Home › Colour recipes › Dusty Rose
How to mix Dusty Rose in oil paint
Dusty Rose is a muted, greyed pink. Below are the oil paint mixing recipes PaintMixLab calculates for it from three common paint sets, in parts you can measure on the palette.
Target colour #D9A5A0
Predicted mix #DAA5A0
Target #D9A5A0 against the predicted mix from the Winton recipe (excellent match, ΔE 0.2).
Dusty Rose mixing recipes by paint set
| Paint set | Recipe (parts) | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Winsor & Newton Winton | 31 Flake White Hue + 6 Pale Rose Blush + 1 Burnt Sienna 31 Flake White Hue6 Pale Rose Blush1 Burnt Sienna |
Excellent match (ΔE 0.2) |
| Gamblin 1980 | 49 Titanium White + 1 Cadmium Red Light 49 Titanium White1 Cadmium Red Light |
Close (ΔE 4.5) |
| Magicfly 40 | 5 Titanium White + 4 Light Apricot + 1 Lavender 5 Titanium White4 Light Apricot1 Lavender |
Very close (ΔE 1.8) |
Parts are by volume. Recipes follow the app’s standard engine, which adds white to bring the mix up to the predicted value on the palette. Match quality (ΔE 2000) compares the predicted mix with the target: under 1.5 is excellent, under 3.5 very close, under 6 close.
Dark Mode recipes (original engine, no extra white)
- Winsor & Newton Winton: 12 Flake White Hue + 6 Pale Rose Blush + 1 Burnt Sienna
- Gamblin 1980: 24 Titanium White + 1 Cadmium Red Light
- Magicfly 40: 4 Light Apricot + 1 Lavender
What two colours make dusty rose?
With only two tubes from the Winton range, the closest PaintMixLab finds is 97 Zinc White + 1 Scarlet Lake (close, ΔE 4.8). Two-tube mixes are simpler to repeat but usually a little further from the target than three.
How to mix dusty rose by hand
- Put out Pale Rose Blush as the base — it carries the hue.
- Work in Burnt Sienna a little at a time until the hue swings towards dusty rose; stop as soon as it reads right, it is easy to overshoot.
- Lighten with white until the value matches your reference. Check it next to the target in daylight — a mix always looks lighter on the knife than on the canvas.
- Mix more than you think you need, and save the swatch in PaintMixLab so you can repeat it tomorrow.
Reds lose chroma fast when lightened with white and turn pink; if the target is a warm, deep red, lighten with a touch of yellow or orange before reaching for white, and darken with its complement (a green or a blue) rather than black.
Related colour recipes
Dusty Rose questions
What colours make dusty rose?
In the Winton range: 31 Flake White Hue + 6 Pale Rose Blush + 1 Burnt Sienna. Other sets use different tubes because tinting strength varies by brand — see the table above for Gamblin 1980 and Magicfly.
Can I mix dusty rose without black?
Yes. None of the recipes above rely on black alone; where a dark is needed the engine prefers a deep colour or an earth so the mix stays lively. PaintMixLab has an “avoid black” option if your set includes black and you would rather not use it.
Why does my dusty rose look different from the swatch?
Pigment batches, how much medium you use, the lighting and your screen all shift the result. Treat the ratio as a measured starting point: match the value first with white, then nudge the hue with the smallest tube in the recipe.
Does this recipe work for acrylic dusty rose?
Roughly. Acrylic ranges share many pigment names, but acrylics dry darker and the tinting strengths differ, so expect to add a little extra white and re-check once dry.
Mix dusty rose from a photo instead
Point PaintMixLab at the colour you actually see and it writes the recipe for your own paint set — free for 3 days.
