Kensington Blue (BM 840) vs Hale Navy (BM HC-154)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Quick decision
- Lighter
- Kensington Blue, LRV 12 vs 8.4.
- Warmer
- Hale Navy (Lab b* -7.6 vs -15.0). Kensington Blue reads blue; Hale Navy reads blue-gray.
- North rooms
- Kensington Blue keeps more brightness (L* 33.7 vs 27.7 in north light); both drift gray about equally.
- Trim that works
- White Heaven BM 2068-70, #E2E5F1, LRV 76.7: the Benjamin Moore white closest in hue to both.
- Closeness
- deltaE 7.1, clearly different. At 7.1, treat them as different colors.
See each color
Kensington Blue (BM 840) is slightly lighter than Hale Navy (BM HC-154) and cooler: LRV 12 vs 8.4, deltaE 7.1 (clearly different).
Side by side
| Measure | Kensington Blue | Hale Navy | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Benjamin Moore | Benjamin Moore | |
| Color code | 840 | HC-154 | |
| Hex | #4B5A71 | #434B56 | |
| RGB | 75, 90, 113 | 67, 75, 86 | |
| HSL | 216°, 20%, 37% | 215°, 12%, 30% | |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 12 | 8.4 | +3.6 |
| Lab L* | 37.8 | 31.6 | +6.3 |
| Lab a* | 0.3 | -0.5 | +0.8 |
| Lab b* | -15.0 | -7.6 | −7.4 |
| Undertone | Cool Blue | Cool Gray | |
| Temperature | cool | cool | |
| Color family | Blue | Blue |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Kensington Blue (BM 840), published as #4B5A71
#38516F
#5D6371
Hale Navy (BM HC-154), published as #434B56
#324354
#535356
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
Which should you pick
Rules of thumb computed from the LRV and Lab values in the table above; no room test was done.
- Pick Kensington Blue (BM 840) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 3.6 LRV points lighter (12 vs 8.4), so it bounces back more of the limited light
- Pick Kensington Blue (BM 840) for a south-facing room, because its Lab b* is -15.0 against -7.6, so it is the cooler of the two and offsets warm direct sun
- Pick Hale Navy (BM HC-154) to warm a north-facing room, because it is the warmer of the two (Lab b* -7.6), which counters cool indirect light
Closest matches to Kensington Blue in other brands
Closest matches to Hale Navy in other brands
Common questions
- Is Kensington Blue the same color as Hale Navy?
- They are clearly different: a CIEDE2000 difference of 7.1. Kensington Blue and Hale Navy are different colors.
- Which is lighter, Kensington Blue or Hale Navy?
- Kensington Blue, with an LRV of 12 against 8.4.
Full pages
Related comparisons
Sources: Kensington Blue: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0); Hale Navy: LRV and hex from Benjamin Moore technical data (verified 2026-10-02). Color differences are CIEDE2000 values computed by this site from the hex values (data snapshot 2026-10-01). Color names and codes belong to their manufacturers.