What counts as pastel
Roughly, a pastel is a color at 70–95% lightness with low to medium saturation — think#ffd6e0,#cde7ff,#e6e6c6. Pastels group well because they share that light, muted feel, not because they share a hue.
Pastel Color Palette Generator
Pastels are light colors with soft saturation. This generator rolls in a mid-lightness band, so the fast path to a pastel set is: pick one pastel with the pipette, lock it, and roll the rest until they match its softness.
Export palette
5 colors · pick a format, copy or download
Format7 lines
:root {
--color-1: #4fe8e0;
--color-2: #ef85d6;
--color-3: #76dd1d;
--color-4: #4f6ae8;
--color-5: #ef9285;
}palette.css
How to get a pastel palette here
- Generate a few palettes until one has a color close to the pastel you want.
- Hover that swatch and open the pipette to nudge it lighter and softer.
- Lock it and roll the rest; lock each color you keep.
- Export CSS variables or JSON and drop them into your project.
Frequently asked questions
Why aren't the rolls pastel?
Random rolls stay in a 35–70% lightness band so colors stay usable on screen. Pastels are a deliberate choice: pick one, lock it, and treat the rest as a roll-around.
Do pastels work for text?
Not for body text. Pastels are for backgrounds, fills and accents — keep text dark on top of them.