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violet · cool

#cfaaf5

a light, electric violet · cool · closest name: Plum

Token name suggestion: Linen Thistle

RGB
207, 170, 245
HSL
270°, 79%, 81%
CMYK
16, 31, 0, 4
Luminance
0.4861

#cfaaf5 is a light electric violet, 270° on the wheel and 67/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.72:1). As text it scores 1.96:1 on white — use #994AEA instead. Nearest name is Plum, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(270 79% 81%)rgb(207 170 245)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cfaaf5 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cfaaf5
Hue
270°
violet
Saturation
79%
electric
Lightness
81%
light
Brightness
96%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4861
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
67/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
10.72:1
Closest name
Plum
ΔE2000 7.3
Chroma
42.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.797
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 20.5
Web-safe
#CC99FF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue270° of 360°
Saturation79%
Lightness81%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cfaaf5.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool67% 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
Red27%
Green59%
Blue14%

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

Every format

HEX#cfaaf5
HEX (8-digit)#cfaaf5ff
RGBrgb(207, 170, 245)
RGBArgba(207, 170, 245, 1)
HSLhsl(270, 79%, 81%)
HSV / HSBhsv(270, 31%, 96%)
HWBhwb(270 67% 4%)
CMYKcmyk(16%, 31%, 0%, 4%)
LABlab(75.2 27.5 -32.4)
LCHlch(75.2 42.5 310.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.797 0.111 306.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.59, 48.61, 92.77)
Decimal13609717
Display P3color(display-p3 0.812 0.667 0.961)
Web-safe#CC99FF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cfaaf5;
background-color: #cfaaf5;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cfaaf5;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cfaaf5] bg-[#cfaaf5]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cfaaf5;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.812, green: 0.667, blue: 0.961)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.812, green: 0.667, blue: 0.961, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CFAAF5</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCFAAF5)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCFAAF5)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(245, 170, 207)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(207, 170, 245)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(207, 170, 245)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 207, 170, 245)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8118f, 0.6667f, 0.9608f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{207,170,245}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cfaaf5 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cfaaf5 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3F0D72, #E0D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cfaaf5 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: #F7F3FC;
  --brand-100: #F0E6F9;
  --brand-200: #DEC7F5;
  --brand-300: #cfaaf5;
  --brand-400: #AA68ED;
  --brand-500: #8E36E7;
  --brand-600: #791ADB;
  --brand-700: #6516B6;
  --brand-800: #511192;
  --brand-900: #3D116A;
  --brand-950: #260A42;
  --brand: #cfaaf5;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D6C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #BD8AF1;
  --brand-pressed: #AB6AED;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C1424;
    --brand-ink: #E0D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F3FC',
        100: '#F0E6F9',
        200: '#DEC7F5',
        300: '#cfaaf5',
        400: '#AA68ED',
        500: '#8E36E7',
        600: '#791ADB',
        700: '#6516B6',
        800: '#511192',
        900: '#3D116A',
        950: '#260A42',
        DEFAULT: '#cfaaf5',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F3FC,
  '100': #F0E6F9,
  '200': #DEC7F5,
  '300': #cfaaf5,
  '400': #AA68ED,
  '500': #8E36E7,
  '600': #791ADB,
  '700': #6516B6,
  '800': #511192,
  '900': #3D116A,
  '950': #260A42,
);
$brand-base: #cfaaf5;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F3FC", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0E6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DEC7F5", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cfaaf5", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#AA68ED", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#8E36E7", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#791ADB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6516B6", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#511192", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3D116A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#260A42", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cfaaf5 · 10.72:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.96:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cfaaf5 as text scores 1.96:1 on white and 10.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3F0D72 at 7.09:1.

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
#994AEA · 4.64:1
AA on white−21% L
#994AEA
The quick fox
#781AD8 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−34% L
#781AD8
The quick fox
#cfaaf5 · 10.72:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cfaaf5
The quick fox
#cfaaf5 · 10.72:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cfaaf5

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #B378EF 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
#cfaaf5 on white: 1.96:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cfaaf5 on black: 10.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cfaaf5 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cfaaf5.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.96:1AaAa
Slate 501.87:1AaAa
Slate 1001.79:1AaAa
Slate 2001.59:1AaAa
Slate 3001.32:1AaAa
Slate 4001.31:1AaAa
Slate 5002.43:1AaAa
Slate 6003.87:1AaAa
Slate 7005.29:1AaAa
Slate 8007.47:1AaAa
Slate 9009.11:1AaAa
Black10.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9CB8F8
deuteranopia · #A3BAF3
tritanopia · #CAB5C5

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. #cfaaf5 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.

#F7F3FC
#F0E6F9
#DEC7F5
#cfaaf5
#AA68ED
#8E36E7
#791ADB
#6516B6
#511192
#3D116A
#260A42
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F3FCDarkest = 950 · #260A42Text 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 0.028 306.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.044 306.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.066 306.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.086 306.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.102 306.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.111 306.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.111 306.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.104 306.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.093 306.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.077 306.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.061 306.6);
}

Colors that work with #cfaaf5

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#F7F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D6C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#724B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#92BB11
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3F0D72
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2E8FC
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#BD8AF1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#AB6AED
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D9B9FB
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 #cfaaf5

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 #3F0D72
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #B378EF

Meaning and mood

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

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight19/100
  • 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#D0F5AA
Analogous left#AAABF5
Analogous right#F4AAF5
Split-complement 1#F5F4AA
Split-complement 2#ABF5AA
Triadic 1#F5CFAA
Triadic 2#AAF5CF
Tetradic#F5AAAB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°270°

#cfaaf5 sits at 270°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.2%
Green66.7%
Blue96.1%
R · 0–255
207
0xcf
G · 0–255
170
0xaa
B · 0–255
245
0xf5

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.5%
Magenta30.6%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)3.9%

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

Color previews

#cfaaf5 text on a black background

contrast 10.72:1

Card sample

#cfaaf5 text on a white background

contrast 1.96:1

Card sample

#cfaaf5 on grey

1.79:1

#cfaaf5 on its own surface

1.80:1

#cfaaf5 on its dark surface

9.13:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cfaaf5;
Background color
Panel with #cfaaf5 background
background-color: #cfaaf5;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cfaaf5;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(207, 170, 245, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(207, 170, 245, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cfaaf5;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cfaaf5, #F5AAE9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfaaf5, #F5AAD6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cfaaf5;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cfaaf5;
caret-color: #cfaaf5;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cfaaf5;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2E8FC;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cfaaf5;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cfaaf5 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cfaaf5 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(207, 170, 245, 0.5)
rgb(207 170 245 / 50%)
#cfaaf580
hsl(270 79% 81% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cfaaf5 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cfaaf51a#FAF7FE
20%#cfaaf533#F5EEFD
40%#cfaaf566#ECDDFB
60%#cfaaf599#E2CCF9
80%#cfaaf5cc#D9BBF7

Gradients from #cfaaf5

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, #EEE1FB, #cfaaf5 45%, #3F0D72);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cfaaf5, #F28FDA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfaaf5, #D0F5AA);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F1FD 0%, #cfaaf5 45%, #3F0D72 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D8DBFA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F8C6F4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3F0D72 0%, transparent 65%), #cfaaf5;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cfaaf5

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.

#cfaaf5 in the real world

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

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

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 10.72:1.

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.

#cfaaf5, answered

What color is #cfaaf5?

#cfaaf5 is a light electric violet, closest to Plum (ΔE2000 7.3). It sits at 270° on the hue wheel with 79% saturation and 81% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cfaaf5?

rgb(207, 170, 245) — 207 red, 170 green and 245 blue out of 255, or 81.2% / 66.7% / 96.1% by channel.

What is #cfaaf5 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(270, 79%, 81%) and hsv(270, 31%, 96%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cfaaf5 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4861 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 10.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cfaaf5?

Black. It scores 10.72:1 against #cfaaf5, versus 1.96:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cfaaf5 accessible on a white background?

#cfaaf5 on white scores 1.96:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #994AEA to reach 4.5:1, or #781AD8 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cfaaf5?

#D0F5AA sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F5F4AA and #ABF5AA, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cfaaf5?

For interface work: #F7F4FA as the surface, #D6C0ED for borders, #724B9B for secondary text, #92BB11 as an accent and #3F0D72 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #AAABF5 and #F4AAF5 stays calm, while #D0F5AA is the loudest partner.

What is #cfaaf5 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(16%, 31%, 0%, 4%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #cfaaf5 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 67 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EBAAF5; nudged cooler, #B3A9F6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cfaaf5?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 20.5 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cfaaf5 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cfaaf5 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cfaaf5] or text-[#cfaaf5], 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 #cfaaf5 with 50% opacity?

rgba(207, 170, 245, 0.5), or #cfaaf580 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7D5FA; over black, #68557B.

Is #cfaaf5 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99FF, ΔE2000 5.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cfaaf5 mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #cfaaf5?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EEE1FB, #cfaaf5 45%, #3F0D72). For more colour, a short hue run to #F28FDA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cfaaf5 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cfaaf5 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.