Intimate White by Sherwin Williams is one of the lighter blush paint colors on this list. It has an LRV of 77 and lives in the yellow-red or orange hue family. Intimate White has a slight peach tone to it. It’s not a true peach but if you were to put it next to a true pink, it would be apparent. I think this is one of the best peachy blush pink options.
The Best Blush Paint Colors
Blush paint colors are popping up more and more now. They are simple and feminine yet they also are bold and powerful. Blush paint colors have much more depth to them than your average pink paint color.
Hello my dears, and welcome back!
I hope you are excited to explore a ton of gorgeously stunning paint colors with me today. If not, I’m excited for both of us. I always am!
The paint colors we are talking about today are all such fabulous colors. And no they are not grays!
I know, I know, I’m just as shocked as you. But there are many colors other than gray out there!
Ok enough of my babbling, let me introduce you to the wonderful world of…….
BLUSH PAINT COLORS
Absolutely glorious, aren’t they? I mean blush pink paint colors are so soft and sophisticated. They are also an unexpected alternative to ordinary neutrals.
Blush colors are some of my favorite paint colors lately. Maybe it’s because they remind me of a cold glass of rose or maybe it’s because they are just gorgeous. Who knows?
So let’s get into the whos, whats, and whys.
WHAT IS A BLUSH PAINT COLOR?
A blush paint color is more or less a pink color. Now It’s not quite a traditional bubble gum or baby pink. Blush pink paint colors are a bit on the softer subtle side. They are the complete opposite of a vivid, super vibrant pink-like fuchsia. You can think of blush pinks as pale and airy. Because of their beautiful softened tone, they act almost like a neutral. Which in turn, allows them to play well with many other colors.
Another thing to mention about blush paint colors is that they can come in different hues. Meaning they don’t always have to have a pink hue. Some may have a peach hue or even a mauve hue. I think the main thing to know about blush is that it is a soft, muted color.
See Farrow & Ball’s 11 New Paint Colors—And Which Hues Are Being Retired
While paint competitors pick trending colors from their existing palette each year like clockwork, Farrow & Ball does things a little differently. Over the years, the storied British paint and wallpaper brand (and former Saturday Night Live musing) has introduced new shades into its carefully selected, 132-color core palette at its own pace, filtering the zeitgeist through the keen aesthetic sensibilities of Charlotte Cosby, the company’s head of creative, and Joa Studholme, the brand’s dedicated color curator.
“I want our palette to have longevity and be something you can trust,” Cosby tells AD PRO. “We try incredibly hard to make the colors we do introduce ones that people can love for a long time.”
Now, for the first time in four years, the world of design gets to reap the result of that patient process: 11 new paint colors from Farrow & Ball. (More timely collaborations, such as last year’s partnership with Liberty, pull from the paint maker’s archival colorways, as opposed to introducing new releases.) Debuting in the brand’s showrooms and online on September 29, the palette ranges from earthy and elevated neutrals to charming pale pinks, garden-y greens, reliable blues, and even an abundant red. Given that the start of the selection process predated the pandemic, the inspiration for these colors covers the whole spectrum of moods and moments we’ve experienced over the last several years.
Farrow & Ball will release its 11 new paint colors on September 29. From a faint pale green (Eddy, No. 301) to a reinvigorating red (Bamboozle, No. 304), the releases invite “a bit more optimistic and fresher” feel into the home, says Cosby.
Photo: James Merrell courtesy Farrow & Ball
“There were times when we really wanted to feel cocooned and hugged, so you can really just hide away and envelop yourself in some of these really dark, delicious colors,” Cosby explains. “At the same time, we really felt people wanted something that’s a bit more optimistic and fresher, so there should be some colors in there that make you feel a bit revitalized.”
Among the colors that “bring that element of joy and excitement into your space” is Bamboozle, a fiery albeit tamed red that’s versatile enough to slide traditional when coating all four walls of a room, yet potent enough to add spirit even in small doses. Beverly, a clean and uncomplicated forest green (which Cosby couldn’t believe wasn’t already in the collection), manages to play nicely alongside reds like Bamboozle, blues like the denim-tinted Selvedge, and even the right hue of yellow. The chameleonic Kittiwake is less noisy than its avian namesake might suggest, functioning as a crisp blue in more neutral contexts and providing a more mellow and grounding force when juxtaposed with more vivid shades.
Among the new introductions is Whirlybird (No. 309), the energizing pale green painted on the kitchen walls, and a wholesome forest shade dubbed Beverly (No. 310), as seen coating the cabinetry.
Photo: James Merrell courtesy Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball newcomer Hopper Head (No. 305) evokes an intimate, restful feeling when color-drenched in a bedroom.
Photo: James Merrell courtesy Farrow & Ball
Even though it’s clear that Cosby and Studholme enjoy a wide latitude to select colors based on qualitative impressions, gut feel, and even playful experimentation at the sampling stage, their process doesn’t completely take place in a vacuum. The world’s increased interest in natural shades and dyes comes up in the context of Stirabout, the new palette’s earthy neutral. Wine Dark’s introduction serves as a replacement for the retiring shade of Pitch Blue, offering a new option that Cosby describes as “much more usable, more sophisticated, and way more in line with our brand.”
Varied blues play a soothing role within the new color releases, midnight-sky Wine Dark (No. 308), crisp pale blue Kittiwake (No. 307), and denim-like Selvedge (No. 306) among them. Here, the latter pairs with Hopper Head-coated millwork in a dining area.
Photo: James Merrell courtesy Farrow & Ball
And speaking of retiring colors, adding 11 new shades to Farrow & Ball’s core palette of 132 colors means that an equal number must be subtracted from rotation and sent to the archives. The incoming shades generally represent an updated perspective on how the brand now sees neutrals and particular colors that may have once played a more central role in the trend conversation—though there are exceptions, as with the relatively direct swap of Pitch Blue for Wine Dark.
“Color goes in cycles. At one point, everyone is really obsessed with red,” Cosby recalls as a way of explaining the thinking that led to the retirement of Radicchio and Blazer. “You look at them 10 to 15 years later, and you wonder what they’re doing there.” Fellow newly archived colors include Savage Ground, Salon Drab, House White, Pale Hound, Churlish Green, Pavilion Blue, St Giles Blue, and Mahogany.
Tailor Tack (No. 302), a faintly pink hue reminiscent of the tacking thread found in fashion ateliers, covers the walls of the living room. Stirabout (No. 300), a light oatmeal shade, and Templeton Pink (No. 303), a more earthy take on the brand’s beloved Setting Plaster hue, round out the new release’s neutral varieties.
Photo: James Merrell courtesy Farrow & Ball
That decade-plus longevity per color remains top of mind for Farrow & Ball’s introduction of these 11 shades, many of which feel timely without being trendy, and invigorating without becoming impractical. Yet despite the thoughtful and patient efforts that went into Farrow & Ball’s curation process, Cosby recognizes that paint is but an instrument for bringing one’s own ideas to life. “Paint is not an end product,” she asserts. “We want to give you the tools to do what it is that you want.”
