Grammar

2.35 submodifying colour adjectives

If you want to specify a colour more precisely, you can use a submodifier, such as 'light', 'pale', 'dark', 'deep', or 'bright', in front of a colour adjective.

...light brown hair.
...a pale green suit.
...a dark blue dress.
...deep red dye.
...her bright blue eyes.

These combinations are sometimes hyphenated.

...a light-blue suit.
...her tight, pale-green felt cape.

Note that submodifiers such as 'light' and 'dark' are not used to submodify the colours 'black' or 'white', because you cannot have different shades of black and white.