayola)

variations-of-purple

#990099 (‎153, 0, 153) True Purple (Safe Hex3)

#A63A79 (166, 58, 121) Maximum Red Purple (Crayola)

#7F38EC (127, 56, 236) Lovely Purple

#DF00FF (223, 0, 255) Psychedelic Purple aka Phlox (Maerz & Paul)

#3E2F84 (62, 47, 132) Vulgar Purple aka Grape Jelly

Knowing how precious was purple dye we are not surprised to find the name of the color so often associated with royalty and influence:

purple-rgb

#7851A9 (120, 91, 169) Royal Purple (Crayola)

#76406A (118, 64, 106) Regal Purple (Glidden)

#66023C (102, 2, 60) Imperial Purple

#8A244E (138,36,78) Cardinal (Resene)

#E9DCE5 (233,220,229) Little Princess (Porter Paints)

Numerous color and paint makers created their own variations of purple with names alluding power and nobility.

different-shades-of-purple-chart

#6C3082 (108, 48, 130) Eminence

#493F5E (73,63,94) Prince Charming (Disney)

#9678B6 (150, 120, 182) Purple Mountain Majesty

#92717C (146, 113, 124) Sovereign Purple (Sico)

#3B343C (59, 52, 60) Embassy Purple (Ralph Lauren)

Universities incorporated all kinds of purple hues in their logos. As you’ll see, you really have to have a trained eye to spot the difference between next five examples.

purple-colors

#4E2A84 (78, 48, 132) Northwestern Purple (Northwestern University)

#592C82 (81, 40, 136) KSU (Kansas State University) Purple aka Pantone #268

#592A8A (89,42,138) ECU (East Carolina University) Purple

#4F2D7F (79,45,127) University of Central Arkansas

#461D7C (70, 29, 124) LSU (Louisiana State University) Purple

Certain purples became signature colors of internationally successful companies:

shades-of-purple-and-names

#660099 (102,0,153) Fedex

#FF0084 (255,0,132) Flickr

#FF00BF (255,0,191) Lyft

#E20074 (226,0,116) T-Mobile

#C822B0 (200,34,176) Univision

We can also find purple in professional sports. It symbolizes power and ambition. It fuses the energy of red with authority of blue. It is also closely associated with dignity, one of the most important elements in sport, where you should know ho to take wins and losses.

purple-html-code

#552582 (85,37,130) Lakers Purple

#724C9F (114,76,159) Sacramento Kings

#1D1160 (29,17,96) Phoenix Suns

#280353 (40,3,83) Baltimore Ravens

#3B0160 (59,1,96) Minnesota Vikings

Source or location related to purple dye is another inspiration for naming this vibrant color.

purple-colour-shades-chart

#893BFF (137, 59, 255) Aztech Purple

#BD33A4 (189, 51, 164) Byzantine

#AD97B2 (173, 151, 178) Virginia Bluebell (Sico)

#9B84A1 (155, 132, 161) Carolina Plum (Benjamin Moore)

#ECC8EC (236, 200, 236) Corfu Pink

Let’s point out only one of the purple hues in next set. Liseran purple got its name from alizarin, also called Turkey Red, the main ingredient of several dyes. Alizarin was originally made from the roots of flowers in the Madder family. It is the first natural pigment made synthetically (in 1869).

purple-variations

#5218FA (82, 24, 250) Han Purple

#523F6E (82, 63, 110) Izmir Purple (Sherwin-Williams)

#DE6FA1 (223, 111, 161) Liseran Purple

#682860 (104, 40, 96) Palatinate

#A2627A (162,98,122) Smyrna Purple

The most famous location by which a name of the color is given is very likely Magenta. It is named after the battle at Magenta, a town in Northern Italy. There French and Sardinian army won a battle against Austrians in 1859. It was a decisive battle, leading to important political changes. An aniline dye, discovered by French chemists Francois Emmanuel Verguin, discovered a few months earlier was named after that battle and here are several shades of Magenta:

different-shades-of-magenta

#FF00FF (255, 0, 255)Magenta (X11, Safe 16) aka Fuchsia (Web, SVG Hex3)

#F433FF (244, 51, 255) Magenta 1

#EE00EE (238, 0, 238) Magenta 2 (Hex3)

#CD00CD (205, 0, 205) Magenta 3 (Hex3)

#8B008B (139, 0, 139) Magenta 4 (X11) aka Dark Magenta (SVG)

As you already noticed among previous hues of purples, some of them look very reddish, while others are much more blueish. Everything goes because technically each color between pure red and pure blue belongs to the purple family. Magenta is a slightly different story. It’s defined as a color made by the equal amount of red and blue.

Thanks to different amounts of green we can still expect numerous variations of magenta. When we start to vary amounts of red/blue or even allow some deviations from equal amounts of both, we soon approach to hundreds and hundreds of magenta shades in this specific subgroup of purple colors as well!

different-colors-magenta

#F984E5 (249, 132, 229) Pale Magenta

#F49AC2 (244, 154, 194) Pastel Magenta

#CF71AF (207, 113, 175) Sky Magenta

#CA1F7B (202, 31, 123) Original Magenta aka Rich Magenta aka Magenta Dye

#CC00CC (204, 0, 204) Deep Magenta

magenta-purple-types

#FF0090 (255, 0, 144) Process magenta aka Pigment magenta aka Printer’s magenta

#F653A6 (246, 83, 166) Magenta (Crayola)

#D0417E (208, 65, 126) Magenta (Pantone)

#FF1DCE (255, 29, 206) Hot Magenta

#8E3A59 (142, 59, 89) Quinacridone Magenta

In case you wonder how Printer’s Magenta got its name, you should know it’s one of three primary colors in a subtractive system and one of so-called three printer’s primaries (with yellow and cyan).

Purple Wall Paint

Are you thinking about making your home a bit extravagant, with a touch of glamour and eccentrics? Purple paint in recent years became one of the trends we simply can’t ignore anymore. Numerous different hues of purple paint colors and advanced materials made possible almost any vision of modern bedroom, kitchen, living room or bathroom. And purple looks great on furniture as well. Purple paint is not limited to interior only. You can use it for outside walls as well.

Here are some of the most popular paint colors of purple for walls:

purple-wall-paint

#705160 (112, 81, 96) Kalamata (Benjamin Moore)
#C4B3D6 (196, 179, 214) Fantasia (Sico)
#5E3E55 (94, 62, 85) Autumn Purple (Benjamin Moore)
#4D3A40 (77,58,64) Pelt (Farrow & Ball)
#A0648E (160, 100, 142) Maytime Iris (Pratt & Lambert)

As you can see, some tones verge on red or pink, other have a high percentage of blue and there are of course many purplish paints with more conservative gray or brown undertones.

purple-paint

#B2A3A5 (178, 163, 165) Mauve Desert (Benjamin Moore)
#B1B1C7 (177, 177, 199) Prairie Purple (Dutch Boy)
#9E929E (158, 146, 158) Lucent Purple (Valspar)
#9D8A8A (157, 138, 138) Wet Concrete (Benjamin Moore)
#D0D6E4 (208, 214, 228) Little Grapette (Kelly-Moore Paints)

Dark Purple Paint

To make a decision a bit easier for you, we decided to divide best commercial paints in purple tones into three groups and dark purple paint colors are the first one. You will see ten examples in each group, all with accompanying names, HTML and RGB codes and of course you’ll see the closest possible visual match a computer screen is able to deliver:

dark-purple-wall-paint

#513438 (81, 52, 56) Brinjal / Aubergine (Farrow & Ball)
#4C3641 (76, 54, 65) Dark Purple (Benjamin Moore)
#523F6E (82, 63, 110) Izmir Purple (Sherwin-Williams)
#706679 (112, 102, 121) Nightfall Sky (Benjamin Moore)
#7A617C (122, 97, 124) Dark Purple Iris (Sico)

Most of the presented purple paints for walls are available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, Lowes or Home Depot, but you can also order them online directly from manufacturers or other distributors. Here we go with a next set of dark purples:

dark-purple-paint-colors

#4E424F (78, 66, 79) Deep Merlot (Behr) aka Purple Expresso (Asian Paint)
#8F6B7B (143, 107, 123) Plum Dandy (Sherwin-Williams)
#7B7075 (123, 112, 117) Vintage Charm (Benjamin Moore)
#554658 (85, 70, 88) Dark Heather (Taubmans)
#6A5E74 (106, 94, 116) Velvet Nights (Pratt & Lambert)

Light purple paint

Pastel versions of purple color give relaxed feel, similar to blue colors, yet with warmer and always comfy overtone, so they can work great in bedrooms and living rooms, where blue is not among the top choices. So if you prefer lighter shades, you can still enjoy in lively hues of purple colors in many lovely paints, made by top brands like Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Valspar or Pratt & Lambert:

light-purple-wall-paint

#E3D9E4 (227, 217, 228) Orchid Lane (PPG / Pittsburgh Paints)
#DECFDB (222, 207, 219) Soft Lilac (California Paints)
#E6E4E8 (230, 228, 232) Dreamy Cloud (Benjamin Moore)
#E7DAE5 (231, 218, 229) Spangle (Sherwin-Williams)
#F0E7EA (240, 231, 234) Sweet Surrender (Ace)

Some of the names are pretty self-descriptive, but, as you can see, many names of these purple paints for walls don’t say much about the colors. They rather imply the feel which should be achieved by using the paints in action.

light-purple-interior-paint

#DACCDB (218, 204, 219) Storybook Charm (Glidden)
#D9A5BF (217, 165, 191) Hollyhock (Pratt & Lambert)
#E7D3D5 (231, 211, 213) Brushed Lavender (Valspar)
#D4C6D3 (212, 198, 211) Enchant (Sherwin Williams)
#C8C4DA (200, 196, 218) French Lilac (Benjamin Moore)

If pale purple paints are not energetic enough for you, we have a full set of 10 deep purples in the next section:

Deep purple paint

Deep purple paint colors are characterized by high levels of red and blue components, what make them strong and dominant in every room they are used. They are passionate with prestigious, almost royal impression and can work quite well as an addition to other, less powerful colored paints too.

deep-purple-wall-paint

#675C78 (103, 92, 120) Purple Passage (Sherwin-Williams)
#493E63 (73, 62, 99) Purple Rain (Valspar)
#825779 (130,87,121) Purple Davenport (Valspar)
#774C6f (119, 76, 111) Passion Plum (Benjamin Moore)
#3F3B52 (63, 59, 82) Purple Blanket (Behr)

Several paint manufacturers developed whole lines of bold colors with brave hues and sometimes with an addition of shiny golden or silver flakes or maybe another type of glitter, all supported with the newest technology, where only imagination is the limit.

deep-purple-paint-for-walls

#6B617A (107,97,122) Devine Starlight (Valspar)
#725980 (114, 89, 128) Plummy (Duron)
#64447c (100, 68, 124) Tulip Purple (Pratt & Lambert)
#4E4A5E (78, 74, 94) Deep Purple (Behr)
#5D5387 (93, 83, 135) Sultan Blue (Nippon Paint)

With these examples of best purple paints (according to several surveys), we are still not done. Most of the major manufacturers of paint offer samples and swatches to make your choice easier and this is still only the beginning because purple goes great with other colors too. The most popular combinations are with yellow and gray, but it is always an individual situation which should lead to your final decision.

Can we check the purples in more intimate area – in the beauty & fashion topic? Did you know, for instance, that purple is one of the most universal colors for lipstick, because it goes in majority of complexions? There’s even a saying – Purple in the new red for lipsticks!

Best Purple Colors for Lipsticks

We already know enough about purple to expect several groups of purple shades used for lipsticks and next picture shows exactly that. Some are more vibrant, other cooler, some more earthly, other almost psychedelic, yet each one of them serve its purpose, if used at the right time in the right place by the right person.

purple-lipsticks-different-shades

Dark purple lipstick

dark-purple-lipstick

#4E2E57 Bossanova Purple (Golden Rose)

#42212C Orchid Ocean (Burt’s Bees)

#632F46 Mary (Mynena)

#540E32 Black Currant (L.A. Girl)

#672B4D Bewitching Bordeaux (L’Oreal)

Dark purple lipsticks are probably the best for darker skin. They work great for light brown complexion as well, but their use doesn’t stop there. Everybody who wants to achieve dramatic look of the lips, should consider at least trying to wear several different purple hues of lipsticks to see what works and at what occasions is best to wear it.

Dark plum lipstick

dark-plum-lipsticks

#9F344F Plum Noir (Bobbi Brown)

#912968 Hot Plum (Avon)

#540A2F Vampy Plum (Buxom)

#682E3C Insolent Plum (Estee Lauder)

#63253E Bruised Plum (Tom Ford)

Dark plum is another popular hue for lipsticks. As we can see, we have several different options to choose from and all of them are bold, rich, a bit saucier than the dark purples  above, some verging of wine and others on berry tones.

Deep purple lipstick

deep-purple-lipsticks

#6B4653 Midnight Plum (Maybelline)

#481F2F Juniper Water (Burt’s Bees)

#461C1E Devilishly Deep Purple (ICE + JAM)

#622434 Night Viper (Georgio Armani)

#6D374E Sugar Plum Fairy (Wet ‘n Wild)

This set of purple lipsticks is a bit less popular at the moment, but probably the most classic and useful in the long term. While we are still dealing with very powerful shades, they look slightly calmer. The reason is probably their relatively natural look, in many cases closer to color brown.

Purple Matte Lipsticks

matte-purple-lipsticks

#5D507E Purple Affair (Ruby Kisses)

#481F3D Jinx / Witchberry Purple (Lime Crime)

#9B365E Plumeria (Anastasia Beverly Hills)

#681533 Cream Copenhagen (NYX)

#701C36 Ravin’ Raisin (Wet ‘n Wild)

In general we are always dealing with two kinds of lipsticks – cream and matte. Colors of creamy lipsticks are very hard to present on computer screen, so we opted for matte only. As seen above, all major families of purple colors are available in matte versions, which, by the way, are more stable, if we are looking at them strictly as part of the make-up.

Magenta Lipsticks

magenta-colors-of-lipstick

#A5288C Fucshia in Rage (Yves Saint Laurent)

#732A57 Magenta Purple (Sugar)

#D85162 Mesmerizing Magenta (Maybelline)

#84003A Matte Magenta (Clinique)

#573043 Magenta Plum (Julep)

We have already said a few words about magenta and all presented lipsticks are rich in red and blue as the main components of color magenta, but manufacturers of lipsticks don’t necessary follow the 50 : 50 rule, what leads to very varying results, among everybody can find at least several interesting hues of magenta colored lipsticks for more or less special occasions.

Lavender Lipsticks

lavender-colored-lipsticks

#54396E Lavender Jam (Bite)

#730C75 Lavender Voltage (Maybelline)

#BB3C67 Lavender Lustre (Mirabella)

#8F87C2 Lavender (NYX)

#DA6EA2 Pinky Lavender (Golden Rose)

Lavender tones are among the most gentle ones of purple. They are very attractive and work best for younger and lighter skin. Don’t forget to combine it with proper (lively, with enough red yand yellow) make-up, if you don’t want to look tired or even ill.

Bright / Light Purple Lipsticks

light-purple-lipstics

#9A6DC2 Royal Purple (NYX)

#7F1F3B Wine Wave (Burt’s Bees)

#A3418A Brazen Berry (Maybelline)

#C71261 Fucshia Hype (Oriflame)

#B9729C Frozen Soft Purple (Golden Rose)

These bright and light purple tones of lipstick are another proof of versatility of color purple, which will very likely become even more popular in next years, partially thanks to bolder, more extravagant trends which are inevitable, partially thanks to the raising awareness of possibilities coming with proper cosmetics for each type of skin. The shades above are spanning very large spectrum of hues between red and blue, but each one of them will look slightly different depending on the wearer and other wearer’s makeup.

Purple Pink Lipsticks

purple-pink-lipsticks

#842A4E Lady and the Vamp (Wet N’ Wild)

#7D1955 Gemma (Stila)

#D76B9F Lavender Cosmo (Buxom)

#ED5995 La Diva (Chanel)

#C3566D Razzle Dazzle Rose (Too Faced)

Pink lipsticks are popular for decades and are topping the lists of popularity especially among youngest users. Purple pinks presented above are writing new rules – more enegetic, more vibrant, for women who are more self-dependent, self-confident and adventurous, yet still very feminine and sensual.

After 225 presented shades of purple we rest our case, but not for long. We have barely touched the largest family of purples – flowers. This is something for the near future. Stay tuned!

 

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