Abalone Shell (SW 6050) vs Malted Milk (SW 6057)

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Abalone Shell SW 6050 (simulated) — Abalone Shell SW 6050#DBC7BD, LRV 60

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Malted Milk SW 6057 (simulated) — Malted Milk SW 6057#DECABD, LRV 62

Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.

Quick decision

Lighter: Malted Milk, LRV 62 vs 60.
Warmer: Malted Milk, both greige (Lab b* 9.0 vs 7.5).
North rooms: Malted Milk keeps more brightness (L* 78.6 vs 77.6 in north light); both drift gray about equally.
Trim that works: Intimate White SW 6322, #F0E1D8, LRV 77: the Sherwin-Williams white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 1.6, very close. At 1.6, test both side by side if the room is dim or north-facing.

See each color

Abalone ShellSherwin-Williams, SW 6050LRV 60, #DBC7BD

Malted MilkSherwin-Williams, SW 6057LRV 62, #DECABD

Abalone Shell (SW 6050) is slightly darker than Malted Milk (SW 6057) and slightly cooler: LRV 60 vs 62, deltaE 1.6 (very close).

Side by side

Measure	Abalone Shell	Malted Milk	Gap
Brand	Sherwin-Williams	Sherwin-Williams
Color code	SW 6050	SW 6057
Hex	#DBC7BD	#DECABD
RGB	219, 199, 189	222, 202, 189
HSL	20°, 29%, 80%	24°, 33%, 81%
LRV (light reflectance value)	60	62	−2
Lab L*	81.6	82.6	−1.0
Lab a*	5.4	4.9	+0.5
Lab b*	7.5	9.0	−1.5
Undertone	Warm	Warm
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	Beige	Beige

Same paint, two kinds of light

Abalone Shell (SW 6050), published as #DBC7BD

North light (cool, indirect)
#CABDBB

South light (warm, direct)
#ECD1BD

Malted Milk (SW 6057), published as #DECABD

North light (cool, indirect)
#CDC0BB

South light (warm, direct)
#EFD4BD

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 Malted Milk (SW 6057) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 2 LRV points lighter (62 vs 60), so it bounces back more of the limited light
Pick Abalone Shell (SW 6050) for a south-facing room, because its Lab b* is 7.5 against 9.0, so it is the cooler of the two and offsets warm direct sun
Pick Malted Milk (SW 6057) to warm a north-facing room, because it is the warmer of the two (Lab b* 9.0), which counters cool indirect light

Closest matches to Abalone Shell in other brands

Closest matches to Malted Milk in other brands

Common questions

Is Abalone Shell the same color as Malted Milk?: They are very close: a CIEDE2000 difference of 1.6. Side by side you may see a slight difference between Abalone Shell and Malted Milk.
Which is lighter, Abalone Shell or Malted Milk?: Malted Milk, with an LRV of 62 against 60.

Full pages

By Paint Pairs. Color data from manufacturer specifications, via PaintDB. The most-viewed colors are checked against each manufacturer's own color page.

Published 2026-10-01. Updated 2026-10-01.

Sources: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0). 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.