Pink and purple are two colors that complement each other beautifully. When mixed together, they create a palette that is soft, romantic, and elegant. In this article, we will explore what happens when you combine these two popular shades.
The Color Wheel
To understand what happens when we mix pink and purple, it helps to look at a color wheel. The color wheel shows the relationships between different hues. Pink sits between red and purple on the color wheel. Red, purple and pink are all made by combining two primary colors – red, blue and yellow.
Pink contains tints of red and white. Purple contains tints of blue and red. This means pink and purple have red in common. However, pink leans towards the warm end of the wheel, while purple leans towards the cool end.
Mixing Pink and Purple Paint
When pink and purple paint are mixed together, the resulting color is a reddish-purple hue. More specifically, it creates a tone of purple that has subtle warm undertones from the pink. Here is a look at the colors created when mixing pink and purple paint:
| Pink | Purple | Resulting Color |
|---|---|---|
| Hot pink | Royal purple | Raspberry purple |
| Baby pink | Lavender purple | Rosy mauve |
| Cotton candy pink | Plum purple | Pinkish-purple |
As you can see, the resulting colors retain the base purple hue but shift slightly towards pink. The more pink used, the more reddish and warmer the mixed color becomes.
Mixing Pink and Purple Icing
Cake decorators often mix custom colors by blending ready made icing colors. Pink and purple icing swirled together creates a light reddish purple for icing flowers, borders or writing.
Adding a touch of pink to purple icing creates a nice lilac shade. While mixing a larger amount of pink into purple icing produces a true red-violet.
The icing maintains a soft look since both pink and purple are made with a white icing base. A 1:1 ratio of pink to purple creates a perfectly balanced light purple.
Mixing Pink and Purple Dye
Pink and purple fabric dyes can also be combined to create new colors. Often cotton or silk is dyed this way to produce ombre fabrics that fade from pink to purple.
When mixed equally, fabric dyes in pink and purple make a light amethyst tone. Adjusting the ratio of each color shifts the final color towards either pink or purple as preferred.
Combining a deeper pink dye, like fuchsia, with purple makes a vivid reddish purple. Using a light pink instead produces a softer lilac shade.
Mixing Pink and Purple Light
With lighting, pink and purple can be blended to create mood. Deep pink lighting mixed with deep purple lighting produces a rich, warm, reddish-purple glow.
Often event planners use a combo of pink and purple lights to create a romantic vibe. The pink softens the purple and keeps it from feeling too cold.
With LED lights, pink and purple can be adjusted to make a custom reddish-purple color. A touch of pink takes the edge off the purple. While too much pink makes the light feel overly reddish.
Pink and Purple Makeup
Makeup artists regularly mix shades to create custom colors. Blending pink and purple eye shadows, blushes, or lipsticks results in a flattering reddish-purple hue.
A touch of pink shimmery eye shadow over a purple base adds warmth and dimension. Sweeping pink blush over purple produces a berry-stained cheek.
Lipsticks are also layered in pink and purple for an ombre pout. A fuchsia pink lipstick topped with a rich purple gloss creates a striking look.
How the Eye Perceives Pink and Purple Together
In optics, pink and purple stimulate overlapping areas of the eye’s color receptors. Pink activates receptors tuned to red light. Purple triggers receptors that pick up red and blue light.
The shared red response is what allows pink and purple to blend seamlessly. The eye perceives a smooth color gradation rather than two clashing components.
Pink and purple strike an ideal balance on the color spectrum. This makes them naturally harmonious together in any mixed hue.
Mood and Meaning
The resulting color when pink and purple are combined retains an uplifting, yet tranquil mood. The pink injects warmth, energy and joy. The purple lends intuition, imagination and mystique.
In color psychology, reddish-purple is associated with passion, romance, creativity, spirituality, compassion and inspiration. It has an almost magical quality.
While manycolor combinations can feel jarring, mixing pink and purple creates a soulful, harmonious impression. The balance just feels right.
Examples in Nature
That magical balance of pink and purple can be seen in many flowers and plants. Here are a few examples:
– Purple asters with pink centers
– Clematis flowers that fade from pink to purple
– Purple cabbage leaves with pink veins
– Light purple lilacs with pink buds
– Fuschia and purple bougainvillea flowers
– Purple morning glories with pink streaks
As these examples show, reddish-purple colors produced by blending pink and purple occur frequently in the natural world.
Uses of Mixed Pink and Purple
Some popular ways to utilize the gorgeous combination of pink and purple include:
Fashion
– Ombre fabrics that fade from pink to purple
– Pastel purple dresses with pink accents
– Pink coats with reddish-purple scarves
Interior Design
– Feature wall painted a pinkish purple
– Light fixtures that emit blended pink and purple light
– Lilac purple sofa with pink and purple throw pillows
Events
– Weddings with pink and purple flowers
– Baby showers using a pink and purple color scheme
– Birthday parties with pink and purple balloons
Food
– Cakes iced in ombre pink and purple
– Pink and purple macarons
– Beet drinks swirled with pink and purple layers
Conclusion
Pink and purple complement each other perfectly when mixed. Blending pink and purple creates a versatile range of reddish-purple hues. The eye finds these colors highly agreeable and harmonious.
Nature contains many examples of flowers and plants that seamlessly combine shades of pink and purple. This color mix also has many applications in fashion, interior design, events and food.
Reddish-purple retains both the warmth of pink and intriguing depth of purple. It is a color that inspires romance, creativity and imagination. So explore the possibilities of this magical color blend.
