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magenta / pink · neutral

#bba5bc

a light, muted magenta / pink · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Morning Blossom

RGB
187, 165, 188
HSL
297°, 15%, 69%
CMYK
1, 12, 0, 26
Luminance
0.4111

#bba5bc is a light muted magenta / pink, 297° on the wheel and 51/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.22:1). As text it scores 2.28:1 on white — use #8E6B90 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(297 15% 69%)rgb(187 165 188)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #bba5bc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#bba5bc
Hue
297°
magenta / pink
Saturation
15%
muted
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
74%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4111
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
51/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
9.22:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 7.2
Chroma
15.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.748
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 22.5
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue297° of 360°
Saturation15%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #bba5bc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool51% 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%
Green65%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#bba5bc
HEX (8-digit)#bba5bcff
RGBrgb(187, 165, 188)
RGBArgba(187, 165, 188, 1)
HSLhsl(297, 15%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(297, 12%, 74%)
HWBhwb(297 65% 26%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 12%, 0%, 26%)
LABlab(70.3 12.1 -8.8)
LCHlch(70.3 15.0 323.9)
OKLCHoklch(0.748 0.041 324.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(43.02, 41.11, 53.24)
Decimal12297660
Display P3color(display-p3 0.733 0.647 0.737)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #bba5bc;
background-color: #bba5bc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #bba5bc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#bba5bc] bg-[#bba5bc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #bba5bc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.733, green: 0.647, blue: 0.737)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.733, green: 0.647, blue: 0.737, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#BBA5BC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFBBA5BC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFBBA5BC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(188, 165, 187)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(187, 165, 188)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(187, 165, 188)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 187, 165, 188)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7333f, 0.6471f, 0.7373f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{187,165,188}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #bba5bc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #bba5bc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#483649, #E4DCE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #bba5bc 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: #F1EEF1;
  --brand-200: #E2DAE2;
  --brand-300: #CEBFCF;
  --brand-400: #bba5bc;
  --brand-500: #9E7E9F;
  --brand-600: #8B698C;
  --brand-700: #745775;
  --brand-800: #5C465E;
  --brand-900: #453545;
  --brand-950: #2B212B;
  --brand: #bba5bc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #DCD0DC;
  --brand-hover: #AB91AD;
  --brand-pressed: #9C7C9D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201820;
    --brand-ink: #E4DCE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F1EEF1',
        200: '#E2DAE2',
        300: '#CEBFCF',
        400: '#bba5bc',
        500: '#9E7E9F',
        600: '#8B698C',
        700: '#745775',
        800: '#5C465E',
        900: '#453545',
        950: '#2B212B',
        DEFAULT: '#bba5bc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F1EEF1,
  '200': #E2DAE2,
  '300': #CEBFCF,
  '400': #bba5bc,
  '500': #9E7E9F,
  '600': #8B698C,
  '700': #745775,
  '800': #5C465E,
  '900': #453545,
  '950': #2B212B,
);
$brand-base: #bba5bc;
$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": "#F1EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2DAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CEBFCF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#bba5bc", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9E7E9F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8B698C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#745775", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5C465E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#453545", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B212B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #bba5bc · 9.22:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.28:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.22:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #bba5bc as text scores 2.28:1 on white and 9.22:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #483649 at 4.85:1.

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
#8E6B90 · 4.51:1
AA on white−20% L
#8E6B90
The quick fox
#694F6A · 7.17:1
AAA on white−33% L
#694F6A
The quick fox
#bba5bc · 9.22:1
AA on blackalready passes
#bba5bc
The quick fox
#bba5bc · 9.22:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#bba5bc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A78BA8 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
#bba5bc on white: 2.28:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#bba5bc on black: 9.22:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #bba5bc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #bba5bc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.28:1AaAa
Slate 502.18:1AaAa
Slate 1002.08:1AaAa
Slate 2001.85:1AaAa
Slate 3001.53:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5002.09:1AaAa
Slate 6003.33:1AaAa
Slate 7004.55:1AaAa
Slate 8006.42:1AaAa
Slate 9007.84:1AaAa
Black9.22:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A3AABD
deuteranopia · #A8ADBB
tritanopia · #BCA7AD

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. #bba5bc 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
#F1EEF1
#E2DAE2
#CEBFCF
#bba5bc
#9E7E9F
#8B698C
#745775
#5C465E
#453545
#2B212B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #2B212BText 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 0.010 324.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 324.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.024 324.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.032 324.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.038 324.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.041 324.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.041 324.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.038 324.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.034 324.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 324.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 324.6);
}

Colors that work with #bba5bc

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#F8F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#DCD0DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#826284
Captions on the surface
Accent#5E7953
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#483649
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201820
Dark-mode background
Hover#AB91AD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9C7C9D
Two steps down
Disabled#ECE5EC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CAAACB
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 #bba5bc

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #483649
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A78BA8

Meaning and mood

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

expressiveyouthfulwarmconfident

Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Strong gendered associations in some markets — test it with the audience you actually have.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#A6BCA5
Analogous left#AFA5BC
Analogous right#BCA5B1
Split-complement 1#B1BCA5
Split-complement 2#A5BCAF
Triadic 1#BCBBA5
Triadic 2#A5BCBB
Tetradic#BCAFA5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°297°

#bba5bc sits at 297°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red73.3%
Green64.7%
Blue73.7%
R · 0–255
187
0xbb
G · 0–255
165
0xa5
B · 0–255
188
0xbc

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.5%
Magenta12.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)26.3%

Total ink coverage is 39%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#bba5bc text on a black background

contrast 9.22:1

Card sample

#bba5bc text on a white background

contrast 2.28:1

Card sample

#bba5bc on grey

2.08:1

#bba5bc on its own surface

2.12:1

#bba5bc on its dark surface

7.60:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #bba5bc;
Background color
Panel with #bba5bc background
background-color: #bba5bc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #bba5bc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(187, 165, 188, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(187, 165, 188, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #bba5bc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #bba5bc, #BCA5AE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bba5bc, #BCA5A8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #bba5bc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #bba5bc;
caret-color: #bba5bc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #bba5bc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #bba5bc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#bba5bc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #bba5bc 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(187, 165, 188, 0.5)
rgb(187 165 188 / 50%)
#bba5bc80
hsl(297 15% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #bba5bc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#bba5bc1a#F8F6F8
20%#bba5bc33#F1EDF2
40%#bba5bc66#E4DBE4
60%#bba5bc99#D6C9D7
80%#bba5bccc#C9B7C9

Gradients from #bba5bc

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, #D5C8D6, #bba5bc 45%, #483649);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #bba5bc, #AF939B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #bba5bc, #A6BCA5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #E3DAE3 0%, #bba5bc 45%, #483649 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C8C2D2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C9B7BF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #483649 0%, transparent 65%), #bba5bc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #bba5bc

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.

#bba5bc in the real world

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

Industries
BeautyFashionLifestyleYouth brands
Common UI roles
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 9.22:1.

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.

#bba5bc, answered

What color is #bba5bc?

#bba5bc is a light muted magenta / pink, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 7.2). It sits at 297° on the hue wheel with 15% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #bba5bc?

rgb(187, 165, 188) — 187 red, 165 green and 188 blue out of 255, or 73.3% / 64.7% / 73.7% by channel.

What is #bba5bc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(297, 15%, 69%) and hsv(297, 12%, 74%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #bba5bc a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4111 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.22:1.

Should I use black or white text on #bba5bc?

Black. It scores 9.22:1 against #bba5bc, versus 2.28:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #bba5bc accessible on a white background?

#bba5bc on white scores 2.28:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8E6B90 to reach 4.5:1, or #694F6A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #bba5bc?

#A6BCA5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B1BCA5 and #A5BCAF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #bba5bc?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #DCD0DC for borders, #826284 for secondary text, #5E7953 as an accent and #483649 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AFA5BC and #BCA5B1 stays calm, while #A6BCA5 is the loudest partner.

What is #bba5bc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 12%, 0%, 26%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #bba5bc warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 51 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #BCA5B5; nudged cooler, #B3A3BD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #bba5bc?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 22.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #bba5bc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #bba5bc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#bba5bc] or text-[#bba5bc], 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 #bba5bc with 50% opacity?

rgba(187, 165, 188, 0.5), or #bba5bc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DDD2DE; over black, #5E535E.

Is #bba5bc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 9.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #bba5bc mean?

As a magenta / pink, it reads expressive, youthful, warm. Pink is the fastest way to signal that a product is not another enterprise dashboard. It carries beauty, fashion and culture brands. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #bba5bc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #D5C8D6, #bba5bc 45%, #483649). For more colour, a short hue run to #AF939B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #bba5bc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #bba5bc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.