Pastel Blue – Explore a Blue Pastel Color Palette

Blue is one of the more trendy colors you can find. Pastel blue is also well-liked as a softer shade of blue and is a relatively easy color to use for a variety of purposes. Blue pastel colors can be a great addition to an outfit or successfully used in web and home designs. However, to make sure you know how to work properly with pastel blue, we will be looking at what color goes with pastel blue, amongst other interesting facts.

What Is Pastel Blue?

Pastel blue, along with all similar shades can be regarded as cool and has the hex code #aec6cf. The hex code is what helps identify colors on the web, along with the RGB and CMYK color codes that help to break down the color composition for each color. The RGB will show you how much red, green, and blue are needed to create pastel blue as a web color. The CMYK color code is aimed at showing you how much cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink or pigment is needed to achieve a certain color. 

All pastels provide a touch of subtle color, unlike the vibrant and saturated hues. Pastels usually have a low saturation or purity of color and have a higher value or lightness of a color. You can describe pastel blue as being a pale grayish blue.

Pastel Blue: A Brief History

The color blue and blue pigments were originally obtained from minerals and many blue dyes were obtained from certain plants until synthetic pigments were developed. Pastel colors mainly originated with the pastel medium, which is a powdered pigment that produces a soft and low saturation color.

There might have been a limited number of pastel colors, which were manufactured in the 15th century, but the medium still became popular in the 18th century and many artists enjoyed using it, particularly for portrait paintings. 

There are many other pastel colors besides pastel blue, for example, pastel red, and pastel yellow among others. An artwork done in pastels, and also displaying pastel blue or a color similar can be seen in the Blue Dancers (1897), which was done by the famous artist Edgar Degas

Pastel blue was a favorite color of Marie Antoinette, who was the Queen of Versailles, and you can find some portraits that show her wearing this color. Around the same time, known as the Rococo era, pastels were quite popular in areas of architecture, fashion, as well as furniture.

Three Dancers in Blue (1903) by Edgar Degas; Edgar Degas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Pastels have been up and down in the spotlight over the years. In the 1950s, pastels were used in almost everything from home décor to clothing, which slowly faded. In the 1980s, there was a revival of everything pastel, which you can see in the popular television show Miami Vice. Today, pastel colors have again seen a rise in popularity in fashion as well as interior design.

Meaning of Blue Pastel Colors

As a color, blue is generally cool and calming, and any shade of blue you choose is reminiscent of blue skies, or the ocean. Pastel blue offers a softer and more romantic appeal. However, pastel blue is also associated with innocence and youth and is a favorite color for baby boy rooms.  Other associations or meanings for pastel blue can involve some of the following.

• Freedom
• Imagination
• Sensitivity
• Loyalty
• Intelligence
• Faith
• Heaven
• Intuition
• Open spaces

Shades of Pastel Blue

Many of the light shades of blue found on the web, can easily be mistaken for one another. However, you can easily search for a color by its hex code, which will show you that each color is different, if only slightly. Below are a few light shades of blue that are similar to blue pastel colors.

Baby Blue

When comparing baby blue and pastel blue, you will notice that baby blue appears a little brighter, while pastel blue is more muted. This light blue pastel hue is popular for baby boy clothing or as a color for the nursery. 

This color is playful, and fresh, and is closely associated with youth fullness.

Light Blue Pastel

Both light blue and pastel blue are lighter shades of blue and are often mistaken for the same color. However, if you compare the shades of blue more closely, you will notice that the saturation is slightly different. The light blue color has a higher saturation, while the light blue pastel produces a slightly less intense color.

Sky Blue

The name is clearly in reference to the skies or heavens. This pastel blue shade is associated with openness, hope, and dreams, and can bring to mind feelings of trust, loyalty, and confidence. 

Sky blue is also calming, but as you can see, it is a slightly more intense blue when compared to pastel blue.

Powder Blue

This pastel blue shade web color is described as a very soft cyan and is strongly associated with peace and serenity. Powder blue also has low saturation and works wonderfully with darker shades of blue as well as other neutral colors like beige and white.

What Color Goes With Pastel Blue?

Pastel blue shades can go with most colors, but it does work best with other pastel hues. Pastel blue also looks great when paired with other neutral colors like white, creating a fresh, by-the-ocean appeal. Pastel blue also works wonderfully with shades of gray, cream, and beige. 

To determine how to choose the best colors that work well together, let us have a look at a few color combinations available.

Complementary Pastel Blue Colors

Colors on opposite sides of the color wheel are called complementary colors. When used next to each other, they tend to catch the eye and create a contrasting look. The specific pastel blue we have chosen has a grayish orange as its complementary color, but you can also try other colors like coral or experiment with other shades of orange and red.

Analogous Pastel Blue Colors

All colors that occur near one another when looking at the color wheel, are known as analogous hues. This means shades of green and blue will work perfectly with pastel blue. However, if you want to be specific, and choose colors that are closest to pastel blue, it will be a grayish cyan and blue. 

Unlike complementary colors, these are more uniform in appearance and do not stand out, and are more pleasant to look at.

Monochromatic Pastel Blue Colors

This color combination is also more harmonious and creates a more consistent look in designs. When choosing this type of color combination, you do not have to be concerned about the colors working together, as they naturally form a cohesive look. Also, in web design, monochromatic color schemes help to make the content stand out more, while the colors do not attract too much attention.

Triadic Pastel Blue Colors

Triadic colors are again those hues that create a contrast. When looking at the color wheel, this color combination can be seen as an even-sided triangular shape. Besides the specific colors like grayish green and pink, you can also try other shades like mint green or lilac.

Working With a Blue Pastel Color Palette

It is fairly easy to work with pastel blue, as it tends to work well with most colors. You can easily mix pastel blue paints for your next art project or use pastel blue in your next home décor project. Before we go into some design ideas, let us discover how to mix pastel blue paints.

Mixing Pastel Blue Color Acrylic Paint

Pastel blue and other shades of blue are quite common colors you might find in paintings. So, you need to understand how to mix paint colors to achieve the color you want. Some knowledge of color theory can help when mixing your own colors. It is simple enough to mix a light blue color. 

All you need is some white paint and blue paint like ultramarine blue.

Mixing Light Blue Paint

Remember to create a color chart, where you can document the proportions of paint used to create the various shades and paint tones. Take some white paint and place it onto your mixing surface with a palette knife. Next, take a small amount of blue paint and add this to the white paint, which should create a very light blue color. The blue you add, the darker the shade of light blue.

Mixing Pastel Blue

Pastel colors have low saturation and a higher value. So, to tone down or create a more desaturated blue, you can first mix some orange with the blue. Orange and blue are complementary hues, and when combined in equal amounts, they form a dirty brown color. So, if you add some orange, make sure it is only a very small amount that helps to tone down the blue. 

Next, you can add this to your base white color until you achieve a pastel blue color you are happy with.

Pastel Blue Fashion and Interior Design Ideas

Blue pastel colors have become quite a popular fashion trend over recent years. They are subtle, yet elegant additions to any outfit. It is said that pastel colors are associated with wellness and comfort, and are what people are looking for, especially after the Covid pandemic. The colors are relaxing and soothing to the soul. Combine with other shades of darker blue, white, and beige or tan for a fresh and easygoing look.

Pastel Blue Interior Designs

Pastel blue is a favorite color for a baby boy’s room, along with baby blue. However, because it can be used as a neutral color, you can use pastel blue in most rooms of the home to provide an inviting and calm feeling.

Since pastel blue is such a calming color, it is only natural that you design a bedroom with this color.

This color can also bring a fresh and inviting feel to living areas, bathrooms, and even the kitchen. Pastel blue can work well with other pastel colors like mauve; however, you can also pair it with brighter and earthier colors. Again, white is always a favorite color to pair with pastel blue, along with beige or other natural tones. You can use darker alongside lighter shades of blue to create a design that has more depth.

To provide more interest, for example, use patterned pastel blue wallpaper. When using a blue pastel color palette, you can also add pops of color that include shades of orange, pink, yellow, or green. The pastel blue color can also bring a hint of color to an all-neutral or white color palette.

Pastel blue is a color that can easily be used for many purposes, from painting landscapes and beautiful blue skies to creating a refreshing and soothing living space. Blue pastel colors are also perfect for website backgrounds and an excellent choice for company logos.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Color Goes With Pastel Blue?

Pastel blue goes with many colors, but it works especially well with white and other neutral tones like beige. Other colors that go with pastel blue can include dusty pink, lilac, coral, shades of green, and other shades of blue.

Is Light Blue and Pastel Blue the Same Color?

Many colors look similar, but in most cases, there are slight variations, which makes each color independent. Light blue is a more intense color, with higher saturations, while pastel blue is more muted.

What Is the Meaning of Pastel Blue?

Pastel blue is associated with relaxation, peacefulness, balance, and calmness, as it reminds us of open spaces, blue skies, and the ocean. Pastel blue shades are also associated with innocence and youth.

Charlene Lewis( Content Creator and Creativity Writer )

In 2005, Charlene completed her Wellness Diplomas in Therapeutic Aromatherapy and Reflexology from the International School of Reflexology and Meridian Therapy. She worked for a company offering corporate wellness programs for a couple of years, before opening up her own therapy practice. It was in 2015 that a friend, who was a digital marketer, asked her to join her company as a content creator, and this is where she found her excitement for writing.

Since joining the content writing world, she has gained a lot of experience over the years writing on a diverse selection of topics, from beauty, health, wellness, travel, and more. Due to various circumstances, she had to close her therapy practice and is now a full-time freelance writer. Being a creative person, she could not pass up the opportunity to contribute to the Art in Context team, where is was in her element, writing about a variety of art and craft topics. Contributing articles for over three years now, her knowledge in this area has grown, and she has gotten to explore her creativity and improve her research and writing skills.

Charlene Lewis has been working for artincontext.org since the relaunch in 2020. She is an experienced writer and mainly focuses on the topics of color theory, painting and drawing.

Learn more about Charlene Lewis and the Art in Context Team.