The Color Digest · Compare
Settled, side by side
Brinjal
Farrow & Ball · No. 222
Aubergine skin, not aubergine flesh
Monet
Benjamin Moore · 1243
Dusty rose in a Venetian mirror
In real rooms
Every room, each colorBrinjal
1 roomMonet
1 roomThe difference
Read from the numbersMonet is the lighter of the two at LRV 39.98, 33 points above Brinjal at LRV 7. Both read warm. Brinjal is a reds & purples, Monet a pinks. For a whole room, Monet is the safer, more forgiving choice thanks to its higher LRV, while Brinjal is the bolder pick.
How they read
In their own wordsBrinjal is the Hindi word for aubergine, and the color is exactly the skin of one: a deep, brown-based plum that reads almost black until light finds the purple in it. With an LRV around 7 it is a true dark, and it is one of the most flattering darks there is — warmer than navy, softer than black, richer than charcoal.
Monet is a dusty, mauve-leaning pink with a beige base — a rose that has softened into something closer to lilac. At LRV 40 it is a real mid-tone, dark enough to feel enveloping in a small room and light enough to keep a powder room from going gloomy.