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red · warm

#cba8af

a light, soft red · warm · closest name: Rosy Brown

Token name suggestion: Meadow Ember

RGB
203, 168, 175
HSL
348°, 25%, 73%
CMYK
0, 17, 14, 20
Luminance
0.4380

#cba8af is a light soft red, 348° on the wheel and 31/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.76:1). As text it scores 2.15:1 on white — use #A36571 instead. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(348 25% 73%)rgb(203 168 175)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cba8af is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cba8af
Hue
348°
red
Saturation
25%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
71%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4380
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
31/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.76:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 7.9
Chroma
13.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.765
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 23.3
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue348° of 360°
Saturation25%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cba8af.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool31% 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
Red29%
Green64%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#cba8af
HEX (8-digit)#cba8afff
RGBrgb(203, 168, 175)
RGBArgba(203, 168, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(348, 25%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(348, 17%, 80%)
HWBhwb(348 66% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 17%, 14%, 20%)
LABlab(72.1 13.9 1.2)
LCHlch(72.1 13.9 5.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.765 0.042 4.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.37, 43.80, 46.56)
Decimal13346991
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.659 0.686)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cba8af;
background-color: #cba8af;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cba8af;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cba8af] bg-[#cba8af]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cba8af;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.659, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.659, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBA8AF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBA8AF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBA8AF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 168, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 168, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 168, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 168, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.6588f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,168,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cba8af 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cba8af 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#503036, #E8D9DC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cba8af 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: #F3EDEE;
  --brand-200: #E5D6D9;
  --brand-300: #cba8af;
  --brand-400: #C0969E;
  --brand-500: #AB737E;
  --brand-600: #995C68;
  --brand-700: #804C57;
  --brand-800: #663D45;
  --brand-900: #4B2F35;
  --brand-950: #2F1D21;
  --brand: #cba8af;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F5F6;
  --brand-border: #E0CCD0;
  --brand-hover: #BE919A;
  --brand-pressed: #B07B86;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #231518;
    --brand-ink: #E8D9DC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F3EDEE',
        200: '#E5D6D9',
        300: '#cba8af',
        400: '#C0969E',
        500: '#AB737E',
        600: '#995C68',
        700: '#804C57',
        800: '#663D45',
        900: '#4B2F35',
        950: '#2F1D21',
        DEFAULT: '#cba8af',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F3EDEE,
  '200': #E5D6D9,
  '300': #cba8af,
  '400': #C0969E,
  '500': #AB737E,
  '600': #995C68,
  '700': #804C57,
  '800': #663D45,
  '900': #4B2F35,
  '950': #2F1D21,
);
$brand-base: #cba8af;
$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": "#F3EDEE", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5D6D9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cba8af", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C0969E", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AB737E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#995C68", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#804C57", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#663D45", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B2F35", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F1D21", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cba8af · 9.76:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.15:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.76:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cba8af as text scores 2.15:1 on white and 9.76:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #503036 at 5.37:1.

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
#A36571 · 4.51:1
AA on white−21% L
#A36571
The quick fox
#7C4A54 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−34% L
#7C4A54
The quick fox
#cba8af · 9.76:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cba8af
The quick fox
#cba8af · 9.76:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cba8af

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B88892 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
#cba8af on white: 2.15:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cba8af on black: 9.76:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cba8af as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cba8af.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.15:1AaAa
Slate 502.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.96:1AaAa
Slate 2001.75:1AaAa
Slate 3001.45:1AaAa
Slate 4001.19:1AaAa
Slate 5002.21:1AaAa
Slate 6003.52:1AaAa
Slate 7004.81:1AaAa
Slate 8006.80:1AaAa
Slate 9008.30:1AaAa
Black9.76:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ADADAF
deuteranopia · #B4B3AE
tritanopia · #D2A6AA

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. #cba8af 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
#F3EDEE
#E5D6D9
#cba8af
#C0969E
#AB737E
#995C68
#804C57
#663D45
#4B2F35
#2F1D21
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #2F1D21Text 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 4.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 4.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 4.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.033 4.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.039 4.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.042 4.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.042 4.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.039 4.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.035 4.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.029 4.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 4.6);
}

Colors that work with #cba8af

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#F9F5F6
Tinted page background
Border#E0CCD0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#905661
Captions on the surface
Accent#488468
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#503036
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EFF0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#231518
Dark-mode background
Hover#BE919A
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B07B86
Two steps down
Disabled#F4EFF0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8AFB7
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 #cba8af

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 #503036
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B88892

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
  • Weight27/100
  • 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#A8CBC4
Analogous left#CBA8C0
Analogous right#CBB2A8
Split-complement 1#A8CBB2
Split-complement 2#A8C0CB
Triadic 1#AFCBA8
Triadic 2#A8AFCB
Tetradic#C0CBA8
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°348°

#cba8af sits at 348°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green65.9%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
168
0xa8
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta17.2%
Yellow13.8%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 51%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cba8af text on a black background

contrast 9.76:1

Card sample

#cba8af text on a white background

contrast 2.15:1

Card sample

#cba8af on grey

1.96:1

#cba8af on its own surface

1.99:1

#cba8af on its dark surface

8.19:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cba8af;
Background color
Panel with #cba8af background
background-color: #cba8af;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cba8af;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 168, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 168, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cba8af;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cba8af, #CBB8A8);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cba8af, #CBC1A8);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cba8af;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cba8af;
caret-color: #cba8af;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cba8af;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EFF0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cba8af;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cba8af 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cba8af 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(203, 168, 175, 0.5)
rgb(203 168 175 / 50%)
#cba8af80
hsl(348 25% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cba8af 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cba8af1a#FAF6F7
20%#cba8af33#F5EEEF
40%#cba8af66#EADCDF
60%#cba8af99#E0CBCF
80%#cba8afcc#D5B9BF

Gradients from #cba8af

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, #E2CED2, #cba8af 45%, #503036);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cba8af, #BFAC95);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cba8af, #A8CBC4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EDE1E4 0%, #cba8af 45%, #503036 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F5F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DEC8D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D6C5BB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #503036 0%, transparent 65%), #cba8af;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cba8af

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.

#cba8af 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 9.76:1.

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.

#cba8af, answered

What color is #cba8af?

#cba8af is a light soft red, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 7.9). It sits at 348° on the hue wheel with 25% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cba8af?

rgb(203, 168, 175) — 203 red, 168 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 65.9% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #cba8af in HSL and HSV?

hsl(348, 25%, 73%) and hsv(348, 17%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cba8af a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4380 and perceived brightness is 71%, so black text on it reaches 9.76:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cba8af?

Black. It scores 9.76:1 against #cba8af, versus 2.15:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cba8af accessible on a white background?

#cba8af on white scores 2.15:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #A36571 to reach 4.5:1, or #7C4A54 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cba8af?

#A8CBC4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A8CBB2 and #A8C0CB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cba8af?

For interface work: #F9F5F6 as the surface, #E0CCD0 for borders, #905661 for secondary text, #488468 as an accent and #503036 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CBA8C0 and #CBB2A8 stays calm, while #A8CBC4 is the loudest partner.

What is #cba8af in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 17%, 14%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cba8af warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 31 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CBAEA8; nudged cooler, #CCA6BC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cba8af?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 23.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cba8af as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cba8af in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cba8af] or text-[#cba8af], 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 #cba8af with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 168, 175, 0.5), or #cba8af80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D4D7; over black, #665458.

Is #cba8af a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cba8af 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 #cba8af?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2CED2, #cba8af 45%, #503036). For more colour, a short hue run to #BFAC95 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cba8af in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cba8af at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.