What Colors Make Purple? The Color Mixing Guide (+ Palettes)
What colors make purple: mix red and blue. A simple guide to mixing purple, including violet, plum, lavender, and dark purple shades, plus palettes to copy.
By PaletteDeck•October 18, 2026•1 min read
Key takeaways
Red and blue make purple. It is a secondary color from two primaries.
More red makes a warm magenta or plum; more blue makes a cooler violet.
Add white for lavender and lilac; add black for a deep, dark purple.
For a clean, vivid purple, use a blue and red that both lean toward purple.
Purple is a classic secondary color, and mixing it is simple once you know the trick to keeping it vivid rather than muddy.
This guide covers exactly what colors make purple, how to mix shades from violet to lavender, and how to avoid a dull result. Click any swatch to copy its hex code.
The most common purple-mixing problem is a dull, brownish result. That happens when your red or blue leans toward yellow, because yellow is purple’s complement and cancels it out. For a clean, vibrant purple, choose a blue that leans purple and a red that leans purple (a cool, slightly pink red).
Red and blue make purple. Starting with roughly equal parts gives a balanced purple, and you shift it warm or cool by adding more red or more blue.
What colors make violet?
Mix red and blue with more blue to make violet. The higher proportion of blue gives violet its cooler, deeper character compared with a red-leaning purple.
What colors make lavender or lilac?
Make a purple from red and blue, then add white. The more white you add, the softer and paler the purple becomes, moving toward lavender and lilac.
What colors make dark purple?
Make a purple, then add a small amount of black to deepen it toward dark purple and eggplant. Using more blue also makes the purple richer and darker.
Why is my purple muddy or brown?
Muddy purple usually comes from a red or blue that leans toward yellow, which introduces the complement and dulls the mix. Use a blue and red that both lean purple for a clean result.
Is purple a primary color?
No. Purple is a secondary color in paint mixing, made from the primaries red and blue. It is not a primary in either the paint or the light color models.
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