Smooth Aquarius Mint

Old English smōþ, level, polished — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as continuous without texture or break. Smooth tan, smooth gray: moderate saturation combined with optical evenness. Sits in the crisp-bucket alongside even.

Latin aquarius, water-bearer-of-the-zodiac. As a color modifier, aquarius implies a water-bearer-and-air-sign-and-Saturn-Uranus-ruled-fixed-air quality, the visual register of Hellenic-Aquarius-and-Ganymede-water-bearer hand-water-bearer-and-air-sign-and-Saturn-Uranus-ruled-fixed-air Hellenic-Aquarius-and-Ganymede-water-bearer-and-cup-bearer aquarius-and-water-bearer-and-air-sign surfaces under Hellenic-Aquarius-and-Ganymede-water-bearer-and-cup-bearer mid-winter-and-January-and-February fixed-air-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to pisces and capricorn in usage.

The genus Mentha — peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, water mint — the cooling herb whose menthol gives it that quality at the molecular level. The color refers to fresh peppermint leaves before drying: a clean, slightly cool green with the matte finish of trichome-rich leaf surface. Lighter than basil, cooler than parsley, with the mojito-and-Pimm's association of a herb tied to summer drinks across two continents.