What Colors Make Pink? How to Mix Light, Hot and Dusty Pink

Short answer: red and white make pink. Add white to red a little at a time: a small amount of red in lots of white gives baby pink; more red gives a deeper rose. For brighter, cooler pinks like hot pink, start with magenta instead of red. Add a touch of yellow or orange for warm pinks like coral and salmon.

The basic mix

Always add red to white, not white to red. White is weak, so you'd need a lot of it to lighten red, and you'd end up mixing far more paint than you need.

Which red to use

• Cool reds (crimson, alizarin, magenta) make clean, bright pinks that lean toward purple.
• Warm reds (scarlet, vermilion) make warmer, slightly peachy pinks.

If your pink looks too orange, switch to a cooler red or add a touch of magenta or purple.

How to mix popular pink shades

• Baby pink: a dot of red in plenty of white.
• Hot pink: magenta with very little white.
• Magenta: in printing, magenta is a primary; in red-yellow-blue paint, mix red + a little purple or blue.
• Coral: pink + a little orange.
• Salmon: pink + a little orange + a touch of yellow.
• Rose: red + a little white + a tiny touch of blue.
• Dusty pink: pink + a touch of gray, or pink + a dot of green.
• Blush: pale pink + a tiny bit of yellow.
• Fuchsia: magenta + a little purple.
• Mauve: pink + purple + a touch of gray.

Pink with crayons, markers and colored pencils

• Colored pencils: for light pink, use a red or pink pencil with very light pressure; the white of the paper does the "mixing". For deeper pink, add layers.
• Crayons: pink crayons work best. To make your own, color red very lightly and add a layer of white crayon on top to soften it.
• Markers: light pink markers are hard to make by layering; it's easier to choose a light pink. Alcohol markers can blend a pink and a peach for skin tones and cheeks.

More on layering in how to color with colored pencils.

Pink on the color wheel

Pink is a tint of red: red with white added. That means pink sits in the red family, with green as its complementary color. A soft pink next to a soft green (think cherry blossoms and leaves) looks gentle and fresh. For the bigger picture, see what colors make red and our color mixing chart.

Try it

Pink is lovely on flowers, princess gowns and cute animals. Try a page from our cute coloring pages or flower coloring pages, and mix three pinks: a pale one for highlights, a medium one for the main color and a rose pink for shadows.