Shades of blue

Varieties of the color blue may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a blue or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors is shown below.

Tints of blue

In this section, the term tint is used in its technical sense as used in color theory, meaning a blueish color mixed with white or light gray.

Periwinkle

Shown in the right is the color periwinkle, or periwinkle blue. Another name for this color is lavender blue. The color is a mixture of white and blue. It is named after the Periwinkle flower and is also commonly referred to as a tone of light blue.

Powder blue

The web color powder blue is shown on the right.

The first recorded use of powder blue as a color name in English was in 1774.

Light blue

The web color light blue is displayed in the color box at right. Variations of this color are known as sky blue, baby blue, or angel blue. Within the X11 color system, with a hue code of 194, this color is closer to cyan than to blue.