Pastel can describe colors that are soft and pale, like you mixed white paint into them. Pastel pink looks gentler than bright pink. Pastel blue resembles the sky on a hazy morning. Pastel yellow is like sunshine through a thin curtain. These colors feel quiet and calm rather than bold and intense.

The word also refers to a drawing tool that artists use. Pastels are sticks of powdered pigment pressed together, somewhere between chalk and crayon. When you draw with pastels, the colors blend smoothly on paper, creating soft, dreamy effects. Artists like Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas created famous artworks using pastels. Unlike paint, pastels go on dry, and you can smudge them with your fingers to blend the colors.

When someone describes a room decorated in pastels, they mean it uses these gentle, peaceful colors.