Carmine is the general term for certain dark red colors that are slightly purple, but are usually a little closer to red than purple. Some rubies have the color shown below as deep carmine. The deep crimson color shown at right as carmine is the color of unworked raw pigment, but lighter, richer, or more brilliant colors are produced when raw pigment is worked, some of which are shown below. The first recorded use of carmine as a color name in English dates back to 1523.