Don't have Cardinal Purple? Get a free step-by-step guide using the paints you own.
Make a free guideLooking for a Cardinal Purple equivalent? Below are the closest cross-brand color matches to Cardinal Purple (Vallejo Xpress Color) in Scale75 Scalecolor, Reaper MSP, Vallejo Game Color, Monument Pro Acryl, Vallejo Model Color, Army Painter Fanatic, Citadel Colour, AK Interactive 3rd Gen, Vallejo Hobby Spray, Army Painter Speedpaint, Army Painter Colour Primer, AK Interactive Artist Dense Acrylic, Army Painter Warpaints, Vallejo Model Wash, Vallejo Game Color Effects, Vallejo Metal Color, AK Interactive Diorama Series, Vallejo Weathering Effects, Vallejo Diorama FX, Army Painter Quickshade, ranked by CIE76 deltaE color distance. Use them as substitutes, or generate a painting guide from the paints you actually own and let PaintGuide handle the matching and mixing for you.
Closest match in each brand
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Shade & highlight partners
Suggested shadow and highlight colors for Cardinal Purple, picked from the full catalog by color science — not paints you own. Shadows stay richer when they lean cool; pure black just flattens them. Highlights read best warmer and a touch softer than the base; pure white bleaches them out.
- Shade 2Dark Red ToneArmy Painter FanaticGreat match
- Shade 1Magenta ToneArmy Painter FanaticGreat match
- BaseCardinal PurpleVallejo Xpress Color
- Highlight 1Deep Purple - IntenseAK Interactive 3rd GenGreat match
- Highlight 2Amethyst PurpleReaper MSPGreat match
Mix starting points — real pigment blends shift a little; adjust by eye.
Your paints, one journey — the blends between them live here.
Don't have Cardinal Purple? Paint with what you own.
PaintGuide builds a step-by-step guide for your miniature using only the paints in your collection — matching colors across brands and giving exact mixing recipes for anything you're missing.
Make a free guide with your paintsMatches are computed by converting each paint's color to CIELAB and measuring CIE76 deltaE distance. A “great match” (deltaE < 3) is very close to the eye; a “close match” is a usable substitute. Finish, opacity, and coverage still differ between brands, so test on primer when it matters.