# Are, perhaps, purple peepers positively possible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-perhaps-purple-peepers-positively-possible/319068>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 29, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-perhaps-purple-peepers-positively-possible/319068 "2005-08-29T04:39:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-perhaps-purple-peepers-positively-possible/319068/1 "2005-08-29T04:39:53Z")

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(I apologize for that thread title. I really do.)

I’ve read about purple eyes in fiction–normally when the author wants to describe a girl of Mary-Sue-like beauty. “She had lustrous dark hair and deep, velvety purple eyes…”

I know it happens in real life–so I’ve heard–but how is it genetically possible?

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-perhaps-purple-peepers-positively-possible/319068/2 "2005-08-29T05:00:52Z")

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I believe Liz Taylor is the most famous Violet Eyed Vixen.  
I can’t find a good picture of course.  
[http://silverscreensirens.com/galleries/lizt46.htm](http://silverscreensirens.com/galleries/lizt46.htm)

This one is pretty good  
[http://silverscreensirens.com/galleries/lizt50.htm](http://silverscreensirens.com/galleries/lizt50.htm)

A good FAQ on eye color that does not speak of Violet eyes  
[http://www.seps.org/cvoracle/faq/eyecolor.html](http://www.seps.org/cvoracle/faq/eyecolor.html)

Some albino’s will have Violet eyes as opposed to Red Eyes.  
[http://www.albinism.org/publications/what\_is\_albinism.html](http://www.albinism.org/publications/what_is_albinism.html)

Basically Geneticist do not have a good understanding of the cause of Violet or Hazel eyes (my own)  
[http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=126](http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=126)

Finally Light & Clothing can make blue eyes look violet. (no cite sorry, more of a WAG as it is definitely true of Hazel eyes, where my eyes will range in looks from Brown to Greenish in different lights)

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**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-perhaps-purple-peepers-positively-possible/319068/3 "2005-08-29T05:45:30Z")

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I read somewhere that there really are no “purple” eyes; anyone who claims to have them is dark blue-eyed and uses makeup to accentuate the red tones. Looking at those pics of Liz Taylor, she just looks like she has a funky shade of blue to me, it’s not “true” purple.

Hazel, I’ve read (again no cite), is actually either a form of light brown or caused by incomplete dominance. Many people with hazel eyes (including me, though my eyes are somewhat greenish) have families with a number of different eye colors and it’s not hard to see how all of those mashed together can turn into hazel. In fact, there really is no standard hazel shade–they can have tones of green, gray, or brown, and sometimes all of those. In fact hazel seems to be the color most often put down when you don’t know what the color of your eyes is. It’s the dishwater blond of eye color.