You know that dreamy, calm, “this will totally look like a magazine” gray you picked? The one that looked flawless on the little paint chip… and then you rolled it onto the wall and boom your living room turned into a faintly lavender sad trombone?
Yeah. Been there. Stood in the middle of the room blinking like, “Is it… me? Am I suddenly a person who chose lilac?” (No. It’s the paint. The paint is the villain.)
The good news: gray paint going purple is wildly common. The better news: you can catch it before you waste a weekend and a small fortune. Let’s talk about why it happens and the quickest ways to sniff out the sneaky purple undertone before it moves in and starts paying rent in regret.
Why Purple Undertones Are the Ninja of Neutrals
Purple is basically the undercover agent of the paint world. Blue gray usually screams “cool.” Green gray gives you that earthy, sage-y vibe. But purple? Purple slips into “neutral” clothing and waits until your lighting hits it just right… then it’s like SURPRISE, I’M MAUVE.
And paint names do not help. “Cement Gray” can lean lavender. “Sea Haze” can lean green. Paint names are vibes, not facts. They’re like baby names: adorable, emotionally persuasive, and not legally binding.
Here’s the annoying truth: undertones show up through comparison and lighting. So your job is to force the paint to tell the truth before you commit.
My 4 Favorite Ways to Catch a Purple Gray Before It Ruins Your Week
1) Compare it to other grays (aka: make it stand next to its enemies)
If you look at one chip by itself, your eyes will happily go, “Yep. Gray.” Your eyes are sweet, but they’re also gullible.
Grab 5-8 gray chips from the same brand in a similar range. Lay them side by side with the edges touching in natural light. The one that suddenly looks a teensy bit lavender compared to the others? That’s your purple suspect.
Personal note: mid tone grays are the worst offenders. Light grays hide it. Darker ones shout it.
2) Flip the paint strip and stare at the darkest swatch
This is my favorite “do it right in the aisle” trick.
Flip the strip over and focus on the bottom 2-3 swatches (the darkest ones). Undertone is way easier to spot where there’s more pigment. If the bottom reads mauve-ish or violet-ish, the whole strip is riding that purple train.
3) Tape the chip onto plain white paper
Not cream. Not “warm white.” Not the back of a pizza coupon. Plain white printer paper.
White is ruthless. It strips away a lot of the surrounding color nonsense and helps you spot pink undertones early. A gray that looked “fine” against the store’s tan display can suddenly look like it’s blushing on white.
Bonus: put multiple chips on the same paper and compare them. Your brain can’t gaslight you as easily when the evidence is right there.
4) Use your phone camera (no filters, no lies)
Take a quick photo of your chips on that white paper in a few lighting situations: morning light, afternoon light, and at night under your actual bulbs.
Your eyes do a lot of autocorrecting. Cameras do less of that. If your phone keeps showing a lavender cast, believe it. The purple is in there, doing push-ups.
Okay But… Is It Purple, Blue, or Green?
All three love hiding inside gray like roommates who all swear they “clean up after themselves.”
Here’s how I usually describe them once they’re on white paper:
- Blue undertone: crisp, icy, sometimes a little steely
- Green undertone: earthy, sage leaning, kinda “stone + moss”
- Purple undertone: softer than blue, not as earthy as green, often reads mauve-y or violet-y (and sometimes weirdly “bruised” next to warm finishes)
If you’re on the fence, compare your mystery chip to one gray you know leans blue and one you know leans green. Purple often sits in that awkward middle zone where it’s cool but not sharp.
Lighting: The Reason Your Paint Acts Different at 9AM vs 9PM
Paint does not change. Light changes. Dramatically. Like a toddler who missed a nap.
Here’s the cheat sheet:
- Warm bulbs (around 2700K): can hide purple… or push it toward mauve/pink
- Neutral bulbs (around 4000K): tends to show undertones more honestly
- Cool “daylight” bulbs (5000K+): makes purple more obvious (sometimes aggressively obvious)
- North facing rooms: cool light = purple pops faster
- South facing rooms: warmer light = purple often calms down until evening
So if you’ve got a north facing room and cool LEDs, your “gray” is basically standing under an interrogation lamp. It will confess everything.
The Part Everyone Skips (Then Regrets): Testing Like You Mean It
Paint chips are liars. They’re tiny. They’re surrounded by other colors. They’re basically the dating profile version of paint.
If you want to avoid the purple surprise, do this instead:
- Get a real sample (I like at least 8×11 inches bigger is better)
- Put it on the wall at eye level in a spot that gets indirect light (not right in a sunbeam)
- Leave it up 2-3 days and look at it morning, midday, evening, and night
- Check it next to your fixed finishes (flooring, countertop, tile, big sofa, etc.)
And here’s my very official, highly scientific rule: if you keep walking by and thinking, “Ugh, why is it doing that?” …it’s not the one.
One last test: your “worst light”
Find the lighting that makes your room look the saddest (north light, gloomy corner, cool LEDs at night whatever it is) and see if you can still live with the color there.
If it looks good in the worst light, it’ll usually look good everywhere else. If it looks like pale grape juice in the worst light… it’s going to haunt you.
Also: buy sample pots before gallons. Spending $10-$15 to avoid repainting a whole room is the kind of math I support with my whole heart.
Will Purple Gray Fight Your Finishes?
This is where people get blindsided. Purple leaning gray can look gorgeous… or it can look like your room got a weird undertone bruise.
In my experience:
Purple gray often looks “off” with:
- honey oak / golden oak / cherry wood (warm + cool clash)
- red toned brick or red floors (everything gets louder)
- super warm brass/gold (sometimes it works, but often it looks slightly… conflicted)
Purple gray tends to behave better with:
- cooler woods (gray stained, whitewashed)
- gray tile/stone
- chrome, nickel, matte black
- cool accent colors (blue, green, charcoal)
The easiest check: hold your sample right next to your flooring/counter/hardware in daylight and leave it there for a day or two. If it keeps annoying you, that’s valuable information. (Your gut is weirdly good at this.)
A Few Paint Colors That Commonly Lean Purple (AKA: Known Troublemakers)
I’m not saying these will look purple in your house (lighting is the boss), but these are often reported to have that violet/mauve whisper:
Benjamin Moore (commonly purple leaning in real rooms):
- Cement Gray (subtle purple in a deeper gray)
- Dreamy Cloud 2117-70 (very light, can feel chilly)
- French Lilac 1403 (this one’s not pretending—it’s purple)
- Wet Concrete 2114-40 (deeper, can skew warm mauve)
- Mauve Desert 2113-50 (noticeable purple gray)
- Smoked Oyster 2109-40 (smoky, moody, complex)
Sherwin-Williams often mentioned for violet undertones:
- Alpaca
- Light French Gray
And if you actually want the purple to show up on purpose, Minute Mauve is a bolder starting point.
But please—promise me you'll still sample. The internet has declared approximately 900 colors “the perfect neutral,” and the internet is also the place where people insist you can organize your house by buying 47 matching baskets.
So… How Do You Fix It?
If your gray is already on the wall and it’s reading purple, you’ve got three options:
1) Change the bulb temperature (often the fastest fix). If you’re using very cool bulbs, try warmer or neutral and see if it calms down.
2) Adjust your decor/finishes to stop “highlighting” the purple (cool accessories can make it look intentional; warm finishes can make it look more obvious).
3) Pick a different gray based on a Sherwin Williams greige review one you’ve tested properly against white, in your room, in your worst light.
Annoying? Yes. Fixable? Also yes.
Your paint isn’t “wrong.” It’s just being dramatic under your lighting. Now you know how to catch the purple undertone before it throws a lavender shaped party on your walls.