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red · warm

#cfb9b4

a light, soft red · warm · closest name: Silver

Token name suggestion: Morning Cardinal

RGB
207, 185, 180
HSL
11°, 22%, 76%
CMYK
0, 11, 13, 19
Luminance
0.5126

#cfb9b4 is a light soft red, 11° on the wheel and 25/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.25:1). As text it scores 1.87:1 on white — use #986B61 instead. Nearest name is Silver, nearest Tailwind family is stone.

hsl(11 22% 76%)rgb(207 185 180)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cfb9b4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cfb9b4
Hue
11°
red
Saturation
22%
soft
Lightness
76%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5126
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
25/100 cool
Color family
Red
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.25:1
Closest name
Silver
ΔE2000 9.3
Chroma
8.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.803
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
stone
500 · ΔE 25.2
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue11° of 360°
Saturation22%
Lightness76%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cfb9b4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool25% 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
Red26%
Green68%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#cfb9b4
HEX (8-digit)#cfb9b4ff
RGBrgb(207, 185, 180)
RGBArgba(207, 185, 180, 1)
HSLhsl(11, 22%, 76%)
HSV / HSBhsv(11, 13%, 81%)
HWBhwb(11 71% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 11%, 13%, 19%)
LABlab(76.8 7.0 5.4)
LCHlch(76.8 8.8 37.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.803 0.026 32.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(51.32, 51.26, 50.36)
Decimal13613492
Display P3color(display-p3 0.812 0.725 0.706)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cfb9b4;
background-color: #cfb9b4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cfb9b4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cfb9b4] bg-[#cfb9b4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cfb9b4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.812, green: 0.725, blue: 0.706)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.812, green: 0.725, blue: 0.706, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CFB9B4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCFB9B4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCFB9B4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(180, 185, 207)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(207, 185, 180)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(207, 185, 180)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 207, 185, 180)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8118f, 0.7255f, 0.7059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{207,185,180}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cfb9b4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cfb9b4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4E3732, #E7DCDA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cfb9b4 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: #F9F7F6;
  --brand-100: #F2EEED;
  --brand-200: #E4DAD7;
  --brand-300: #cfb9b4;
  --brand-400: #BD9F98;
  --brand-500: #A77F76;
  --brand-600: #95695F;
  --brand-700: #7C5850;
  --brand-800: #644640;
  --brand-900: #4A3531;
  --brand-950: #2E211F;
  --brand: #cfb9b4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F6F6;
  --brand-border: #DFD1CD;
  --brand-hover: #C1A59E;
  --brand-pressed: #B39088;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #221816;
    --brand-ink: #E7DCDA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F7F6',
        100: '#F2EEED',
        200: '#E4DAD7',
        300: '#cfb9b4',
        400: '#BD9F98',
        500: '#A77F76',
        600: '#95695F',
        700: '#7C5850',
        800: '#644640',
        900: '#4A3531',
        950: '#2E211F',
        DEFAULT: '#cfb9b4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F7F6,
  '100': #F2EEED,
  '200': #E4DAD7,
  '300': #cfb9b4,
  '400': #BD9F98,
  '500': #A77F76,
  '600': #95695F,
  '700': #7C5850,
  '800': #644640,
  '900': #4A3531,
  '950': #2E211F,
);
$brand-base: #cfb9b4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F7F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F2EEED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E4DAD7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cfb9b4", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BD9F98", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#A77F76", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#95695F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7C5850", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#644640", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4A3531", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2E211F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cfb9b4 · 11.25:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.87:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.25:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cfb9b4 as text scores 1.87:1 on white and 11.25:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4E3732 at 5.87:1.

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
#986B61 · 4.55:1
AA on white−27% L
#986B61
The quick fox
#704F47 · 7.25:1
AAA on white−40% L
#704F47
The quick fox
#cfb9b4 · 11.25:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cfb9b4
The quick fox
#cfb9b4 · 11.25:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cfb9b4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AF8B82 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
#cfb9b4 on white: 1.87:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cfb9b4 on black: 11.25:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cfb9b4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cfb9b4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.87:1AaAa
Slate 501.78:1AaAa
Slate 1001.70:1AaAa
Slate 2001.51:1AaAa
Slate 3001.26:1AaAa
Slate 4001.37:1AaAa
Slate 5002.55:1AaAa
Slate 6004.06:1AaAa
Slate 7005.55:1AaAa
Slate 8007.84:1AaAa
Slate 9009.57:1AaAa
Black11.25:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BEBBB4
deuteranopia · #C3BFB4
tritanopia · #D5B6B8

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. #cfb9b4 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.

#F9F7F6
#F2EEED
#E4DAD7
#cfb9b4
#BD9F98
#A77F76
#95695F
#7C5850
#644640
#4A3531
#2E211F
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F7F6Darkest = 950 · #2E211FText 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 0.007 32.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.010 32.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.016 32.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.020 32.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.024 32.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.026 32.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.026 32.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.025 32.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.022 32.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.018 32.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.014 32.9);
}

Colors that work with #cfb9b4

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#DFD1CD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8C635A
Captions on the surface
Accent#4B817C
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4E3732
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F0EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#221816
Dark-mode background
Hover#C1A59E
One step down in lightness
Pressed#B39088
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DCC1BB
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 #cfb9b4

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 #4E3732
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AF8B82

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
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#B4CACF
Analogous left#CFB4BD
Analogous right#CFC7B4
Split-complement 1#B4CFC7
Split-complement 2#B4BDCF
Triadic 1#B4CFB9
Triadic 2#B9B4CF
Tetradic#BDCFB4
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°11°

#cfb9b4 sits at 11°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.2%
Green72.5%
Blue70.6%
R · 0–255
207
0xcf
G · 0–255
185
0xb9
B · 0–255
180
0xb4

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta10.6%
Yellow13.0%
Key (black)18.8%

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

Color previews

#cfb9b4 text on a black background

contrast 11.25:1

Card sample

#cfb9b4 text on a white background

contrast 1.87:1

Card sample

#cfb9b4 on grey

1.70:1

#cfb9b4 on its own surface

1.74:1

#cfb9b4 on its dark surface

9.30:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cfb9b4;
Background color
Panel with #cfb9b4 background
background-color: #cfb9b4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cfb9b4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(207, 185, 180, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(207, 185, 180, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cfb9b4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cfb9b4, #CFCBB4);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfb9b4, #CCCFB4);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cfb9b4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cfb9b4;
caret-color: #cfb9b4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cfb9b4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F0EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cfb9b4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cfb9b4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cfb9b4 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, 185, 180, 0.5)
rgb(207 185 180 / 50%)
#cfb9b480
hsl(11 22% 76% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cfb9b4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cfb9b41a#FAF8F8
20%#cfb9b433#F5F1F0
40%#cfb9b466#ECE3E1
60%#cfb9b499#E2D5D2
80%#cfb9b4cc#D9C7C3

Gradients from #cfb9b4

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, #E7DCD9, #cfb9b4 45%, #4E3732);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cfb9b4, #C3C1A1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfb9b4, #B4CACF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F3EDEC 0%, #cfb9b4 45%, #4E3732 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%, #E3D3D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DBD6C7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4E3732 0%, transparent 65%), #cfb9b4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cfb9b4

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.

#cfb9b4 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 11.25:1.

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.

#cfb9b4, answered

What color is #cfb9b4?

#cfb9b4 is a light soft red, closest to Silver (ΔE2000 9.3). It sits at 11° on the hue wheel with 22% saturation and 76% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #cfb9b4?

rgb(207, 185, 180) — 207 red, 185 green and 180 blue out of 255, or 81.2% / 72.5% / 70.6% by channel.

What is #cfb9b4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(11, 22%, 76%) and hsv(11, 13%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cfb9b4 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5126 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 11.25:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cfb9b4?

Black. It scores 11.25:1 against #cfb9b4, versus 1.87:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cfb9b4 accessible on a white background?

#cfb9b4 on white scores 1.87:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #986B61 to reach 4.5:1, or #704F47 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cfb9b4?

#B4CACF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B4CFC7 and #B4BDCF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cfb9b4?

For interface work: #F9F6F6 as the surface, #DFD1CD for borders, #8C635A for secondary text, #4B817C as an accent and #4E3732 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CFB4BD and #CFC7B4 stays calm, while #B4CACF is the loudest partner.

What is #cfb9b4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 11%, 13%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cfb9b4 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 25 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CFBFB4; nudged cooler, #D0B3B8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cfb9b4?

The stone family — its 500 step is #78716c, ΔE2000 25.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cfb9b4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cfb9b4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cfb9b4] or text-[#cfb9b4], 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 #cfb9b4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(207, 185, 180, 0.5), or #cfb9b480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7DCDA; over black, #685D5A.

Is #cfb9b4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 10 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cfb9b4 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 #cfb9b4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E7DCD9, #cfb9b4 45%, #4E3732). For more colour, a short hue run to #C3C1A1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cfb9b4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cfb9b4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.