Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls / 2145-70 / OC-122

Contents

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What are Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls undertones?
Is Cotton Balls OC-122 cool or warm?
How light temperature affects on Cotton Balls
Monochromatic color scheme
Complementary color scheme
Color comparison and matching
LRV of Cotton Balls OC-122
Color codes
Color equivalents

Official page:	Cotton Balls OC-122
Code:	OC-122
Name:	Cotton Balls
Brand:	Benjamin Moore

What color is Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls?

Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls OC-122 is a very pale off-white with a lightly creamy, yellow-leaning cast visible beneath its high brightness. The subtle warmth keeps it from reading like a stark white, while its faintly softened quality suits ceilings, trim, and full-room walls alike. In daylight, this color can appear clean and nearly white; under warm lamps, its gentle cream note becomes more noticeable. Pair Cotton Balls with natural oak, linen upholstery, woven textures, and muted olive or clay accents for a layered, lived-in look. It is especially useful in kitchens and bedrooms where a bright backdrop is wanted without the sharper contrast of a pure white.

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What are Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls undertones?

Cotton Balls is a near-white, very muted cream. The HEX sample has a subtle yellow bias, but its low chroma turns that hue into a neutral-looking color rather than a clear yellow. Warm bulbs can make it look creamier or more golden, while cool daylight may mute that warmth and pull it closer to beige or greige.

HEX value:

#F5F6EB

RGB code:

245, 246, 235

Is Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls cool or warm?

warm

cool

With a hue of 65°, this Grey reads warm on the HSL color wheel.

OC-122 Cotton Balls HSL code: 65, 38%, 94%

Hue - degree on a color wheel from 0 to 360. 0 is red, 120 is green, and 240 is blue.
Saturation is expressed as a percentage. At 0%, it appears as a shade of grey, and at 100%, it is in full color.
Lightness is also a percentage value. 0% is black, and 100% is white.

How light temperature affects Cotton Balls

Natural Lighting. During the day, natural light shifts from about 2000 K at sunrise/sunset to 5500–6500 K at noon.

Sunrise

Morning

Noon

Afternoon

Sunset

In addition, natural-light temperature depends on its direction:

Direction of sunlight	Visible temp.	Hue	Duration
North	Cool	Bluish	All day
East	Warm	Yellow	Before noon
West	Warm	Orange-red	After noon
South	Warm	Orange-yellow	All day

Artificial Lighting. When choosing bulbs, pay attention to their color temperature in Kelvins.
Use the slider to see how this Grey shade looks under different lighting:

4000K

2000K

3000K

4000K

5000K

6000K

7000K

Coordinating colors.
Colors that go with Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls:

Monochromatic color scheme

This scheme consists of various shades, tints, and tones of a single color. While it offers a perfect combination of hues, without accent décor it may become monotonous.

Lighter shades

OC-122
Cotton Balls

OC-118
Snowfall White

Darker shades

OC-122
Cotton Balls

Complementary color scheme

This color scheme is a combination of two shades that are opposite each other on the color wheel. The high contrast between these colors creates a vibrant and dynamic visual effect. For the color Cotton Balls with a orange hue, complementary colors are those with a blue hue close to 245, such as Benjamin Moore Approaching Storm and Violet Sparkle.

OC-122
Cotton Balls

Compare
Benjamin Moore
Cotton Balls OC-122
to any other colors

Benjamin Moore
Cotton Balls OC-122
color equivalents

LRV of Cotton Balls

Cotton Balls has an LRV of 88.95% and refers to White colors that reflect almost all light. Why LRV is important?

Light Reflectance Value scale illustration

Light Reflectance Value measures the amount of visible and usable light that reflects from a painted surface.
Simply put, the higher the LRV of a paint color, the brighter the room you will get.
The scale goes from 0% (absolute black, absorbing all light) to 100% (pure white, reflecting all light).

Act like a pro: When choosing paint with an LRV of 88.95%, pay attention to your bulbs' brightness. Light brightness is measured in lumens. The lower the paint's LRV, the higher lumen level you need. Every square foot of room needs at least 40 lumens. That means for a 200 ft² living room you'll need about 8000 lumens of light – e.g., eight 1000 lm bulbs.

Color codes

We have collected almost every possible color code you could ever need.
Not sure what the difference between HEX and RGB is? We break down color models in plain language. Understanding color models

Format	Code
HEX	#F5F6EB
RGB Decimal	245, 246, 235
RGB Percent	96.08%, 96.47%, 92.16%
HSV	Hue: 65° Saturation: 4.47% Value: 96.47%
HSL	hsl(65, 38, 94)
CMYK	Cyan: 0.41 Magenta: 0.0 Yellow: 4.47 Key: 3.53
YIQ	Y: 244.447 I: 2.939 Q: -3.635
XYZ	X: 85.604 Y: 91.322 Z: 91.692
CIE Lab	L:96.543 a:-2.237 b:5.173
CIE Luv	L:96.543 u:0.037 v:8.296
Decimal	16119531
Hunter Lab	95.563, -7.337, 10.005