Mint vs Seafoam
Can you tell them apart?
#98FF98
#9FE2BF
Perceptual difference (ΔE): 37.4 — clearly different.
Mint and seafoam are both pale, refreshing greens that read as clean and slightly aquatic, but they differ in hue balance. Mint green is named after the herb: bright, cool, very saturated pale green. It reads almost like a tinted white when used in large areas and has an immediate freshness. Seafoam gets its name from the blue-green froth at the edge of waves, and accordingly has more blue-green in it — softer, less saturated, sitting between mint and very pale aqua. Mint is the colour of a retro American diner; seafoam is the colour of a 1950s ceramic appliance.
How to tell them apart
Mint is brighter, more purely green, and more saturated; seafoam is softer with a blue-green undertone. If it reminds you of toothpaste, a candy, or a milkshake, it's mint; if it reminds you of a beach, a vintage refrigerator, or sea glass, it's seafoam.
Color values
| HEX | #98FF98 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 152, 255, 152 |
| HSL | 120°, 100%, 80% |
| CMYK | 40, 0, 40, 0 |
| HEX | #9FE2BF |
|---|---|
| RGB | 159, 226, 191 |
| HSL | 149°, 54%, 75% |
| CMYK | 30, 0, 15, 11 |
FAQ
- Is seafoam the same as mint green?
- No. Both are pale aquatic greens, but mint is brighter and more purely green; seafoam has a blue-green softness.
- What decade made seafoam green iconic in home design?
- The 1950s. Seafoam, alongside turquoise and pale pink, became a signature colour of mid-century American kitchen design — refrigerators, stoves, and countertop appliances came in these soft aqua-greens as part of the optimistic postwar consumer colour palette.