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red · warm

#cab2ae

a light, soft red · warm · closest name: Silver

Token name suggestion: Drift Rust

RGB
202, 178, 174
HSL
9°, 21%, 74%
CMYK
0, 12, 14, 21
Luminance
0.4745

#cab2ae is a light soft red, 9° on the wheel and 27/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.49:1). As text it scores 2.00:1 on white — use #966A62 instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(9 21% 74%)rgb(202 178 174)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cab2ae is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cab2ae
Hue
red
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
79%
HSV value
Perceived
73%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4745
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
27/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.49:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 10.3
Chroma
9.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.783
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 23.9
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue9° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cab2ae.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool27% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red26%
Green67%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cab2ae
HEX (8-digit)#cab2aeff
RGBrgb(202, 178, 174)
RGBArgba(202, 178, 174, 1)
HSLhsl(9, 21%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(9, 14%, 79%)
HWBhwb(9 68% 21%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 12%, 14%, 21%)
LABlab(74.5 7.9 5.2)
LCHlch(74.5 9.5 33.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.783 0.028 29.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.92, 47.45, 46.67)
Decimal13284014
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.698 0.682)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cab2ae;
background-color: #cab2ae;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cab2ae;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cab2ae] bg-[#cab2ae]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cab2ae;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.698, blue: 0.682)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.698, blue: 0.682, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAB2AE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAB2AE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAB2AE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(174, 178, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 178, 174)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 178, 174)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 178, 174)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.6980f, 0.6824f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,178,174}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cab2ae 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cab2ae 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4D3632, #E7DCDA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cab2ae 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: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-100: #F2EEED;
  --brand-200: #E4DAD8;
  --brand-300: #cab2ae;
  --brand-400: #BC9E99;
  --brand-500: #A67E77;
  --brand-600: #946861;
  --brand-700: #7B5751;
  --brand-800: #634541;
  --brand-900: #493531;
  --brand-950: #2E211F;
  --brand: #cab2ae;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-border: #DFD0CE;
  --brand-hover: #BC9D98;
  --brand-pressed: #AE8983;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #221816;
    --brand-ink: #E7DCDA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F2EEED',
        200: '#E4DAD8',
        300: '#cab2ae',
        400: '#BC9E99',
        500: '#A67E77',
        600: '#946861',
        700: '#7B5751',
        800: '#634541',
        900: '#493531',
        950: '#2E211F',
        DEFAULT: '#cab2ae',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F2EEED,
  '200': #E4DAD8,
  '300': #cab2ae,
  '400': #BC9E99,
  '500': #A67E77,
  '600': #946861,
  '700': #7B5751,
  '800': #634541,
  '900': #493531,
  '950': #2E211F,
);
$brand-base: #cab2ae;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F6F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2EEED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4DAD8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cab2ae", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BC9E99", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A67E77", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#946861", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7B5751", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#634541", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#493531", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E211F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cab2ae · 10.49:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.00:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.49:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cab2ae as text scores 2.00:1 on white and 10.49:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4D3632 at 5.55:1.

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
#966A62 · 4.63:1
AA on white−25% L
#966A62
The quick fox
#71504A · 7.12:1
AAA on white−37% L
#71504A
The quick fox
#cab2ae · 10.49:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cab2ae
The quick fox
#cab2ae · 10.49:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cab2ae

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B08C86 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
#cab2ae on white: 2.00:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cab2ae on black: 10.49:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cab2ae as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cab2ae.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.00:1AaAa
Slate 501.91:1AaAa
Slate 1001.83:1AaAa
Slate 2001.62:1AaAa
Slate 3001.35:1AaAa
Slate 4001.28:1AaAa
Slate 5002.38:1AaAa
Slate 6003.79:1AaAa
Slate 7005.17:1AaAa
Slate 8007.31:1AaAa
Slate 9008.92:1AaAa
Black10.49:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B7B5AE
deuteranopia · #BCB9AE
tritanopia · #D0AFB1

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. #cab2ae is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F9F6F6
#F2EEED
#E4DAD8
#cab2ae
#BC9E99
#A67E77
#946861
#7B5751
#634541
#493531
#2E211F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #2E211FText 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 0.007 29.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.011 29.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.017 29.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.022 29.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.026 29.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.028 29.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.028 29.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.027 29.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.024 29.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.020 29.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.016 29.0);
}

Colors that work with #cab2ae

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#F9F6F6
Tinted page background
Border#DFD0CE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8B625B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4C807A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4D3632
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F0F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#221816
Dark-mode background
Hover#BC9D98
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AE8983
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F2F2
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8BAB5
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 #cab2ae

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
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • 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 #4D3632
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B08C86

Meaning and mood

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

urgentappetisingboldphysical

Red arrives before the rest of the page does. It raises attention and appetite, which is why it runs food, sport and clearance pricing.

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

It is also the universal error colour. Use it as a brand accent and users may read a warning that is not there.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight26/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

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#AEC6CA
Analogous left#CAAEB8
Analogous right#CAC0AE
Split-complement 1#AECAC0
Split-complement 2#AEB8CA
Triadic 1#AECAB2
Triadic 2#B2AECA
Tetradic#B8CAAE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°9°

#cab2ae sits at 9°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green69.8%
Blue68.2%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
174
0xae

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta11.9%
Yellow13.9%
Key (black)20.8%

Total ink coverage is 47%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cab2ae text on a black background

contrast 10.49:1

Card sample

#cab2ae text on a white background

contrast 2.00:1

Card sample

#cab2ae on grey

1.83:1

#cab2ae on its own surface

1.86:1

#cab2ae on its dark surface

8.67:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cab2ae;
Background color
Panel with #cab2ae background
background-color: #cab2ae;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cab2ae;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 178, 174, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 178, 174, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cab2ae;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cab2ae, #CAC5AE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab2ae, #C8CAAE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cab2ae;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cab2ae;
caret-color: #cab2ae;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cab2ae;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F0F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cab2ae;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cab2ae 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cab2ae 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(202, 178, 174, 0.5)
rgb(202 178 174 / 50%)
#cab2ae80
hsl(9 21% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cab2ae 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cab2ae1a#FAF7F7
20%#cab2ae33#F4F0EF
40%#cab2ae66#EAE0DF
60%#cab2ae99#DFD1CE
80%#cab2aecc#D5C1BE

Gradients from #cab2ae

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, #E2D5D3, #cab2ae 45%, #4D3632);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cab2ae, #BEBA9B);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab2ae, #AEC6CA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEE7E5 0%, #cab2ae 45%, #4D3632 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F6F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DECDD4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6D0C0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4D3632 0%, transparent 65%), #cab2ae;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cab2ae

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.

#cab2ae in the real world

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

Industries
Food and drinkEntertainmentRetailSport
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 10.49:1.

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.

#cab2ae, answered

What color is #cab2ae?

#cab2ae is a light soft red, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 10.3). It sits at 9° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cab2ae?

rgb(202, 178, 174) — 202 red, 178 green and 174 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 69.8% / 68.2% by channel.

What is #cab2ae in HSL and HSV?

hsl(9, 21%, 74%) and hsv(9, 14%, 79%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cab2ae a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4745 and perceived brightness is 73%, so black text on it reaches 10.49:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cab2ae?

Black. It scores 10.49:1 against #cab2ae, versus 2.00:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cab2ae accessible on a white background?

#cab2ae on white scores 2.00:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #966A62 to reach 4.5:1, or #71504A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cab2ae?

#AEC6CA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AECAC0 and #AEB8CA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cab2ae?

For interface work: #F9F6F6 as the surface, #DFD0CE for borders, #8B625B for secondary text, #4C807A as an accent and #4D3632 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CAAEB8 and #CAC0AE stays calm, while #AEC6CA is the loudest partner.

What is #cab2ae in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 12%, 14%, 21%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cab2ae warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 27 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CAB9AE; nudged cooler, #CBADB3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cab2ae?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 23.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cab2ae as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cab2ae in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cab2ae] or text-[#cab2ae], 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 #cab2ae with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 178, 174, 0.5), or #cab2ae80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D9D7; over black, #655957.

Is #cab2ae a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 9.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cab2ae mean?

As a red, it reads urgent, appetising, bold. Red arrives before the rest of the page does. It raises attention and appetite, which is why it runs food, sport and clearance pricing. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #cab2ae?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2D5D3, #cab2ae 45%, #4D3632). For more colour, a short hue run to #BEBA9B keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cab2ae in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cab2ae at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.