Get the Hale Navy Look from Sherwin Williams (and Other Brands!)

Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy is a foolproof deep blue that can be used like a neutral. This is great news if you are weary of beige and gray, but not-so-great news if you need to use a brand other than Benjamin Moore!

Here we will talk about all of the best alternatives for Hale Navy from Sherwin Williams, Behr, and Valspar, to help you get the same look.

If you need more info and inspiration from the hero itself, check out my all things Hale Navy post.

What Does Hale Navy Look Like?

Really quickly before we get to dupes for Hale Navy, let’s set the scene with the look that we are going for.

Here is a very typical look to Hale Navy:

Here is another usual look to Hale Navy:

Hale Navy Undertones

Hale Navy typically looks like a perfect navy blue with just a whiff of mellowing charcoal. It’s not a super saturated in-your-face blue.

If it does have an undertone, it is more likely to lean purple than teal.

The Blue Color Scale

For context when we talk about the dupes for Hale Navy, I will mention when a color leans more green or more purple. That doesn’t mean that the alternatives actually look either green or purple, I am just speaking in terms of the spectrum of blue.

Normally we could just say that a color is warmer or cooler, but that is hard with blue because both purple and green are warmer, just in different ways. (Red vs yellow.)

I hope that makes sense! Just because a color is either more green or purple in comparison, doesn’t mean that the actual undertone is that different from Hale Navy’s own.

Sherwin Williams Sea Mariner

I do have a couple of dupes for Hale Navy from Sherwin Williams, but Sea Mariner is the best overall color match.

For a real life comparison, here is Hale Navy surrounded by crisp white trim and alcoves in a bright room:

Here is Sherwin Williams Sea Mariner in a similar scenario:

You can see that these two colors look very very similar. So what is the difference?

Here is a look at the color charts for each:

Sea Mariner is a hair darker, and a feather more gray than Hale Navy. In turn, Hale Navy is the slightest bit more green on the color wheel. (Although the difference is negligible enough that you can’t really see it on the chart.)

I think that these two are close enough to say that Sea Mariner is the Sherwin Williams version of Hale Navy.

Sherwin Williams Charcoal Blue

Even though you don’t need another Sherwin Williams option, there is one more solid choice with their shade Charcoal Blue.

Charcoal Blue and Hale Navy are the exact same color, except that Hale Navy is just a hair lighter.

I very unfortunately don’t have any photos to show you, but I find that these colors are indistinguishable from one home (or even room) to another. Sure, there is a difference on paper, but the spirit and overall look of the color is very much the same.

Behr Starless Night

Moving on to a Behr version of Hale Navy, we have a couple of options again, and the first is their shade Starless Night:

You can see that Starless Night looks a bit bolder and more saturated than Hale Navy. It also makes Hale Navy look slightly more green in comparison, which tells us that Starless Night will be a bit more likely to have a purple undertone.

Let’s look at a comparison between two different spaces, each using one of these colors.

First we have Hale Navy in a living room with mostly indirect natural light and white ceilings:

Here is a similar situation with Behr Starless Night:

Starless Night does generally read darker than Hale Navy on the walls here, but you can see in the corner of the Hale Navy room, the color does still get quite dark.

The colors might be a bit easier to tell apart than the Sherwin Williams dupes that we covered, but Behr still makes a very solid dupe for Hale Navy!

Behr Midnight Blue

In case Starless Night isn’t the one for you, Behr does have a second best alternative to Hale Navy in their shade Midnight Blue.

Midnight Blue is lighter than Hale Navy, and just the tiniest bit more green. Here it is in a kitchen with white upper cabinets:

Here is Hale Navy in a similar scenario:

In these kitchens the colors look fairly different.

Even though you can tell Midnight Blue from Hale Navy, it is still very similar to some of the looks that Hale Navy serves. Here is an example using Hale Navy where the color looks more similar to that Midnight Blue kitchen.

Valspar Royal Navy

If you are heading over to Lowe’s, the best Valspar alternative to Hale Navy is the shade Royal Navy.

The difference here is a little harder to spot, so I made another comparison using their color charts:

On paper, Royal Navy is supposed to be ever so slightly more gray than Hale Navy, but I find in real life the opposite is true.

Here is Royal Navy in a powder room:

Partially due to the semi-gloss, Royal Navy looks quite saturated here.

Here is Hale Navy in a similar scenario:

In my somewhat limited experience, I find that Royal Navy is less likely to have a purple undertone, and more likely to have a royal blue look. (Which makes sense with the name.)

If you really like this color, you will also like Sherwin Williams Naval.

Royal Navy is a solid true navy alternative if you are okay with a slightly “brighter” overall look. I struggled to find a navy from Valspar that was closer without having a truly purple undertone, which also wouldn’t fit the bill.

All the Dupes for Benjamin Moore Hale Navy

Let’s take one more look at each of these classic navy paint colors in comparison to Hale Navy, and to each other! :

Thank you so much for reading until the end! That really helps my blog grow. If none of these are the perfect shade for you, you might like these other colors: