Hello, friends! Mikahla here from Eureka Crystal Beads with the first of many in my new series on color trends. If you’re looking for inspiration for your next project, wondering what to match with coral, or just generally wondering what’s in style this year (and why), read on 🙂
The “Color of the Year”
If you’ve been surfing social media this year, you’ve probably heard the mention of “Living Coral,” Pantone’s official color of the year…what does that mean? What shade of coral makes it living coral? Well, Pantone is best known for its proprietary “Pantone Matching System,” a universal color language. This system is used for printing, manufacturing and producing super-exact colors across a variety of different materials. This is useful to big brand names like Tiffany & Co – it helps them to match their company color on boxes, websites, postal mailers, and jewelry. Pantone has become so infamous as a color authority that designers and fashionistas worldwide look to them for trends and suggestions in color.
And why should that matter to a beader? Well, it does and it doesn’t!! Maybe getting the exact shade of living coral isn’t what’s important to us, or even within the realm of possibility. It’s the spirit of the color “living coral” that we should be trying to capture and embody in our work. Coral is a wonderful, workable, wearable shade that isn’t quite pink, and isn’t quite orange – and it’s trendy for summer 2019.
I’ve listed a few examples of coral beads that I think fit into this year’s theme (it’s flexible!)
Incorporate shades of “Living Coral” into your jewelry designs, pattern adaptations, and bead & stone collection to keep your work looking fresh and up to date. This shade is optimistic, versatile, and fairly gender neutral, making it a great addition to any beaders collection.
PANTONE from https://www.pantone.com/articles/past-colors-of-the-year/color-of-the-year-2019
“Sociable and spirited, the engaging nature of PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral welcomes and encourages lighthearted activity. Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression.”
More “Living Coral” Matches
Swarovski 4mm
crystal pearls
Superduo Beads
Gemduo Beads
Paisleyduo Beads
Czech Glass
2mm Pearls
Miyuki Delica 11/0
Seed Beads
Miyuki Round 11/0
Seed Beads
Rhinestone 3mm Cupchain
Pantone Color Palettes!
Pantone even released some lovely palettes to inspire the public with other colors to match against coral. If you’re struggling with what you might pair with such a striking peachy shade, these palettes could be a great starting point. They employ tried and true color harmony techniques, and use the trendiest shades of the season across the board. The color bars to the right of the palettes are suggestions for the amounts of each color you might consider incorporating into any one design at once.
Complex Color Harmony
“UNDER THE SEA”
“BLUE DEPTH”
Swarovski 14mm crystal rivolis
Toho Seed Beads
2mm Faceted Gemstone Beads
“TURKISH SEA”
Czech Glass
Swarovski 6mm crystal pearls
Swarovski 3mm `crystal bicones
“Viridian Green”
Swarovski 8mm crystal chatons
Czech Glass Triangles
15/0 Toho Round Seed Beads
11/0 Toho Round Seed Beads
4mm Round Firepolish
“Turtle Green”
3mm Firepolish
Swarovski 4mm crystal pearls
SuperDuos
Swarovski 6mm crystal rondelle
Swarovski 14mm crystal rivoli
“Sea Pink”
Swarovski 4mm
crystal bicones
4mm Firepolish
Carrier Beads
Toho Seed Beads
Swarovski 14mm crystal rivoli
“Vibrant Yellow”
Swarovski 12mm crystal rivoli
Size 11/0 Miyuki Delica
MiniDuos
Swarovski 8mm crystal chaton
Swarovski 4mm crystal bicones
“Limpet Shell”
Kheops par Puca
Triangle Beads
Swarovski 4mm crystal bicones
Swarovski 14mm crystal rivoli
11/0 Toho Aiko Seed Beads
3mm Firepolish
Warm Toned Color Harmony
“SHIMMERING SUNSET”
“Conch Shell”
“Hot Pink”
“Aurora Pink”
Swarovski 14mm crystal rivolis
“Magenta Haze”
“Radiant Yellow”
Swarovski 10mm crystal rivoli
“Amber Glow”
3-hole Czech Glass Cali Beads
“Papaya”
Bright & Dramatic Color Harmony
“TRIPPY”
https://www.pantone.com/articles/past-colors-of-the-year/color-of-the-year-2019
“Sulphur Spring”
3mm Druk Beads
Metalust
Superduos
11/0 Toho Aiko Seed Beads
Swarovski 8mm crystal chaton
“Chive Blossom”
Swarovski 6mm crystal pearls
“Vivacious”
Swarovski 4mm crystal bicones
Swarovski 22mm crystal pear
Faceted 2mm Gemstone Beads
“Barrier Reef”
Swarovski 4mm crystal bicones
3mm Firepolish Czech Glass
“Deep Lake”
3mm Round Czech Glass Pearls
11/0 Toho Round Seed Beads
“Ibiza Blue”
“Pink Lemonade”
Looking to Keep it Simple?
Coral Earring Kit
If you love “Living Coral,” but don’t love the stress of picking out all of those colors, we have a lovely alternative option for you! Just use ONE color. These cascade earrings utilize over 30 Swarovski crystal pears! They are energetic, sparkly, and fun…and they come in the color coral! Get everything you need to make them in our kit.
Note: This product is no longer available
What if Coral’s NOT my Color?
That’s alright, I hope you warm up to it sooner or later…but there are more great suggestions from Pantone, and Eureka Crystal Beads, to help you through the Summer. Keep an eye out for our next Color Trends post. Thanks for sticking around until the end, drop a comment below to let me know if you liked this content, or if you have any questions!! Bye ❤
Eureka Crystal Beads Blog 
I live in Puerto Rico and I love bright bold colors… Coral is right up my alley.. I don’t have much of of a stash but I try… Love your company and all you offer… Thank you so much for the videos and for the informative article…
Beautiful colors! I love them all! I like this idea for the blog, will give me a much better idea what colors coordinate with others!
The coral colors are so lovely and I really like to see all the colors in that palette that can coordinate together.
I’m a Florida girl, so coral is my color! Mix it with turquoise and you’ll feel right at home here too!
Love the coral colors! So warm & cheery. And the blog itself is looking great! Way to go! Adding it to my Feedly .
I love this post, great for color inspiration, I am looking forward to more like it! I love the earrings and the product suggestions you gathered 🙂
I never thought I liked coral until I saw this collection. Now my brain can’t stop thinking about ways to use it! Thanks for such a beautiful collection!!
Finally a color my daughter will enjoy. She usually doesn’t wear bracelets, I know she will definitely wear jewelry with these coral colors. Thank you for this color.
The color of the year is gorgeous!! This color is one that goes great with pretty much any color of the palette.
Love coral especial with turquoise did my poach in those beautiful colors. Love the blog working on some summer Jewerly and ideas for new palettes is so inspiring
I loved looking at all the colors that coordinate with the coral color; especially teal or turquoise. I really need to see colors together; I am terribly color-challenged. No imagination.
Love the detail on all the colors in this post. Can’t wait to start creating with this years color!
Not a huge fan of coral but with all your complimentary color suggestions I’m sure I can make some lovely things. Thanks for shzring your expertise!
I love the coral pink personally I’ve used it in many of my designs. The color mixes so well with others. And this blog is an amazing tool from beginners to advanced!!
Thank you for the cool information, this will help. It’s so wonderful to have a chart that combines color’s, makes beading so much easier, my biggest challenge.
Not only am I a fan of Coral for this time of the year, I love the options for coordinating other colors with it! It’s not necessarily the easiest color to coordinate, but you’ve done a great job at making suggestions. Thank you!
Love the color schemes. Makes me want to get all the beads and Pearl’s and bead away. Lovely names with good product representation. I can’t believe you couldn’t find a place for “atrial pink” in the orange, topaz, or pink catagories……gorgeous color!!
Hey Vonda! With so many beautiful colors, Astral Pink just didn’t make the cut!!! It’s certainly a gorgeous color though ❤
Love the examples of go together colors! Sure makes choosing a beading pallet so much easier!
This was a very useful article. I’ve always been a little intimidated by coral shades. However, seeing all the things they pair well with makes me feel a lot more confident!
Bonus: so many pretty bead photos to drool over! 😉
Thank you for putting this together. It showed me how many choices in color palettes there are that work. I love the different colors and shapes of beads that are available. Great inspiration!
This is a great post, I will be referring back to it when I need help picking colors.
Love coral-since it’s not really pink. I also like all the color and beading product combo suggestions, certainly will be helpful–especially because sometimes it takes me longer to decide on a colorway than it does to bead the project.
I adore this color and the color inspiration it provided. Nothing worst than getting that creative block that happens once in a while but I’m always inspired when I visit eureka crystal. Thank you
Very informative blog entry. I especially liked the other colors that go with. Whick brings me to this. I made a flower using the coral colors and might need some help. I want to make a netting scarf to put it on and wondering what color to use for the netting? I will post a picture of it on your Facebook page? If that’s ok?
Glad you liked it, Laura ❤ It's absolutely okay to post a picture to our page, but my best recommendation is for you to join our Facebook Group, "The Beader's Nook." We have over 3000 beaders of all different skill levels in the group, and they love to give each other color advice, suggestions, support, and encouragement on projects!!! Leah and myself are group admins, so we will also be there to help you with whatever you need!!!
FB Group Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/319085948930672
~Mikahla
I’m already a member of the Nook. Thank you.
This color matches so many other vibrant colors and kicks them up a notch. I love pairing it with a turquoise or heating it up with mauve. I cannot wait to start creating!
I love coral. For me it is a warm and happy color and I use it often. I have not seen the rivoli in my LBS but looks gorgeous. Swarovski has the best colors.
Thank you for all the information that was given on the blog. I am very optimistic that working with living coral will be a wonderful experience. I love this color and can’t wait to make some beautiful jewelry with it.
I love the coral color! The is so much information! It is wonderful. I like to know what others colors look great with the coral! Thank you!
Coral doesn’t go well with my skin tone, contrary to the fact that “everyone” looks good in it, but it can work when paired with the beautiful varieties of other colors you paired it with
I love the colors, beautiful design.
Love this new coral color. So bight and cheerful
Love the coral color. Can’t wait to make something with it!
I love this color and glad to see it made color of the year. I appreciate the suggestions for color pairing with it and seeing so many luscious bead suggestions. Thanks!
This blog was very helpful in seeing all the different shades of coral together, what can be made with them and just what is available. Great inspirational ideas. I find that I really do like coral when I wasn’t so sure when this color was announced as the Pantone color of the year. Think I will have to give it a try.
I always love seeing the new color palette for the color of the year & coral is especially beautiful.
I love the color Coral , and love that you pick beautiful beads that go together so well. The other color combo’s that you have shown are also very beautiful, I love the help of matching beads
Absolutely beautiful corals! ❤️❤️❤️
Very informative article and thank you for the color palettes to harmonize with coral. I love this color and often pair it with rose gold or dark blue. But now I have other colors to try it with 👍
Love all the colours, they are so vibrant and fresh
I really need help to match colors so this blog post is very helpful. Plus the living coral color is beautiful. Thanks for the help!!
Had some trouble finding where to post 😁.
Love this color. I think it’s a great idea to write about what’s in trend for this season and especially it’s useful for those selling their products. Adding the colors that can be complementary with coral is also a good idea. Some have trouble fguring out just what goes with what color.
This is my first time visiting the blog. It’s great. I’ll be visiting often now.
What a great post! I appreciated the information about the Pantone system and the advice about color palates
Coral is one of my favorite orange colors. You guys did great on this blog post 😉
Great article! I find matching and picking colors the hardest! Thats awesome that you included colors that go with the living coral color! I love the bright colors, they were my favorite ones paired with the coral! Thanks for providing so much color inspiration! I never thought about actually using the coral color cuz its really not me…but paired with some of those awesome bright colors makes me want to try using some coral! 😉
I really appreciate this blog because it has great color combos that I may not have explored. Thanks!
I adore Coral. I was thrilled when Pantone named of color of the year for 2019. Good luck everyone.
Hi,
Thank you for including the link to Pantone.
The array of colours is almost baffling! Glorious yet overwhelming. Confusing in the variations of the colour ‘coral’ , or any colour for that matter!
The colour graph is really helpful.
Thank you!
Happy beading everyone!
I have been waiting for this blog since the Rivoli bead was shown. Love the colour combos!
Thank you for using living coral as the color of the year! It is one of my favorites and have worn this coral color for years.
Enjoyed seeing all of the color information along with the products you carry! Great job!
I love the coral colors/beads listed in honor of the 2019 Pantone color of the year!!
I love the coral colors and this blog helps us with handy information
I have followed Pantone’s color of the year for a long time. I think Living Coral is one of the best (although I was partial to Radiant Orchid)! I think knowing color trends is very important to beaders so that we can make pieces that will complement the fashions of that season or year. I loved your blog, Mikahla, and your use of examples of the many colors mentioned.
I LOVE all these color groupings and the coral is amazing! I had coral roses for my wedding bouquet and the Pantone Living Coral shade is spot on. I don’t normally find enough beads in this beautiful color so this is so helpful. Thanks for doing this!
I love color, and your choices are absolutely beautiful. I have to place another order now.
The pink coral is my favorite, I enjoy all the information you provide and seeing how colors can be used together
Love the color of coral. It’s a very rich and natural color. I find it a very versatile color as there are so many colors that can go with coral. The beads in the giveaway are so pretty.
I’m absolutely obsessed with this color!! Thanks for the information and products suggestions!!
I have never been an orange color lover. But my Step-Daughter loves Coral. So seeing really good color combinations that work with it is invaluable to me!
Thank you!
Coral is one of my favorite colors. It goes well with many other colors too.
I have never been an orange color lover. But my Step-Daughter loves Coral. So seeing really good color combinations that work with it is invaluable to me!
Thank you!
Coral is my Step-Daughter’s favorite color. I however have struggled finding color combos that work well with it. The color combo of pink, green ( both bright & deep green) I know work but the others surprised me. Thanks for opening new color ways for me to use for her!
I love coral. The Barrier Reef and Deep Lake are so pretty too. Great post.
Coral and rose peach are my favorite colors. I tend to over do them and I have been told step back from them. Now I have perfect excuse to load up on my favorites! Thanks Mikahla for explaining this year’s Pantone color with all the options that go with it!
Love it. So many possible color combinations you could use it with!!!😍😍😍😍
I’ve never thought much of coral as a colour, but now I love it. It’s so helpful to get ideas for other colours to pair it with. I love this blog – so useful.
This coral is one of my favorite colors. It is so beautiful! Love all the tips about coordinating colors!
Coral shades are one of my favorites for spring. And I always find it helpful knowing what other colors would look great with it
I love the Living Coral, coral has always been one of my favs. I also like the color palettes it saves me time from having to search for just the right combos.
Love the coral colours! So glad to see this colour in so many different bead types! 🙂
This is truly awesome!
I love the Coral colour ! My Mother loved it so much we had the house sided with coral aluminium siding, painted the cabin coral and had a coral and grey Ford !
I love coral with turquoise together. Don’t understand how pantone picks colors, maybe you might do a video helping noobs with understanding pantone and creating colorways.
This color has been a favorite of mine for some time. I always struggle with color, it is really not my strong point so this blog will be really helpful. I’m sure I will refer to it often. Thanks.
This is a fabulous color and I think everyone looks good in it. I can’t wait to use it in future projects
Coral is one of my favorite colors. When I start a project, the hardest part, for me, is putting together the color palette. The different palettes on the blog is most helpful. I did not realize so many different shades were complimentary. Thanks!
Thanks for offering alternatives. Although I appreciate the range of tones coral ios not my fave. Prefer pinks & reds to the orange hues
While I’ve never really loved the color of coral, I do like it as an eyecatching highlight, and I’m totally loving the various palettes you posted to harmonize with 2019’s Living Coral.
Love the color.
I love this color! Hoping it looks as good on me now that my hair is white, as it did when my hair was auburn!
This colour is a little too orangey for me but I sure do hope to win the prize. Appreciate all the information herein.
Love this color! I especially like it with periwinkle. I recently ordered a bunch of seed beads in various shades of coral/salmon and am looking forward to making something fun for summer!
I actually really like the color coral. i really liked that you showed colors that match with it. I have a hard time picking colors that look good together.
Glad you found it useful Jennefer! ~M
Love all the colors! Those Czech rondelles may have to make it into my cart…
Thanks Kristine!! ❤ ~M
I love color so this just fits right in. I have several items in these colors, maybe I will just make something for everyone to see.
Can’t wait to see it, Ella!! ~M
Amazing colors! I love looking at all you have selected and seeing the different designs. The colors also pop out and when you add them with mixes and blends it makes we want to bead!
Thanks Erin! ~M
Love the new blog. I always feel color challenged, so this is wonderful for inspiration. Seeing the different color combos and suggestions starts the wheels turning in my head. And I learned something about Pantone! Thank you.