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magenta / pink · warm

#dab5cd

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Blossom

RGB
218, 181, 205
HSL
321°, 33%, 78%
CMYK
0, 17, 6, 15
Luminance
0.5236

#dab5cd is a light soft magenta / pink, 321° on the wheel and 39/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.47:1). As text it scores 1.83:1 on white — use #AC598F instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(321 33% 78%)rgb(218 181 205)Base step 300AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dab5cd is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dab5cd
Hue
321°
magenta / pink
Saturation
33%
soft
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
85%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5236
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
39/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
11.47:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 3.9
Chroma
18.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.813
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 24.2
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue321° of 360°
Saturation33%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dab5cd.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool39% 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%
Green63%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#dab5cd
HEX (8-digit)#dab5cdff
RGBrgb(218, 181, 205)
RGBArgba(218, 181, 205, 1)
HSLhsl(321, 33%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(321, 17%, 85%)
HWBhwb(321 71% 15%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 17%, 6%, 15%)
LABlab(77.5 17.3 -7.1)
LCHlch(77.5 18.7 337.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.813 0.053 339.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(56.46, 52.36, 64.88)
Decimal14333389
Display P3color(display-p3 0.855 0.710 0.804)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dab5cd;
background-color: #dab5cd;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dab5cd;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dab5cd] bg-[#dab5cd]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dab5cd;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.855, green: 0.710, blue: 0.804)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.855, green: 0.710, blue: 0.804, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DAB5CD</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDAB5CD)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDAB5CD)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(205, 181, 218)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(218, 181, 205)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(218, 181, 205)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 181, 205)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8549f, 0.7098f, 0.8039f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{218,181,205}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dab5cd 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dab5cd 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#552B46, #EBD6E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dab5cd 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: #F9F5F8;
  --brand-100: #F4ECF1;
  --brand-200: #E8D4E1;
  --brand-300: #dab5cd;
  --brand-400: #C78FB3;
  --brand-500: #B4699A;
  --brand-600: #A35286;
  --brand-700: #884470;
  --brand-800: #6D365A;
  --brand-900: #502A43;
  --brand-950: #321B2A;
  --brand: #dab5cd;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF5F8;
  --brand-border: #E4C9DA;
  --brand-hover: #CE9DBD;
  --brand-pressed: #C285AD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #24141F;
    --brand-ink: #EBD6E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F5F8',
        100: '#F4ECF1',
        200: '#E8D4E1',
        300: '#dab5cd',
        400: '#C78FB3',
        500: '#B4699A',
        600: '#A35286',
        700: '#884470',
        800: '#6D365A',
        900: '#502A43',
        950: '#321B2A',
        DEFAULT: '#dab5cd',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F5F8,
  '100': #F4ECF1,
  '200': #E8D4E1,
  '300': #dab5cd,
  '400': #C78FB3,
  '500': #B4699A,
  '600': #A35286,
  '700': #884470,
  '800': #6D365A,
  '900': #502A43,
  '950': #321B2A,
);
$brand-base: #dab5cd;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F5F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F4ECF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E8D4E1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#dab5cd", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#C78FB3", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#B4699A", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#A35286", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#884470", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#6D365A", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#502A43", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#321B2A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dab5cd · 11.47:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.83:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.47:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dab5cd as text scores 1.83:1 on white and 11.47:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #552B46 at 6.30:1.

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
#AC598F · 4.59:1
AA on white−27% L
#AC598F
The quick fox
#82416B · 7.20:1
AAA on white−40% L
#82416B
The quick fox
#dab5cd · 11.47:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dab5cd
The quick fox
#dab5cd · 11.47:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dab5cd

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #BF7FA8 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
#dab5cd on white: 1.83:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dab5cd on black: 11.47:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dab5cd as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dab5cd.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.83:1AaAa
Slate 501.75:1AaAa
Slate 1001.67:1AaAa
Slate 2001.48:1AaAa
Slate 3001.23:1AaAa
Slate 4001.40:1AaAa
Slate 5002.60:1AaAa
Slate 6004.14:1AaAa
Slate 7005.66:1AaAa
Slate 8007.99:1AaAa
Slate 9009.75:1AaAa
Black11.47:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B6BCCE
deuteranopia · #BEC1CC
tritanopia · #DFB6BD

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. #dab5cd 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.

#F9F5F8
#F4ECF1
#E8D4E1
#dab5cd
#C78FB3
#B4699A
#A35286
#884470
#6D365A
#502A43
#321B2A
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F9F5F8Darkest = 950 · #321B2AText 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 0.013 339.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 339.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 339.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 339.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 339.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 339.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 339.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 339.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 339.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 339.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 339.4);
}

Colors that work with #dab5cd

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#FAF5F8
Tinted page background
Border#E4C9DA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#994D7E
Captions on the surface
Accent#408C48
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#552B46
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F6EEF4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#24141F
Dark-mode background
Hover#CE9DBD
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C285AD
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E5BED7
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 #dab5cd

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 #552B46
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #BF7FA8

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
  • Weight22/100
  • 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#B5DAC2
Analogous left#D4B5DA
Analogous right#DAB5BA
Split-complement 1#BADAB5
Split-complement 2#B5DAD4
Triadic 1#CDDAB5
Triadic 2#B5CDDA
Tetradic#DAD4B5
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°321°

#dab5cd sits at 321°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red85.5%
Green71.0%
Blue80.4%
R · 0–255
218
0xda
G · 0–255
181
0xb5
B · 0–255
205
0xcd

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta17.0%
Yellow6.0%
Key (black)14.5%

Total ink coverage is 38%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dab5cd text on a black background

contrast 11.47:1

Card sample

#dab5cd text on a white background

contrast 1.83:1

Card sample

#dab5cd on grey

1.67:1

#dab5cd on its own surface

1.70:1

#dab5cd on its dark surface

9.60:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dab5cd;
Background color
Panel with #dab5cd background
background-color: #dab5cd;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dab5cd;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(218, 181, 205, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(218, 181, 205, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dab5cd;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dab5cd, #DAB6B5);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dab5cd, #DABFB5);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dab5cd;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dab5cd;
caret-color: #dab5cd;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dab5cd;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F6EEF4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dab5cd;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dab5cd 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dab5cd 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(218, 181, 205, 0.5)
rgb(218 181 205 / 50%)
#dab5cd80
hsl(321 33% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dab5cd 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dab5cd1a#FBF8FA
20%#dab5cd33#F8F0F5
40%#dab5cd66#F0E1EB
60%#dab5cd99#E9D3E1
80%#dab5cdcc#E1C4D7

Gradients from #dab5cd

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, #EEDEE8, #dab5cd 45%, #552B46);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dab5cd, #D0A5A1);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dab5cd, #B5DAC2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F2F6 0%, #dab5cd 45%, #552B46 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF5F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E6D7EB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E4C9CB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #552B46 0%, transparent 65%), #dab5cd;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dab5cd

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.

#dab5cd 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 11.47:1.

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.

#dab5cd, answered

What color is #dab5cd?

#dab5cd is a light soft magenta / pink, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 3.9). It sits at 321° on the hue wheel with 33% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dab5cd?

rgb(218, 181, 205) — 218 red, 181 green and 205 blue out of 255, or 85.5% / 71% / 80.4% by channel.

What is #dab5cd in HSL and HSV?

hsl(321, 33%, 78%) and hsv(321, 17%, 85%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dab5cd a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5236 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 11.47:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dab5cd?

Black. It scores 11.47:1 against #dab5cd, versus 1.83:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dab5cd accessible on a white background?

#dab5cd on white scores 1.83:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #AC598F to reach 4.5:1, or #82416B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dab5cd?

#B5DAC2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #BADAB5 and #B5DAD4, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dab5cd?

For interface work: #FAF5F8 as the surface, #E4C9DA for borders, #994D7E for secondary text, #408C48 as an accent and #552B46 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D4B5DA and #DAB5BA stays calm, while #B5DAC2 is the loudest partner.

What is #dab5cd in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 17%, 6%, 15%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dab5cd warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 39 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DAB5BF; nudged cooler, #DAB4DB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dab5cd?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 24.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dab5cd as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dab5cd in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dab5cd] or text-[#dab5cd], 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 #dab5cd with 50% opacity?

rgba(218, 181, 205, 0.5), or #dab5cd80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EDDAE6; over black, #6D5B67.

Is #dab5cd a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 17 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dab5cd 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 #dab5cd?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #EEDEE8, #dab5cd 45%, #552B46). For more colour, a short hue run to #D0A5A1 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dab5cd in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dab5cd at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.