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blue · cool

#c9bfea

a light, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Sapphire

RGB
201, 191, 234
HSL
254°, 51%, 83%
CMYK
14, 18, 0, 8
Luminance
0.5562

#c9bfea is a light vivid blue, 254° on the wheel and 76/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.12:1). As text it scores 1.73:1 on white — use #7B63CC instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(254 51% 83%)rgb(201 191 234)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c9bfea is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c9bfea
Hue
254°
blue
Saturation
51%
vivid
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
78%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5562
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
76/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.12:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 7.6
Chroma
23.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.827
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 27.6
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue254° of 360°
Saturation51%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c9bfea.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool76% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red22%
Green67%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#c9bfea
HEX (8-digit)#c9bfeaff
RGBrgb(201, 191, 234)
RGBArgba(201, 191, 234, 1)
HSLhsl(254, 51%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(254, 18%, 92%)
HWBhwb(254 75% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(14%, 18%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(79.4 11.8 -20.1)
LCHlch(79.4 23.3 300.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.827 0.060 295.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.57, 55.62, 85.53)
Decimal13221866
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.749 0.918)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c9bfea;
background-color: #c9bfea;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c9bfea;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c9bfea] bg-[#c9bfea]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c9bfea;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.749, blue: 0.918)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.749, blue: 0.918, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C9BFEA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC9BFEA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC9BFEA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(234, 191, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 191, 234)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 191, 234)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 191, 234)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.7490f, 0.9176f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,191,234}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c9bfea 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c9bfea 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2F1F60, #D9D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c9bfea 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: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-100: #ECEAF6;
  --brand-200: #c9bfea;
  --brand-300: #B8ABE3;
  --brand-400: #9480D5;
  --brand-500: #7156C8;
  --brand-600: #593CB8;
  --brand-700: #4A329A;
  --brand-800: #3C287B;
  --brand-900: #2E215A;
  --brand-950: #1D1438;
  --brand: #c9bfea;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #CBC2EB;
  --brand-hover: #B2A4E1;
  --brand-pressed: #9C89D8;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #181424;
    --brand-ink: #D9D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FA',
        100: '#ECEAF6',
        200: '#c9bfea',
        300: '#B8ABE3',
        400: '#9480D5',
        500: '#7156C8',
        600: '#593CB8',
        700: '#4A329A',
        800: '#3C287B',
        900: '#2E215A',
        950: '#1D1438',
        DEFAULT: '#c9bfea',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FA,
  '100': #ECEAF6,
  '200': #c9bfea,
  '300': #B8ABE3,
  '400': #9480D5,
  '500': #7156C8,
  '600': #593CB8,
  '700': #4A329A,
  '800': #3C287B,
  '900': #2E215A,
  '950': #1D1438,
);
$brand-base: #c9bfea;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECEAF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#c9bfea", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B8ABE3", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9480D5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7156C8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#593CB8", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#4A329A", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#3C287B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2E215A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1D1438", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c9bfea · 12.12:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.73:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.12:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c9bfea as text scores 1.73:1 on white and 12.12:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2F1F60 at 8.16:1.

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
#7B63CC · 4.67:1
AA on white−24% L
#7B63CC
The quick fox
#5E40C0 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−33% L
#5E40C0
The quick fox
#c9bfea · 12.12:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c9bfea
The quick fox
#c9bfea · 12.12:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c9bfea

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9C89D8 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
#c9bfea on white: 1.73:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c9bfea on black: 12.12:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c9bfea as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c9bfea.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.73:1AaAa
Slate 501.66:1AaAa
Slate 1001.58:1AaAa
Slate 2001.41:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4001.48:1AaAa
Slate 5002.75:1AaAa
Slate 6004.37:1AaAa
Slate 7005.98:1AaAa
Slate 8008.45:1AaAa
Slate 90010.31:1AaAa
Black12.12:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B6C5EC
deuteranopia · #B7C4E9
tritanopia · #C3C5CD

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. #c9bfea is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F6F4FA
#ECEAF6
#c9bfea
#B8ABE3
#9480D5
#7156C8
#593CB8
#4A329A
#3C287B
#2E215A
#1D1438
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FADarkest = 950 · #1D1438Text step on white = 500
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 0.015 295.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 295.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 295.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 295.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.056 295.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.060 295.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.060 295.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.057 295.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.051 295.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 295.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 295.7);
}

Colors that work with #c9bfea

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#CBC2EB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#5D4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9E9C2E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2F1F60
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EFECF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#181424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B2A4E1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9C89D8
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D4CBF2
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 #c9bfea

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • 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 #2F1F60
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9C89D8

Meaning and mood

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

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight17/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

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#E0EABF
Analogous left#BFCAEA
Analogous right#DEBFEA
Split-complement 1#EADEBF
Split-complement 2#CAEABF
Triadic 1#EAC9BF
Triadic 2#BFEAC9
Tetradic#EABFCA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°254°

#c9bfea sits at 254°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green74.9%
Blue91.8%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
191
0xbf
B · 0–255
234
0xea

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.1%
Magenta18.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)8.2%

Total ink coverage is 41%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c9bfea text on a black background

contrast 12.12:1

Card sample

#c9bfea text on a white background

contrast 1.73:1

Card sample

#c9bfea on grey

1.58:1

#c9bfea on its own surface

1.59:1

#c9bfea on its dark surface

10.41:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c9bfea;
Background color
Panel with #c9bfea background
background-color: #c9bfea;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c9bfea;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 191, 234, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 191, 234, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c9bfea;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c9bfea, #E6BFEA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9bfea, #EABFE3);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c9bfea;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c9bfea;
caret-color: #c9bfea;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c9bfea;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EFECF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c9bfea;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c9bfea 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c9bfea 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(201, 191, 234, 0.5)
rgb(201 191 234 / 50%)
#c9bfea80
hsl(254 51% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c9bfea 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c9bfea1a#FAF9FD
20%#c9bfea33#F4F2FB
40%#c9bfea66#E9E5F7
60%#c9bfea99#DFD9F2
80%#c9bfeacc#D4CCEE

Gradients from #c9bfea

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, #F0EDF9, #c9bfea 45%, #2F1F60);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c9bfea, #E1A8E2);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9bfea, #E0EABF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F3FB 0%, #c9bfea 45%, #2F1F60 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E5EBF7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #ECD6F2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2F1F60 0%, transparent 65%), #c9bfea;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c9bfea

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.

#c9bfea in the real world

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

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
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 12.12:1.

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.

#c9bfea, answered

What color is #c9bfea?

#c9bfea is a light vivid blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 7.6). It sits at 254° on the hue wheel with 51% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c9bfea?

rgb(201, 191, 234) — 201 red, 191 green and 234 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 74.9% / 91.8% by channel.

What is #c9bfea in HSL and HSV?

hsl(254, 51%, 83%) and hsv(254, 18%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c9bfea a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5562 and perceived brightness is 78%, so black text on it reaches 12.12:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c9bfea?

Black. It scores 12.12:1 against #c9bfea, versus 1.73:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c9bfea accessible on a white background?

#c9bfea on white scores 1.73:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7B63CC to reach 4.5:1, or #5E40C0 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c9bfea?

#E0EABF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EADEBF and #CAEABF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c9bfea?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #CBC2EB for borders, #5D4B9B for secondary text, #9E9C2E as an accent and #2F1F60 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BFCAEA and #DEBFEA stays calm, while #E0EABF is the loudest partner.

What is #c9bfea in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(14%, 18%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c9bfea warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 76 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D9BFEA; nudged cooler, #BEC4EB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c9bfea?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 27.6 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c9bfea as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c9bfea in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c9bfea] or text-[#c9bfea], 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 #c9bfea with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 191, 234, 0.5), or #c9bfea80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4DFF5; over black, #656075.

Is #c9bfea a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c9bfea mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #c9bfea?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0EDF9, #c9bfea 45%, #2F1F60). For more colour, a short hue run to #E1A8E2 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c9bfea in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c9bfea at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.