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red · warm

#cbaeac

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

Token name suggestion: Morning Rust

RGB
203, 174, 172
HSL
4°, 23%, 74%
CMYK
0, 14, 15, 20
Luminance
0.4595

#cbaeac is a light soft red, 4° on the wheel and 27/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.19:1). As text it scores 2.06:1 on white — use #9E6864 instead. Nearest name is Rosy Brown, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(4 23% 74%)rgb(203 174 172)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

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

Hex
#cbaeac
Hue
red
Saturation
23%
soft
Lightness
74%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
72%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4595
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
27/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.19:1
Closest name
Rosy Brown
ΔE2000 9.4
Chroma
11.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.775
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 23.9
Web-safe
#CC9999
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue4° of 360°
Saturation23%
Lightness74%
Saturation × lightness field

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

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
Red28%
Green66%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cbaeac
HEX (8-digit)#cbaeacff
RGBrgb(203, 174, 172)
RGBArgba(203, 174, 172, 1)
HSLhsl(4, 23%, 74%)
HSV / HSBhsv(4, 15%, 80%)
HWBhwb(4 67% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 15%, 20%)
LABlab(73.5 10.2 4.9)
LCHlch(73.5 11.3 25.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.775 0.034 22.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.21, 45.95, 45.40)
Decimal13348524
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.682 0.675)
Web-safe#CC9999

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cbaeac;
background-color: #cbaeac;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cbaeac;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cbaeac] bg-[#cbaeac]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cbaeac;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.682, blue: 0.675)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.682, blue: 0.675, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBAEAC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBAEAC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBAEAC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(172, 174, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 174, 172)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 174, 172)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 174, 172)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.6824f, 0.6745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,174,172}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cbaeac 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cbaeac 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4E3331, #E7DAD9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cbaeac 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: #F2EDED;
  --brand-200: #E5D8D7;
  --brand-300: #cbaeac;
  --brand-400: #BE9A97;
  --brand-500: #A97875;
  --brand-600: #97625E;
  --brand-700: #7D524F;
  --brand-800: #64413F;
  --brand-900: #4A3230;
  --brand-950: #2E1F1E;
  --brand: #cbaeac;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-border: #E0CECD;
  --brand-hover: #BD9896;
  --brand-pressed: #AF8380;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #231616;
    --brand-ink: #E7DAD9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F6F6',
        100: '#F2EDED',
        200: '#E5D8D7',
        300: '#cbaeac',
        400: '#BE9A97',
        500: '#A97875',
        600: '#97625E',
        700: '#7D524F',
        800: '#64413F',
        900: '#4A3230',
        950: '#2E1F1E',
        DEFAULT: '#cbaeac',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F6F6,
  '100': #F2EDED,
  '200': #E5D8D7,
  '300': #cbaeac,
  '400': #BE9A97,
  '500': #A97875,
  '600': #97625E,
  '700': #7D524F,
  '800': #64413F,
  '900': #4A3230,
  '950': #2E1F1E,
);
$brand-base: #cbaeac;
$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": "#F2EDED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E5D8D7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cbaeac", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BE9A97", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A97875", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#97625E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7D524F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#64413F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4A3230", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E1F1E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cbaeac · 10.19:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.06:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.19:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cbaeac as text scores 2.06:1 on white and 10.19:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4E3331 at 5.53:1.

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
#9E6864 · 4.55:1
AA on white−23% L
#9E6864
The quick fox
#764C4A · 7.23:1
AAA on white−36% L
#764C4A
The quick fox
#cbaeac · 10.19:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cbaeac
The quick fox
#cbaeac · 10.19:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cbaeac

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B38986 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
#cbaeac on white: 2.06:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cbaeac on black: 10.19:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

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

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.06:1AaAa
Slate 501.97:1AaAa
Slate 1001.88:1AaAa
Slate 2001.67:1AaAa
Slate 3001.39:1AaAa
Slate 4001.24:1AaAa
Slate 5002.31:1AaAa
Slate 6003.68:1AaAa
Slate 7005.02:1AaAa
Slate 8007.10:1AaAa
Slate 9008.66:1AaAa
Black10.19:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B3B1AC
deuteranopia · #BAB7AC
tritanopia · #D2ABAE

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. #cbaeac 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
#F2EDED
#E5D8D7
#cbaeac
#BE9A97
#A97875
#97625E
#7D524F
#64413F
#4A3230
#2E1F1E
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F6F6Darkest = 950 · #2E1F1EText 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 0.008 22.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.014 22.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.020 22.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.026 22.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.031 22.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.034 22.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.034 22.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.032 22.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.028 22.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.024 22.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.019 22.6);
}

Colors that work with #cbaeac

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#E0CECD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8D5C58
Captions on the surface
Accent#4A8277
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4E3331
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F0EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#231616
Dark-mode background
Hover#BD9896
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AF8380
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F1F1
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9B5B3
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 #cbaeac

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 #4E3331
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B38986

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#ACC9CB
Analogous left#CBACB9
Analogous right#CBBDAC
Split-complement 1#ACCBBD
Split-complement 2#ACB9CB
Triadic 1#ACCBAE
Triadic 2#AEACCB
Tetradic#B9CBAC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°4°

#cbaeac sits at 4°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green68.2%
Blue67.5%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
174
0xae
B · 0–255
172
0xac

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta14.3%
Yellow15.3%
Key (black)20.4%

Total ink coverage is 50%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cbaeac text on a black background

contrast 10.19:1

Card sample

#cbaeac text on a white background

contrast 2.06:1

Card sample

#cbaeac on grey

1.88:1

#cbaeac on its own surface

1.92:1

#cbaeac on its dark surface

8.51:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

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

Glowing headline

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

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 174, 172, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 174, 172, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cbaeac;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cbaeac, #CBC3AC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

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

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cbaeac;
caret-color: #cbaeac;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cbaeac;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F0EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cbaeac;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cbaeac 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cbaeac 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, 174, 172, 0.5)
rgb(203 174 172 / 50%)
#cbaeac80
hsl(4 23% 74% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cbaeac 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cbaeac1a#FAF7F7
20%#cbaeac33#F5EFEE
40%#cbaeac66#EADFDE
60%#cbaeac99#E0CECD
80%#cbaeaccc#D5BEBD

Gradients from #cbaeac

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, #E3D3D2, #cbaeac 45%, #4E3331);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cbaeac, #BFB899);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbaeac, #ACC9CB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #EEE5E4 0%, #cbaeac 45%, #4E3331 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%, #DFCBD5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7CEBF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4E3331 0%, transparent 65%), #cbaeac;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cbaeac

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.

#cbaeac 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 10.19:1.

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.

#cbaeac, answered

What color is #cbaeac?

#cbaeac is a light soft red, closest to Rosy Brown (ΔE2000 9.4). It sits at 4° on the hue wheel with 23% saturation and 74% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cbaeac?

rgb(203, 174, 172) — 203 red, 174 green and 172 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 68.2% / 67.5% by channel.

What is #cbaeac in HSL and HSV?

hsl(4, 23%, 74%) and hsv(4, 15%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cbaeac a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4595 and perceived brightness is 72%, so black text on it reaches 10.19:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cbaeac?

Black. It scores 10.19:1 against #cbaeac, versus 2.06:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cbaeac accessible on a white background?

#cbaeac on white scores 2.06:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9E6864 to reach 4.5:1, or #764C4A for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cbaeac?

#ACC9CB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ACCBBD and #ACB9CB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cbaeac?

For interface work: #F9F6F6 as the surface, #E0CECD for borders, #8D5C58 for secondary text, #4A8277 as an accent and #4E3331 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CBACB9 and #CBBDAC stays calm, while #ACC9CB is the loudest partner.

What is #cbaeac in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 15%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cbaeac 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 #CBB8AC; nudged cooler, #CCABB5.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cbaeac?

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

How do I use #cbaeac in Tailwind CSS?

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

rgba(203, 174, 172, 0.5), or #cbaeac80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D7D6; over black, #665756.

Is #cbaeac a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC9999, ΔE2000 7.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cbaeac 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 #cbaeac?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E3D3D2, #cbaeac 45%, #4E3331). For more colour, a short hue run to #BFB899 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cbaeac in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

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