diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/variables.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/variables.scss
index 3405f142428cc8cd869ebd1bf2e5dde93b7ba0de..8bd69faf84c177839d553ffb3930e4b51ebac0c0 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/variables.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/variables.scss
@@ -110,10 +110,10 @@ $well-light-text-color: #5b6169;
  * Text
  */
 $gl-font-size: 14px;
-$gl-text-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, .85);
-$gl-text-color-light: rgba(0, 0, 0, .7);
-$gl-text-color-secondary: rgba(0, 0, 0, .55);
-$gl-text-color-disabled: rgba(0, 0, 0, .35);
+$gl-text-color: #2e2e2e;
+$gl-text-color-secondary: #707070;
+$gl-text-color-tertiary: #949494;
+$gl-text-color-quaternary: #d6d6d6;
 $gl-text-color-inverted: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1.0);
 $gl-text-color-secondary-inverted: rgba(255, 255, 255, .85);
 $gl-text-green: $green-600;
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ $gl-gray-dark: #313236;
 $gl-gray-light: #5c5c5c;
 $gl-header-color: #4c4e54;
 $gl-header-nav-hover-color: #434343;
-$placeholder-text-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, .42);
+$placeholder-text-color: $gl-text-color-tertiary;
 
 /*
  * Lists
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ $placeholder-text-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, .42);
 $list-font-size: $gl-font-size;
 $list-title-color: $gl-text-color;
 $list-text-color: $gl-text-color;
-$list-text-disabled-color: $gl-text-color-disabled;
+$list-text-disabled-color: $gl-text-color-tertiary;
 $list-border-light: #eee;
 $list-border: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
 $list-text-height: 42px;
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/new_nav.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/new_nav.scss
index 73cb3a7cf4c23f5a50f516e63b6306f37eb504dd..a8ddd00eca0bba0ea6148bd69556e44e84fd11a5 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/new_nav.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/new_nav.scss
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ header.navbar-gitlab-new {
     position: relative;
     top: -1px;
     padding: 0 5px;
-    color: rgba($black, .65);
+    color: $gl-text-color-secondary;
     font-size: 10px;
     line-height: 1;
     background: none;
@@ -310,10 +310,10 @@ header.navbar-gitlab-new {
 .breadcrumbs-links {
   flex: 1;
   align-self: center;
-  color: $black-transparent;
+  color: $gl-text-color-quaternary;
 
   a {
-    color: rgba($black, .65);
+    color: $gl-text-color-secondary;
 
     &:not(:first-child),
     &.group-path {