The Color Digest · Compare
Settled, side by side
Brinjal
Farrow & Ball · No. 222
Aubergine skin, not aubergine flesh
Spoonful of Sugar
Benjamin Moore · 041
Terracotta with the lights on
In real rooms
Every room, each colorBrinjal
1 roomThe difference
Read from the numbersSpoonful of Sugar is the lighter of the two at LRV 20.98, 14 points above Brinjal at LRV 7. Both read warm. Brinjal is a reds & purples, Spoonful of Sugar a oranges. For a whole room, Spoonful of Sugar 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.
Do not let the name fool you — Spoonful of Sugar is a deep, saturated caramel-terracotta, not a pastel. With an LRV of 21 it is a real color with real weight, and in a high-gloss lacquer it becomes something else entirely: a warm, glowing envelope that turns a library or dining room into a jewel box.