Written by Michaela MacBlake Matthews
Welcome back to another edition of Color Swatches For The Soul, where we are taking a closer look at the symbolism of shades, and how to set the mood for your craft projects, fashion, and lifestyle with color psychology! Today we’re looking at Pearl White.
The Brown Family
The color brown symbolizes earth, grounding, and stability. Brown hues are composed of a balance between each of the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. Because of this, browns naturally represent a balance of all things coming together to meet in the middle, and take on the tone of a slow and steady pace.
How Pearl White Sets The Mood
Pearl White is a soft and desaturated mix between light grey and brown, favoring the warm and confident nature of orange while still adopting the pure intentions of white, and the neutrality of grey. If you’re looking for the perfect shade of white, Pearl is classy, timeless, and gentle. It is poised in its compromise between influences, finding a balance between the calculated nature of grey, the sterility of white, and the overt volume of orange.
How To Use Pearl White In Your Craft Projects
Pearl White is a very safe color to use, while still maintaining a sense of personality. It can work well in any proportion, as a base color, an accent, a detail, or even in a pattern. This color leaves plenty of room for any accompanying hues to let their personality shine, while also keeping them in balance.
If you are working on a handmade gift, Pearl White is the perfect color to tame your craft project’s first impression! For example, if your gift recipient loves purple and orange, but isn’t the type of person to be loud and bold with those two colors side by side, using Pearl White for half of the project or more can bring both of them down from a full roar to a pleasant hum! The lovely thing about this shade, is that the slight beige tone muffles loud hues, while flat white would bring them to feel more like party decorations under fluorescent lighting.
Color Palettes For Pearl White
Pearl White is such a versatile neutral, it’s much easier to list off the colors that it doesn’t go with: Reddish oranges, especially when they’re a bit on the darker side. To be fair, even this pairing can work, if they’re paired at a 90/10 ratio. (Think thin stripes, or an old brick wall.)
Pearl White is a classy way to use bright hues, and a scholarly touch to desaturated jewel tones. It feels vintage with pastels, and adds a bit of welcoming to mysterious dark hues.