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magenta / pink · neutral

#cbaac1

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Ruby

RGB
203, 170, 193
HSL
318°, 24%, 73%
CMYK
0, 16, 5, 20
Luminance
0.4530

#cbaac1 is a light soft magenta / pink, 318° on the wheel and 43/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.06:1). As text it scores 2.09:1 on white — use #9E618C instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(318 24% 73%)rgb(203 170 193)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cbaac1 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cbaac1
Hue
318°
magenta / pink
Saturation
24%
soft
Lightness
73%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4530
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
43/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.06:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
17.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.774
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 22.8
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue318° of 360°
Saturation24%
Lightness73%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cbaac1.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool43% 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
Red28%
Green63%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#cbaac1
HEX (8-digit)#cbaac1ff
RGBrgb(203, 170, 193)
RGBArgba(203, 170, 193, 1)
HSLhsl(318, 24%, 73%)
HSV / HSBhsv(318, 16%, 80%)
HWBhwb(318 67% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 16%, 5%, 20%)
LABlab(73.1 15.9 -7.2)
LCHlch(73.1 17.5 335.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.774 0.049 337.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.63, 45.30, 56.62)
Decimal13347521
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.667 0.757)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cbaac1;
background-color: #cbaac1;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cbaac1;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cbaac1] bg-[#cbaac1]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cbaac1;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.667, blue: 0.757)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.667, blue: 0.757, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBAAC1</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBAAC1)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBAAC1)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(193, 170, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 170, 193)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 170, 193)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 170, 193)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.6667f, 0.7569f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,170,193}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cbaac1 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cbaac1 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4F3046, #E8D9E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cbaac1 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: #F9F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F3EDF1;
  --brand-200: #E5D7E1;
  --brand-300: #cbaac1;
  --brand-400: #BF97B3;
  --brand-500: #AA7499;
  --brand-600: #985D86;
  --brand-700: #7F4D70;
  --brand-800: #653E59;
  --brand-900: #4B3043;
  --brand-950: #2F1E2A;
  --brand: #cbaac1;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F8;
  --brand-border: #E0CCDA;
  --brand-hover: #BD94B1;
  --brand-pressed: #B07EA1;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #23151F;
    --brand-ink: #E8D9E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F8',
        100: '#F3EDF1',
        200: '#E5D7E1',
        300: '#cbaac1',
        400: '#BF97B3',
        500: '#AA7499',
        600: '#985D86',
        700: '#7F4D70',
        800: '#653E59',
        900: '#4B3043',
        950: '#2F1E2A',
        DEFAULT: '#cbaac1',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F8,
  '100': #F3EDF1,
  '200': #E5D7E1,
  '300': #cbaac1,
  '400': #BF97B3,
  '500': #AA7499,
  '600': #985D86,
  '700': #7F4D70,
  '800': #653E59,
  '900': #4B3043,
  '950': #2F1E2A,
);
$brand-base: #cbaac1;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3EDF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5D7E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cbaac1", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BF97B3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AA7499", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#985D86", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7F4D70", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#653E59", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B3043", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F1E2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cbaac1 · 10.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.09:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cbaac1 as text scores 2.09:1 on white and 10.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4F3046 at 5.46:1.

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
#9E618C · 4.62:1
AA on white−23% L
#9E618C
The quick fox
#794A6A · 7.00:1
AAA on white−35% L
#794A6A
The quick fox
#cbaac1 · 10.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cbaac1
The quick fox
#cbaac1 · 10.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cbaac1

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B484A5 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
#cbaac1 on white: 2.09:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cbaac1 on black: 10.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cbaac1 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cbaac1.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.09:1AaAa
Slate 502.00:1AaAa
Slate 1001.91:1AaAa
Slate 2001.69:1AaAa
Slate 3001.41:1AaAa
Slate 4001.23:1AaAa
Slate 5002.28:1AaAa
Slate 6003.63:1AaAa
Slate 7004.96:1AaAa
Slate 8007.01:1AaAa
Slate 9008.55:1AaAa
Black10.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ABB1C2
deuteranopia · #B2B5C0
tritanopia · #CFABB2

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. #cbaac1 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.

#F9F6F8
#F3EDF1
#E5D7E1
#cbaac1
#BF97B3
#AA7499
#985D86
#7F4D70
#653E59
#4B3043
#2F1E2A
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F8Darkest = 950 · #2F1E2AText 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 0.012 337.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 337.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.030 337.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 337.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.045 337.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.049 337.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.049 337.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.046 337.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 337.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.035 337.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 337.2);
}

Colors that work with #cbaac1

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#F9F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#E0CCDA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8E577E
Captions on the surface
Accent#49834C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4F3046
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5EFF3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#23151F
Dark-mode background
Hover#BD94B1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B07EA1
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F0F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9B1CC
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 #cbaac1

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
  • 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 #4F3046
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B484A5

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.

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

Strong gendered associations in some markets — test it with the audience you actually have.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight27/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • 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#AACBB4
Analogous left#C4AACB
Analogous right#CBAAB0
Split-complement 1#B0CBAA
Split-complement 2#AACBC4
Triadic 1#C1CBAA
Triadic 2#AAC1CB
Tetradic#CBC4AA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°318°

#cbaac1 sits at 318°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green66.7%
Blue75.7%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
193
0xc1

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta16.3%
Yellow4.9%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 42%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cbaac1 text on a black background

contrast 10.06:1

Card sample

#cbaac1 text on a white background

contrast 2.09:1

Card sample

#cbaac1 on grey

1.91:1

#cbaac1 on its own surface

1.95:1

#cbaac1 on its dark surface

8.39:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cbaac1;
Background color
Panel with #cbaac1 background
background-color: #cbaac1;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cbaac1;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 170, 193, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 170, 193, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cbaac1;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cbaac1, #CBAAAB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbaac1, #CBB1AA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cbaac1;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cbaac1;
caret-color: #cbaac1;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cbaac1;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5EFF3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cbaac1;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cbaac1 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cbaac1 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, 170, 193, 0.5)
rgb(203 170 193 / 50%)
#cbaac180
hsl(318 24% 73% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cbaac1 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cbaac11a#FAF7F9
20%#cbaac133#F5EEF3
40%#cbaac166#EADDE6
60%#cbaac199#E0CCDA
80%#cbaac1cc#D5BBCD

Gradients from #cbaac1

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, #E2D0DD, #cbaac1 45%, #4F3046);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cbaac1, #BF9997);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbaac1, #AACBB4);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEE3EA 0%, #cbaac1 45%, #4F3046 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D8CADE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7BDC0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4F3046 0%, transparent 65%), #cbaac1;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cbaac1

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.

#cbaac1 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
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 10.06:1.

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.

#cbaac1, answered

What color is #cbaac1?

#cbaac1 is a light soft magenta / pink, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 318° on the hue wheel with 24% saturation and 73% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #cbaac1?

rgb(203, 170, 193) — 203 red, 170 green and 193 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 66.7% / 75.7% by channel.

What is #cbaac1 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(318, 24%, 73%) and hsv(318, 16%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cbaac1 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4530 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cbaac1?

Black. It scores 10.06:1 against #cbaac1, versus 2.09:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cbaac1 accessible on a white background?

#cbaac1 on white scores 2.09:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9E618C to reach 4.5:1, or #794A6A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cbaac1?

#AACBB4 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B0CBAA and #AACBC4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cbaac1?

For interface work: #F9F6F8 as the surface, #E0CCDA for borders, #8E577E for secondary text, #49834C as an accent and #4F3046 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C4AACB and #CBAAB0 stays calm, while #AACBB4 is the loudest partner.

What is #cbaac1 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 16%, 5%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cbaac1 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 43 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CBAAB5; nudged cooler, #CAA9CC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cbaac1?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 22.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cbaac1 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cbaac1 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cbaac1] or text-[#cbaac1], 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 #cbaac1 with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 170, 193, 0.5), or #cbaac180 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D5E0; over black, #665561.

Is #cbaac1 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cbaac1 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #cbaac1?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2D0DD, #cbaac1 45%, #4F3046). For more colour, a short hue run to #BF9997 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cbaac1 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cbaac1 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.