Foil Colours for Printing
How to choose the right metallic foil for your project
Metallic foil colour plays a huge role in how your finished print looks and feels. The same design can read classic, bold, modern or playful depending on the foil shade you choose and how you use it across your design.
At Aura Print, we offer an ever-expanding 12 metallic foil colours, giving you plenty of room to match your brand palette, paper stock, and product type. This guide covers the colours available and how to use each one effectively.
Foil colours are part of our wider metallic foil printing range and can be paired with different foil paper stocks and materials depending on the finish you want to achieve.
Why Foil Colour Choice Matters
Foil sits on top of the paper as an opaque metallic layer, so the foil shade itself stays consistent. Your colour choice affects:
How premium or playful the design feels
Readability of fine details and text
Visual balance between foil areas and printed areas
How the design performs in different lighting
Metallic Foil Colours We Offer
Here are the 12 colours currently available in our foil library:
Gold Foil Printing
Warm, classic and premium. Great for logos, borders and headings on luxury designs. Works especially well on Colorplan, Colourcore and darker paper colours.
Matching Foil Colours to Paper
Because foil is opaque, the paper colour does not tint the foil itself. What paper does change is:
The contrast around the foil
The feel of the finished piece
How sharp the foil edges appear depending on coating and texture
Smooth stocks like silk and gloss paper, along with Colorplan and Colourcore, typically give the sharpest foil edges, while uncoated and recycled stocks create a softer, more tactile feel.
For more information on how different materials affect foil finishes, see our foil paper stocks and materials guide.
Choosing Foil Colours by Product
Foil Business Cards
Gold, silver, black chrome and Colourplan combinations are consistently strong for business cards.
Foil invitations
Gold, rose gold, silver and copper are popular for weddings and events.
Foil Flyers
Silver and holographic are strong choices for promotional materials that need to stand out.
Foil Stickers / Foil Tags
Holographic, pink, teal and gold perform well on stickers and retail materials.
Tips for Choosing the Right Foil Colour
• Choose foil based on the emotion you want the design to communicate
• Use contrast to keep small text readable
• Keep fine detail slightly bolder on textured stocks
• If you want different foil colours, plan per side of print
Foil Colour FAQ's
Do Foil Colours Look Different on Coloured Paper?
Foil is opaque, so the paper colour does not change the foil colour itself. What changes is the overall design contrast, because the paper colour sits next to the foil in the non-foiled areas and affects how bright the foil feels by comparison.
Can Foil Colours be Mixed on the Same Design?
We apply printed colour first, then add one foil colour on top. We do not mix ink with foil to create additional foil colours. You can have one foil colour per side, and you can choose a different foil colour on the reverse side if you are printing both sides.
What Foil Colours are Available?
Our metallic foil printing range comprises of twelve metallic foil colours, including gold, silver, rose gold, copper, pink, violet, red, teal, blue, green, black chrome and holographic finishes. Each foil colour is applied as an opaque metallic layer and produces a distinct look depending on how it is used in the design.
Which Paper Works Best With Foil Colours?
Foil colours perform best on smooth paper stocks such as silk, gloss, Colorplan and colourcore, which give clean edges and strong reflectivity. Uncoated, recycled and packaging materials create a softer, more tactile finish while still keeping the foil colour consistent, as foil is opaque. For full guidance, see our foil paper stocks and materials guide.
Foil is opaque, so the paper colour does not change the foil colour itself. What changes is the overall design contrast, because the paper colour sits next to the foil in the non-foiled areas and affects how bright the foil feels by comparison.
Explore Foil Colours and Finishes
Foil colour is one of the fastest ways to give printed materials a premium finish. Explore our full metallic foil printing range, learn how different foil colours behave, and pair your chosen finish with the right foil paper stocks and materials to achieve the result you want.