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blue · cool

#cac7ee

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

Token name suggestion: Chalk Sapphire

RGB
202, 199, 238
HSL
245°, 53%, 86%
CMYK
15, 16, 0, 7
Luminance
0.5958

#cac7ee is a pale vivid blue, 245° on the wheel and 81/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.92:1). As text it scores 1.63:1 on white — use #7169D1 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(245 53% 86%)rgb(202 199 238)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cac7ee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cac7ee
Hue
245°
blue
Saturation
53%
vivid
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5958
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
81/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.92:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 8.8
Chroma
20.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.845
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 28
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue245° of 360°
Saturation53%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cac7ee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool81% 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
Red21%
Green69%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#cac7ee
HEX (8-digit)#cac7eeff
RGBrgb(202, 199, 238)
RGBArgba(202, 199, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(245, 53%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(245, 16%, 93%)
HWBhwb(245 78% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 16%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(81.6 8.7 -18.9)
LCHlch(81.6 20.8 294.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.845 0.054 288.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(60.21, 59.58, 89.20)
Decimal13289454
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.780 0.933)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cac7ee;
background-color: #cac7ee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cac7ee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cac7ee] bg-[#cac7ee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cac7ee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.780, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.780, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAC7EE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAC7EE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAC7EE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 199, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 199, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 199, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 199, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.7804f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,199,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cac7ee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cac7ee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#231E62, #D5D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cac7ee 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: #F5F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EAE9F6;
  --brand-200: #cac7ee;
  --brand-300: #AEA9E5;
  --brand-400: #857ED8;
  --brand-500: #5C53CB;
  --brand-600: #4339BC;
  --brand-700: #38309C;
  --brand-800: #2D267D;
  --brand-900: #241F5B;
  --brand-950: #161339;
  --brand: #cac7ee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C4C0EC;
  --brand-hover: #B0ACE6;
  --brand-pressed: #9690DD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #151424;
    --brand-ink: #D5D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F4FB',
        100: '#EAE9F6',
        200: '#cac7ee',
        300: '#AEA9E5',
        400: '#857ED8',
        500: '#5C53CB',
        600: '#4339BC',
        700: '#38309C',
        800: '#2D267D',
        900: '#241F5B',
        950: '#161339',
        DEFAULT: '#cac7ee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F4FB,
  '100': #EAE9F6,
  '200': #cac7ee,
  '300': #AEA9E5,
  '400': #857ED8,
  '500': #5C53CB,
  '600': #4339BC,
  '700': #38309C,
  '800': #2D267D,
  '900': #241F5B,
  '950': #161339,
);
$brand-base: #cac7ee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#cac7ee", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#AEA9E5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#857ED8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5C53CB", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4339BC", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#38309C", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2D267D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#241F5B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#161339", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cac7ee · 12.92:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.63:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.92:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cac7ee as text scores 1.63:1 on white and 12.92:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #231E62 at 9.01:1.

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
#7169D1 · 4.52:1
AA on white−24% L
#7169D1
The quick fox
#4C42C6 · 7.24:1
AAA on white−34% L
#4C42C6
The quick fox
#cac7ee · 12.92:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cac7ee
The quick fox
#cac7ee · 12.92:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cac7ee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8F88DB 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
#cac7ee on white: 1.63:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cac7ee on black: 12.92:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cac7ee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cac7ee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.63:1AaAa
Slate 501.55:1AaAa
Slate 1001.48:1AaAa
Slate 2001.32:1AaAa
Slate 3001.10:1AaAa
Slate 4001.58:1AaAa
Slate 5002.93:1AaAa
Slate 6004.66:1AaAa
Slate 7006.37:1AaAa
Slate 8009.00:1AaAa
Slate 90010.98:1AaAa
Black12.92:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BECCF0
deuteranopia · #BECAED
tritanopia · #C3CDD4

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. #cac7ee 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.

#F5F4FB
#EAE9F6
#cac7ee
#AEA9E5
#857ED8
#5C53CB
#4339BC
#38309C
#2D267D
#241F5B
#161339
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F5F4FBDarkest = 950 · #161339Text 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 0.013 288.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.022 288.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 288.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.042 288.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.050 288.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.054 288.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.054 288.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.051 288.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 288.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.038 288.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.030 288.7);
}

Colors that work with #cac7ee

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#F5F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C4C0EC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#514B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#9F8C2D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#231E62
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECEBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#151424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B0ACE6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#9690DD
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D7D4F5
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 #cac7ee

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 #231E62
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8F88DB

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

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
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#EBEEC7
Analogous left#C7D8EE
Analogous right#DEC7EE
Split-complement 1#EEDEC7
Split-complement 2#D8EEC7
Triadic 1#EECAC7
Triadic 2#C7EECA
Tetradic#EEC7D8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°245°

#cac7ee sits at 245°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green78.0%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
199
0xc7
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.1%
Magenta16.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cac7ee text on a black background

contrast 12.92:1

Card sample

#cac7ee text on a white background

contrast 1.63:1

Card sample

#cac7ee on grey

1.48:1

#cac7ee on its own surface

1.49:1

#cac7ee on its dark surface

11.16:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cac7ee;
Background color
Panel with #cac7ee background
background-color: #cac7ee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cac7ee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 199, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 199, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cac7ee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cac7ee, #E4C7EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac7ee, #EEC7EE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cac7ee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cac7ee;
caret-color: #cac7ee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cac7ee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECEBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cac7ee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cac7ee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cac7ee 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, 199, 238, 0.5)
rgb(202 199 238 / 50%)
#cac7ee80
hsl(245 53% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cac7ee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cac7ee1a#FAF9FD
20%#cac7ee33#F4F4FC
40%#cac7ee66#EAE9F8
60%#cac7ee99#DFDDF5
80%#cac7eecc#D5D2F1

Gradients from #cac7ee

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, #F0EFFA, #cac7ee 45%, #231E62);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cac7ee, #DDB0E7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac7ee, #EBEEC7);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F3FB 0%, #cac7ee 45%, #231E62 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EEF4FA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EDDFF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #231E62 0%, transparent 65%), #cac7ee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cac7ee

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.

#cac7ee 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 12.92:1.

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.

#cac7ee, answered

What color is #cac7ee?

#cac7ee is a pale vivid blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 8.8). It sits at 245° on the hue wheel with 53% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cac7ee?

rgb(202, 199, 238) — 202 red, 199 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 78% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #cac7ee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(245, 53%, 86%) and hsv(245, 16%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cac7ee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5958 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 12.92:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cac7ee?

Black. It scores 12.92:1 against #cac7ee, versus 1.63:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cac7ee accessible on a white background?

#cac7ee on white scores 1.63:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7169D1 to reach 4.5:1, or #4C42C6 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cac7ee?

#EBEEC7 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEDEC7 and #D8EEC7, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cac7ee?

For interface work: #F5F4FA as the surface, #C4C0EC for borders, #514B9B for secondary text, #9F8C2D as an accent and #231E62 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C7D8EE and #DEC7EE stays calm, while #EBEEC7 is the loudest partner.

What is #cac7ee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 16%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cac7ee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 81 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D8C7EE; nudged cooler, #C6D2EF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cac7ee?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 28 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cac7ee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cac7ee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cac7ee] or text-[#cac7ee], 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 #cac7ee with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 199, 238, 0.5), or #cac7ee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5E3F7; over black, #656477.

Is #cac7ee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 3.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cac7ee 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 #cac7ee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0EFFA, #cac7ee 45%, #231E62). For more colour, a short hue run to #DDB0E7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cac7ee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cac7ee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.