The blond pastel is a darker over all pastel, but too me they seem to lighten up as they get older. Our girl is 3 years old and seems to get a little lighter with every shed. The a lot of patels I've seen brown out along the dorsal stripe mainly. You can always tell a pastel by the eyes, unless it is a Pastel BEL or a Pastel Albino. I personally think the browning out is due to a lot of breeders just breed their pastel male to any normal female. Off spring should stay brighter if the pastel is a good quality pastel and it is bred to a lighter colored normal.