Skip to content
violet · neutral

#b59dbb

a light, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Meadow Amethyst

RGB
181, 157, 187
HSL
288°, 18%, 68%
CMYK
3, 16, 0, 27
Luminance
0.3753

#b59dbb is a light soft violet, 288° on the wheel and 53/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.51:1). As text it scores 2.47:1 on white — use #8E6A98 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(288 18% 68%)rgb(181 157 187)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b59dbb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b59dbb
Hue
288°
violet
Saturation
18%
soft
Lightness
68%
light
Brightness
73%
HSV value
Perceived
66%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3753
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
53/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
8.51:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 9.4
Chroma
18.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.727
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 21.7
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue288° of 360°
Saturation18%
Lightness68%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b59dbb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool53% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red26%
Green64%
Blue10%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#b59dbb
HEX (8-digit)#b59dbbff
RGBrgb(181, 157, 187)
RGBArgba(181, 157, 187, 1)
HSLhsl(288, 18%, 68%)
HSV / HSBhsv(288, 16%, 73%)
HWBhwb(288 62% 27%)
CMYKcmyk(3%, 16%, 0%, 27%)
LABlab(67.7 14.3 -12.2)
LCHlch(67.7 18.8 319.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.727 0.050 319.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.08, 37.53, 52.14)
Decimal11902395
Display P3color(display-p3 0.710 0.616 0.733)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b59dbb;
background-color: #b59dbb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b59dbb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b59dbb] bg-[#b59dbb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b59dbb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.710, green: 0.616, blue: 0.733)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.710, green: 0.616, blue: 0.733, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B59DBB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB59DBB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB59DBB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(187, 157, 181)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(181, 157, 187)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(181, 157, 187)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 181, 157, 187)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7098f, 0.6157f, 0.7333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{181,157,187}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b59dbb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b59dbb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#47344B, #E4DBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b59dbb h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F1EEF2;
  --brand-200: #E1D9E3;
  --brand-300: #CDBDD1;
  --brand-400: #b59dbb;
  --brand-500: #9B7AA3;
  --brand-600: #886491;
  --brand-700: #715478;
  --brand-800: #5A4360;
  --brand-900: #433347;
  --brand-950: #2A202D;
  --brand: #b59dbb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-border: #DBCFDE;
  --brand-hover: #A588AD;
  --brand-pressed: #95739E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1F1721;
    --brand-ink: #E4DBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F1EEF2',
        200: '#E1D9E3',
        300: '#CDBDD1',
        400: '#b59dbb',
        500: '#9B7AA3',
        600: '#886491',
        700: '#715478',
        800: '#5A4360',
        900: '#433347',
        950: '#2A202D',
        DEFAULT: '#b59dbb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F1EEF2,
  '200': #E1D9E3,
  '300': #CDBDD1,
  '400': #b59dbb,
  '500': #9B7AA3,
  '600': #886491,
  '700': #715478,
  '800': #5A4360,
  '900': #433347,
  '950': #2A202D,
);
$brand-base: #b59dbb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E1D9E3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CDBDD1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b59dbb", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9B7AA3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#886491", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#715478", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5A4360", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#433347", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2A202D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #b59dbb · 8.51:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.47:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.51:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b59dbb as text scores 2.47:1 on white and 8.51:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #47344B at 4.57:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#8E6A98 · 4.50:1
AA on white−17% L
#8E6A98
The quick fox
#6A4E71 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−30% L
#6A4E71
The quick fox
#b59dbb · 8.51:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b59dbb
The quick fox
#b59dbb · 8.51:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b59dbb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A78BAF is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#b59dbb on white: 2.47:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b59dbb on black: 8.51:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b59dbb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b59dbb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.47:1AaAa
Slate 502.36:1AaAa
Slate 1002.25:1AaAa
Slate 2002.00:1AaAa
Slate 3001.66:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.93:1AaAa
Slate 6003.07:1AaAa
Slate 7004.19:1AaAa
Slate 8005.92:1AaAa
Slate 9007.23:1AaAa
Black8.51:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9AA3BC
deuteranopia · #9FA6BA
tritanopia · #B6A0A7

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #b59dbb is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F6F8
#F1EEF2
#E1D9E3
#CDBDD1
#b59dbb
#9B7AA3
#886491
#715478
#5A4360
#433347
#2A202D
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #2A202DText step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.013 319.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 319.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.030 319.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.039 319.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.046 319.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.050 319.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.050 319.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.047 319.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.042 319.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.035 319.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.028 319.5);
}

Colors that work with #b59dbb

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F8F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#DBCFDE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7F5E88
Captions on the surface
Accent#647C50
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#47344B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F0F5
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1F1721
Dark-mode background
Hover#A588AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#95739E
Two steps down
Disabled#E7DFE9
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C3A2CB
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #b59dbb

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #47344B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A78BAF

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight33/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#A3BB9D
Analogous left#A69DBB
Analogous right#BB9DB2
Split-complement 1#B2BB9D
Split-complement 2#9DBBA6
Triadic 1#BBB59D
Triadic 2#9DBBB5
Tetradic#BBA69D
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°288°

#b59dbb sits at 288°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red71.0%
Green61.6%
Blue73.3%
R · 0–255
181
0xb5
G · 0–255
157
0x9d
B · 0–255
187
0xbb

CMYK percentages

Cyan3.2%
Magenta16.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.7%

Total ink coverage is 46%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b59dbb text on a black background

contrast 8.51:1

Card sample

#b59dbb text on a white background

contrast 2.47:1

Card sample

#b59dbb on grey

2.25:1

#b59dbb on its own surface

2.30:1

#b59dbb on its dark surface

7.07:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b59dbb;
Background color
Panel with #b59dbb background
background-color: #b59dbb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b59dbb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(181, 157, 187, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(181, 157, 187, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b59dbb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b59dbb, #BB9DAD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b59dbb, #BB9DA6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b59dbb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b59dbb;
caret-color: #b59dbb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b59dbb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F0F5;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b59dbb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b59dbb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b59dbb over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(181, 157, 187, 0.5)
rgb(181 157 187 / 50%)
#b59dbb80
hsl(288 18% 68% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b59dbb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b59dbb1a#F8F5F8
20%#b59dbb33#F0EBF1
40%#b59dbb66#E1D8E4
60%#b59dbb99#D3C4D6
80%#b59dbbcc#C4B1C9

Gradients from #b59dbb

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0C1D4, #b59dbb 45%, #47344B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b59dbb, #AF8B9B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b59dbb, #A3BB9D);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DED3E1 0%, #b59dbb 45%, #47344B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C0BBD0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C8AFBE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #47344B 0%, transparent 65%), #b59dbb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b59dbb

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#b59dbb in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 8.51:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#b59dbb, answered

What color is #b59dbb?

#b59dbb is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 9.4). It sits at 288° on the hue wheel with 18% saturation and 68% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #b59dbb?

rgb(181, 157, 187) — 181 red, 157 green and 187 blue out of 255, or 71% / 61.6% / 73.3% by channel.

What is #b59dbb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(288, 18%, 68%) and hsv(288, 16%, 73%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b59dbb a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3753 and perceived brightness is 66%, so black text on it reaches 8.51:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b59dbb?

Black. It scores 8.51:1 against #b59dbb, versus 2.47:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b59dbb accessible on a white background?

#b59dbb on white scores 2.47:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8E6A98 to reach 4.5:1, or #6A4E71 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b59dbb?

#A3BB9D sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B2BB9D and #9DBBA6, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b59dbb?

For interface work: #F8F6F9 as the surface, #DBCFDE for borders, #7F5E88 for secondary text, #647C50 as an accent and #47344B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A69DBB and #BB9DB2 stays calm, while #A3BB9D is the loudest partner.

What is #b59dbb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(3%, 16%, 0%, 27%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b59dbb warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 53 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BB9DB6; nudged cooler, #AA9BBD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b59dbb?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 21.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b59dbb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b59dbb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b59dbb] or text-[#b59dbb], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #b59dbb with 50% opacity?

rgba(181, 157, 187, 0.5), or #b59dbb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DACEDD; over black, #5B4F5E.

Is #b59dbb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 7.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b59dbb mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #b59dbb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D0C1D4, #b59dbb 45%, #47344B). For more colour, a short hue run to #AF8B9B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b59dbb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b59dbb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.