Pastel Color Guide

Everything you need to know about pastel colors — what makes a color pastel, how to generate palettes, and how to use them in modern design.

What Are Pastel Colors?

Pastel colors are tints — colors mixed with white — characterized by high lightness and low-to-moderate saturation. They feel soft, gentle and calming.

Technically, a pastel sits at:

  • Lightness: 75-90%
  • Saturation: 40-70%
  • Any hue

Common Pastel Colors

  • Baby blue: #A8D8EA
  • Blush pink: #F4C2C2
  • Mint green: #B5EAD7
  • Lavender: #E6E6FA
  • Peach: #FFDAB9
  • Lemon: #FFFACD
  • Lilac: #C8A2C8
  • Coral pink: #F88379

How to Generate Pastel Colors

There are two approaches:

From a base color

Take any color and apply tinting: increase L toward 80-85%, reduce S slightly (10-20%). This produces a pastel version of the original hue.

Base blue: hsl(215, 84%, 51%)
Pastel version:
  L → 82%
  S → 65%
  → hsl(215, 65%, 82%) = a soft powder blue

Random generation

Random hue + fixed saturation range (40-70%) + fixed lightness range (75-85%) produces random pastel colors that feel cohesive.

Open the Pastel Palette Generator →

Where Pastels Work Best

Wedding design

Pastel palettes are timeless for weddings — flowers, invitations, table settings. Soft pink, blush, cream and pale green are classic.

Beauty and skincare

Pastels signal gentleness and care. Used widely in cosmetics branding, skincare packaging and beauty app design.

Wellness and meditation apps

Soft colors reduce visual stress and feel calming. Pastels work well for meditation, sleep and mental health apps.

Children's products

Playful but gentle. Pastels feel age-appropriate without being garish.

Minimalist UI

Pastel backgrounds for cards, empty states and decorative elements feel modern and airy.

Editorial design

Soft pastel section dividers and pull quote backgrounds look elegant in magazine-style layouts.

Pastels and Accessibility

The main challenge with pastels is contrast. Very light colors have low luminance, which makes black text pass but white text fail.

  • Pastel background + dark text: Usually passes AA
  • Pastel background + white text: Usually fails
  • Pastel text on white: Almost always fails
  • Pastel text on dark: Passes only for the darkest pastels

Always test with a contrast checker. Use pastels primarily as backgrounds, not as text.

Pastel Palettes in Practice

Warm pastel palette

#FFDAB9 (peach) + #FFE4E1 (misty rose) + #FFFACD (lemon) + #FFB6C1 (light pink)

Feels warm and inviting. Great for culinary, wellness and children's brands.

Cool pastel palette

#E6E6FA (lavender) + #B0E0E6 (powder blue) + #B5EAD7 (mint) + #ADD8E6 (light blue)

Feels calm and fresh. Ideal for spa, meditation and healthcare contexts.

Mixed pastel palette

Blush pink + mint green + lavender + peach + lemon

The "cotton candy" palette — playful, youthful, warm. Common in modern branding for creative brands and youth products.

Best Practices

Anchor with dark text

Pastel backgrounds need dark text to pass contrast. Use near-black or dark navy for body text.

Do not overuse pastels

If every color in your design is pastel, nothing stands out. Use pastels for backgrounds and quiet moments, with a darker accent for CTAs.

Add neutral whitespace

Pastels and white together feel airy and modern. Pastels surrounded by pure color feel crowded.

Combine with one saturated accent

A pastel palette with one saturated accent color (for CTAs and highlights) is dramatically more usable than pure pastels alone.

Common Mistakes

Using pastel text

Pastel text on white is unreadable. Use pastels for backgrounds only.

All pastels, no contrast

A design with only pastel colors lacks hierarchy. The eye has nothing to grab onto.

Thinking pastel = light

Pastels are tints, but very light colors without enough saturation look washed out rather than pastel. Aim for saturation around 50-65%.

Related Tools

Frequently Asked Questions

Open Pastel Palette Generator →