diff --git a/config/dot/quickshell/config/Theme.qml b/config/dot/quickshell/config/Theme.qml
index 5ef3337..ab4daa2 100644
--- a/config/dot/quickshell/config/Theme.qml
+++ b/config/dot/quickshell/config/Theme.qml
@@ -110,6 +110,13 @@ Singleton {
     // light one, and text on it stops being legible.
     readonly property real dockAlpha: root.dark ? 0.34 : 0.62
     readonly property real popoverAlpha: root.dark ? 0.92 : 0.97
+
+    // Toasts sit a little lighter than a popover you opened on purpose. A
+    // notification arrives unbidden over whatever you were doing, and at full
+    // popover weight it reads as a dialog demanding an answer -- but the 6%
+    // foreground tint it used to have left the text competing with the desktop
+    // behind it. This is the point between the two.
+    readonly property real toastAlpha: root.dark ? 0.86 : 0.94
     readonly property real overlayAlpha: root.dark ? 0.55 : 0.40
     readonly property real hoverAlpha: root.dark ? 0.14 : 0.10
     readonly property real activeAlpha: root.dark ? 0.24 : 0.18
diff --git a/config/dot/quickshell/modules/notifications/NotificationCard.qml b/config/dot/quickshell/modules/notifications/NotificationCard.qml
index 1820762..6b1c5f3 100644
--- a/config/dot/quickshell/modules/notifications/NotificationCard.qml
+++ b/config/dot/quickshell/modules/notifications/NotificationCard.qml
@@ -35,7 +35,17 @@ Rectangle {
     implicitHeight: Math.max(layout.implicitHeight + 24, image.visible ? 96 : 0)
     radius: Theme.cardRadius
     border.width: 0
-    color: hover.containsMouse ? Theme.alpha(Theme.fg, 0.1) : Theme.alpha(Theme.fg, 0.06)
+    // A real popover surface, the same one the date menu and clipboard panel
+    // use, rather than a 6% foreground tint.
+    //
+    // A tint that faint has nothing behind it: the toast window is transparent,
+    // so the card was sitting directly on whatever happened to be on screen and
+    // the text competed with it. Notifications are the one surface someone reads
+    // without having chosen to look at it, so it has to be legible over a
+    // bright photo and a white document alike.
+    color: hover.containsMouse
+        ? Theme.alpha(Theme.mix(Theme.bgPopover, Theme.fg, 0.06), Theme.toastAlpha)
+        : Theme.alpha(Theme.bgPopover, Theme.toastAlpha)
 
     Behavior on color {
         ColorAnimation {