What two colors make beige?

Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses 3 tubes rather than two: 87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green. Titanium White leads the mix. Chromilla's model predicts an 87% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Why does beige look different when acrylic dries?

Acrylic binder looks milky while wet and clears as it dries, so the dried film reads darker. Chromilla's model applies a 10% value shift for acrylic, so the wet mix #D8C2A3 is predicted to dry to about #C5AF91. Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.

What is the hex code for beige?

Chromilla uses #D8C3A5 as the target for beige. The acrylic recipe is predicted to dry to about #C5AF91.

Can I mix beige without black?

Yes. Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses no black: 87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green.

How to mix

Beige paint in acrylic, oil and watercolor, compared

Real pigment ratios for beige (#D8C3A5) in acrylic, oil and watercolor. The recipes below come straight from Chromilla’s mixer, calibrated to real manufacturer paint data.

Quick answer

To mix beige (#D8C3A5) in acrylic (oil and watercolor are compared below), use 87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green. Chromilla's model predicts an 87% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out. Chromilla is a web-based paint color mixer that turns any color, from a photo, the camera or a hex code, into exact paint-tube ratios for acrylic, oil and watercolor, using Kubelka-Munk pigment mixing and aiming at the color after it dries.

Beige in acrylic, oil and watercolor, side by side (dry match by Chromilla's color model, not a measured paint-out)
Medium	Tubes and parts	Predicted dry match	Drying
Acrylic	87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green	87%	Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.
Oil	87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green	99%	Dries true to color.
Watercolor	87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green	88%	Dries slightly darker and a touch cooler.

How we calculated this: Kubelka-Munk pigment mixing, then a per-medium dry shift, scored with CIEDE2000. Method and accuracy benchmark. Last checked August 2026.

Terms used here: Dry shift, Value, Kubelka-Munk, Delta E (dE2000), Transparency, Pigment code, Tint.

Target color

Beige

#D8C3A5

Live mixer

Open this color in the mixer

The Chromilla mixer is pre-loaded with #D8C3A5. Change your brand, medium or palette and the recipe updates instantly.

Open in mixer

Recipes by medium

Checked August 2026

Generic pigment ratios, the same ones the Chromilla mixer solves for. Open the mixer to swap in your own brand and tubes.

acrylic

Pigment recipe

87% when dry

Wet mix

#D8C2A3

1. Titanium White (PW6)87%
2. Burnt Umber (PBr7)9%
3. Viridian Green (PG18)4%

Dry-down

Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.

oil

Pigment recipe

99% when dry

Wet mix

#D8C2A3

1. Titanium White (PW6)87%
2. Burnt Umber (PBr7)9%
3. Viridian Green (PG18)4%

Dry-down

Dries true to color.

watercolour

Pigment recipe

88% when dry

Wet mix

#D8C2A3

1. Titanium White (PW6)87%
2. Burnt Umber (PBr7)9%
3. Viridian Green (PG18)4%

Dry-down

Dries slightly darker and a touch cooler.

Common mistakes when mixing beige

Beige looks like it should be the easiest neutral to mix, and that's exactly why it goes wrong: painters treat it as white with 'a bit of brown' and end up with a flat, chalky color instead of a warm neutral. A tiny amount of a warm earth pigment and an even tinier amount of its complement, mixed into white, keeps beige from reading as dead. Add color before you add much white, not after.

Exact single-medium recipes

Straight-to-the-ratio versions of beige in each medium, from the Chromilla mix library.

Why the three mediums differ for beige

acrylic carries a 10% value shift on drying in Chromilla's model (dries slightly darker and a touch warmer), so the acrylic mix is predicted to dry to #C5AF91.
oil dries true to color in Chromilla's model, so the oil mix is predicted to dry to #D8C2A3.
watercolor carries a 8% value shift on drying in Chromilla's model (dries slightly darker and a touch cooler), so the watercolor mix is predicted to dry to #C6B298.
In watercolor the paper is the white, so lighter versions come from adding water rather than white paint.

Acrylic recipe in detail

Beige in acrylic: tube ratios, and ml for a 100 ml batch
Paint	Pigment	Share	100 ml batch
Titanium White	PW6	87%	87 ml
Burnt Umber	PBr7	9%	9 ml
Viridian Green	PG18	4%	4 ml

Variations on Beige (acrylic)

Each variation is its own target (lighter and darker move OKLCH lightness by 0.08; warmer and cooler turn the hue 12 degrees toward red or blue), solved fresh.

Lighter Beige

#F2DDBE

92% Titanium White, 5% Yellow Ochre and 3% Burnt Umber. Chromilla's model predicts an 85% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Darker Beige

#BEAA8C

80% Titanium White, 16% Burnt Umber and 4% Ultramarine Blue. Chromilla's model predicts an 88% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Warmer Beige

#DCC1A7

83% Titanium White, 7% Viridian Green, 6% Yellow Ochre and 4% Cadmium Red. Chromilla's model predicts an 89% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Cooler Beige

#DCC1A7

Beige questions

What two colors make beige?: Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses 3 tubes rather than two: 87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green. Titanium White leads the mix. Chromilla's model predicts an 87% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.
How do you make beige paint lighter without losing the hue?: Re-balance the mix instead of only adding white. For a lighter beige (#F2DDBE) in acrylic, Chromilla mixes 92% Titanium White, 5% Yellow Ochre and 3% Burnt Umber. Chromilla's model predicts an 85% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.
Why does beige look different when acrylic dries?: Acrylic binder looks milky while wet and clears as it dries, so the dried film reads darker. Chromilla's model applies a 10% value shift for acrylic, so the wet mix #D8C2A3 is predicted to dry to about #C5AF91. Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.
What is the hex code for beige?: Chromilla uses #D8C3A5 as the target for beige. The acrylic recipe is predicted to dry to about #C5AF91.
Can I mix beige without black?: Yes. Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses no black: 87% Titanium White, 9% Burnt Umber and 4% Viridian Green.

Related colors

More colours to try once you have beige sorted.