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magenta / pink · neutral

#c3aebe

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

Token name suggestion: Drift Ruby

RGB
195, 174, 190
HSL
314°, 15%, 72%
CMYK
0, 11, 3, 24
Luminance
0.4559

#c3aebe is a light muted magenta / pink, 314° on the wheel and 47/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.12:1). As text it scores 2.08:1 on white — use #916B88 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(314 15% 72%)rgb(195 174 190)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c3aebe is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c3aebe
Hue
314°
magenta / pink
Saturation
15%
muted
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
76%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4559
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
47/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
10.12:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 5.8
Chroma
11.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.774
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 24
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue314° of 360°
Saturation15%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c3aebe.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool47% 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
Red25%
Green66%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#c3aebe
HEX (8-digit)#c3aebeff
RGBrgb(195, 174, 190)
RGBArgba(195, 174, 190, 1)
HSLhsl(314, 15%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(314, 11%, 76%)
HWBhwb(314 68% 24%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 11%, 3%, 24%)
LABlab(73.3 10.4 -5.4)
LCHlch(73.3 11.7 332.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.774 0.033 334.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.93, 45.59, 55.03)
Decimal12824254
Display P3color(display-p3 0.765 0.682 0.745)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c3aebe;
background-color: #c3aebe;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c3aebe;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c3aebe] bg-[#c3aebe]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c3aebe;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.765, green: 0.682, blue: 0.745)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.765, green: 0.682, blue: 0.745, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C3AEBE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC3AEBE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC3AEBE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(190, 174, 195)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(195, 174, 190)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(195, 174, 190)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 195, 174, 190)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7647f, 0.6824f, 0.7451f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{195,174,190}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c3aebe 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c3aebe 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#493645, #E5DCE3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c3aebe 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: #E2DAE0;
  --brand-300: #CFBFCB;
  --brand-400: #c3aebe;
  --brand-500: #A07E98;
  --brand-600: #8D6884;
  --brand-700: #75576E;
  --brand-800: #5E4558;
  --brand-900: #463542;
  --brand-950: #2B2129;
  --brand: #c3aebe;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #DCD0D9;
  --brand-hover: #B49AAE;
  --brand-pressed: #A5859D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #20181E;
    --brand-ink: #E5DCE3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F1EEF1',
        200: '#E2DAE0',
        300: '#CFBFCB',
        400: '#c3aebe',
        500: '#A07E98',
        600: '#8D6884',
        700: '#75576E',
        800: '#5E4558',
        900: '#463542',
        950: '#2B2129',
        DEFAULT: '#c3aebe',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F1EEF1,
  '200': #E2DAE0,
  '300': #CFBFCB,
  '400': #c3aebe,
  '500': #A07E98,
  '600': #8D6884,
  '700': #75576E,
  '800': #5E4558,
  '900': #463542,
  '950': #2B2129,
);
$brand-base: #c3aebe;
$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": "#E2DAE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFBFCB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#c3aebe", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A07E98", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8D6884", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#75576E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5E4558", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#463542", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B2129", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c3aebe · 10.12:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.08:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.12:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c3aebe as text scores 2.08:1 on white and 10.12:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #493645 at 5.33:1.

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
#916B88 · 4.50:1
AA on white−23% L
#916B88
The quick fox
#6B4F64 · 7.17:1
AAA on white−36% L
#6B4F64
The quick fox
#c3aebe · 10.12:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c3aebe
The quick fox
#c3aebe · 10.12:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c3aebe

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A98BA2 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
#c3aebe on white: 2.08:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c3aebe on black: 10.12:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c3aebe as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c3aebe.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.08:1AaAa
Slate 501.98:1AaAa
Slate 1001.89:1AaAa
Slate 2001.68:1AaAa
Slate 3001.40:1AaAa
Slate 4001.24:1AaAa
Slate 5002.29:1AaAa
Slate 6003.65:1AaAa
Slate 7004.99:1AaAa
Slate 8007.05:1AaAa
Slate 9008.60:1AaAa
Black10.12:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #AEB2BF
deuteranopia · #B2B5BD
tritanopia · #C5AFB3

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. #c3aebe 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
#E2DAE0
#CFBFCB
#c3aebe
#A07E98
#8D6884
#75576E
#5E4558
#463542
#2B2129
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #2B2129Text 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 0.008 334.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.013 334.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 334.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.025 334.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.030 334.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.033 334.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.033 334.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.031 334.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.027 334.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.023 334.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.018 334.1);
}

Colors that work with #c3aebe

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#DCD0D9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#84627C
Captions on the surface
Accent#547953
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#493645
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F0F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#20181E
Dark-mode background
Hover#B49AAE
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A5859D
Two steps down
Disabled#F3EFF2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D2B4CB
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 #c3aebe

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 #493645
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A98BA2

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
  • Weight28/100
  • 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#AEC3B3
Analogous left#BEAEC3
Analogous right#C3AEB4
Split-complement 1#B4C3AE
Split-complement 2#AEC3BE
Triadic 1#BEC3AE
Triadic 2#AEBEC3
Tetradic#C3BEAE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°314°

#c3aebe sits at 314°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.5%
Green68.2%
Blue74.5%
R · 0–255
195
0xc3
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
190
0xbe

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta10.8%
Yellow2.6%
Key (black)23.5%

Total ink coverage is 37%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c3aebe text on a black background

contrast 10.12:1

Card sample

#c3aebe text on a white background

contrast 2.08:1

Card sample

#c3aebe on grey

1.89:1

#c3aebe on its own surface

1.93:1

#c3aebe on its dark surface

8.36:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c3aebe;
Background color
Panel with #c3aebe background
background-color: #c3aebe;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c3aebe;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(195, 174, 190, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(195, 174, 190, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c3aebe;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c3aebe, #C3AEB0);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c3aebe, #C3B1AE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c3aebe;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c3aebe;
caret-color: #c3aebe;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c3aebe;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F0F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c3aebe;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c3aebe 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c3aebe 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(195, 174, 190, 0.5)
rgb(195 174 190 / 50%)
#c3aebe80
hsl(314 15% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c3aebe 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c3aebe1a#F9F7F9
20%#c3aebe33#F3EFF2
40%#c3aebe66#E7DFE5
60%#c3aebe99#DBCED8
80%#c3aebecc#CFBECB

Gradients from #c3aebe

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, #DDD1DA, #c3aebe 45%, #493645);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c3aebe, #B69D9D);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c3aebe, #AEC3B3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EAE3E8 0%, #c3aebe 45%, #493645 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%, #D4CBD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D0C0C3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #493645 0%, transparent 65%), #c3aebe;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c3aebe

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.

#c3aebe 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 10.12:1.

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.

#c3aebe, answered

What color is #c3aebe?

#c3aebe is a light muted magenta / pink, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 5.8). It sits at 314° on the hue wheel with 15% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #c3aebe?

rgb(195, 174, 190) — 195 red, 174 green and 190 blue out of 255, or 76.5% / 68.2% / 74.5% by channel.

What is #c3aebe in HSL and HSV?

hsl(314, 15%, 72%) and hsv(314, 11%, 76%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c3aebe a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4559 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.12:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c3aebe?

Black. It scores 10.12:1 against #c3aebe, versus 2.08:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c3aebe accessible on a white background?

#c3aebe on white scores 2.08:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #916B88 to reach 4.5:1, or #6B4F64 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c3aebe?

#AEC3B3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B4C3AE and #AEC3BE, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c3aebe?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #DCD0D9 for borders, #84627C for secondary text, #547953 as an accent and #493645 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BEAEC3 and #C3AEB4 stays calm, while #AEC3B3 is the loudest partner.

What is #c3aebe in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 11%, 3%, 24%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c3aebe warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 47 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C3AEB6; nudged cooler, #C1ADC5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c3aebe?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 24 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c3aebe as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c3aebe in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c3aebe] or text-[#c3aebe], 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 #c3aebe with 50% opacity?

rgba(195, 174, 190, 0.5), or #c3aebe80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E1D7DF; over black, #62575F.

Is #c3aebe a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 11.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c3aebe 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 #c3aebe?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #DDD1DA, #c3aebe 45%, #493645). For more colour, a short hue run to #B69D9D keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c3aebe in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c3aebe at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.