Skip to content
magenta / pink · warm

#e9c9da

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

Token name suggestion: Chalk Blossom

RGB
233, 201, 218
HSL
328°, 42%, 85%
CMYK
0, 14, 6, 9
Luminance
0.6416

#e9c9da is a pale soft magenta / pink, 328° on the wheel and 34/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.83:1). As text it scores 1.52:1 on white — use #B85188 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is pink.

hsl(328 42% 85%)rgb(233 201 218)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e9c9da is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e9c9da
Hue
328°
magenta / pink
Saturation
42%
soft
Lightness
85%
pale
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
84%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6416
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
34/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
13.83:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 4.4
Chroma
14.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.868
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
pink
500 · ΔE 28.4
Web-safe
#FFCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue328° of 360°
Saturation42%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e9c9da.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool34% 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
Red27%
Green65%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#e9c9da
HEX (8-digit)#e9c9daff
RGBrgb(233, 201, 218)
RGBArgba(233, 201, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(328, 42%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(328, 14%, 91%)
HWBhwb(328 79% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 6%, 9%)
LABlab(84.0 14.1 -4.3)
LCHlch(84.0 14.7 343.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.868 0.042 344.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(67.14, 64.16, 75.16)
Decimal15321562
Display P3color(display-p3 0.914 0.788 0.855)
Web-safe#FFCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e9c9da;
background-color: #e9c9da;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e9c9da;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e9c9da] bg-[#e9c9da]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e9c9da;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.914, green: 0.788, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.914, green: 0.788, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E9C9DA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE9C9DA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE9C9DA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 201, 233)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(233, 201, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(233, 201, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 233, 201, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9137f, 0.7882f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{233,201,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e9c9da 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e9c9da 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#5B2541, #EDD4E1);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e9c9da 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: #FAF5F8;
  --brand-100: #F5EBF0;
  --brand-200: #e9c9da;
  --brand-300: #DFAFC8;
  --brand-400: #CE87AD;
  --brand-500: #BE6092;
  --brand-600: #AE477E;
  --brand-700: #913B69;
  --brand-800: #742F54;
  --brand-900: #55253F;
  --brand-950: #351727;
  --brand: #e9c9da;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF4F8;
  --brand-border: #E7C5D7;
  --brand-hover: #DFB0C9;
  --brand-pressed: #D496B7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #24141D;
    --brand-ink: #EDD4E1;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FAF5F8',
        100: '#F5EBF0',
        200: '#e9c9da',
        300: '#DFAFC8',
        400: '#CE87AD',
        500: '#BE6092',
        600: '#AE477E',
        700: '#913B69',
        800: '#742F54',
        900: '#55253F',
        950: '#351727',
        DEFAULT: '#e9c9da',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FAF5F8,
  '100': #F5EBF0,
  '200': #e9c9da,
  '300': #DFAFC8,
  '400': #CE87AD,
  '500': #BE6092,
  '600': #AE477E,
  '700': #913B69,
  '800': #742F54,
  '900': #55253F,
  '950': #351727,
);
$brand-base: #e9c9da;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FAF5F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F5EBF0", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#e9c9da", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#DFAFC8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#CE87AD", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#BE6092", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#AE477E", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#913B69", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#742F54", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#55253F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#351727", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e9c9da · 13.83:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.52:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.83:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e9c9da as text scores 1.52:1 on white and 13.83:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #5B2541 at 7.75:1.

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
#B85188 · 4.59:1
AA on white−33% L
#B85188
The quick fox
#8E3A66 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−46% L
#8E3A66
The quick fox
#e9c9da · 13.83:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e9c9da
The quick fox
#e9c9da · 13.83:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e9c9da

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #CA7DA6 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
#e9c9da on white: 1.52:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e9c9da on black: 13.83:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e9c9da as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e9c9da.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.52:1AaAa
Slate 501.45:1AaAa
Slate 1001.39:1AaAa
Slate 2001.23:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.69:1AaAa
Slate 5003.13:1AaAa
Slate 6004.99:1AaAa
Slate 7006.82:1AaAa
Slate 8009.64:1AaAa
Slate 90011.76:1AaAa
Black13.83:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CBCFDB
deuteranopia · #D2D3D9
tritanopia · #EEC9CF

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. #e9c9da is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FAF5F8
#F5EBF0
#e9c9da
#DFAFC8
#CE87AD
#BE6092
#AE477E
#913B69
#742F54
#55253F
#351727
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #FAF5F8Darkest = 950 · #351727Text 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 0.011 344.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.017 344.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.025 344.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.033 344.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.039 344.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.042 344.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.042 344.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.040 344.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.036 344.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.030 344.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.023 344.7);
}

Colors that work with #e9c9da

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#FAF4F8
Tinted page background
Border#E7C5D7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B4B75
Captions on the surface
Accent#36964B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#5B2541
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F8EDF3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#24141D
Dark-mode background
Hover#DFB0C9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#D496B7
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F3F5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F2D5E4
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 #e9c9da

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 #5B2541
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #CA7DA6

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 high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight15/100
  • 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#C9E9D8
Analogous left#E8C9E9
Analogous right#E9C9CA
Split-complement 1#CAE9C9
Split-complement 2#C9E9E8
Triadic 1#DAE9C9
Triadic 2#C9DAE9
Tetradic#E9E8C9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°328°

#e9c9da sits at 328°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red91.4%
Green78.8%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
233
0xe9
G · 0–255
201
0xc9
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta13.7%
Yellow6.4%
Key (black)8.6%

Total ink coverage is 29%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e9c9da text on a black background

contrast 13.83:1

Card sample

#e9c9da text on a white background

contrast 1.52:1

Card sample

#e9c9da on grey

1.39:1

#e9c9da on its own surface

1.40:1

#e9c9da on its dark surface

11.60:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e9c9da;
Background color
Panel with #e9c9da background
background-color: #e9c9da;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e9c9da;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(233, 201, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(233, 201, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e9c9da;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e9c9da, #E9CDC9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e9c9da, #E9D5C9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e9c9da;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e9c9da;
caret-color: #e9c9da;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e9c9da;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F8EDF3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e9c9da;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e9c9da 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e9c9da 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(233, 201, 218, 0.5)
rgb(233 201 218 / 50%)
#e9c9da80
hsl(328 42% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e9c9da 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e9c9da1a#FDFAFB
20%#e9c9da33#FBF4F8
40%#e9c9da66#F6E9F0
60%#e9c9da99#F2DFE9
80%#e9c9dacc#EDD4E1

Gradients from #e9c9da

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, #F9F1F5, #e9c9da 45%, #5B2541);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e9c9da, #E0BDB3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e9c9da, #C9E9D8);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #FBF4F8 0%, #e9c9da 45%, #5B2541 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF4F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F7EDF8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #F2E0DF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #5B2541 0%, transparent 65%), #e9c9da;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e9c9da

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.

#e9c9da 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 13.83:1.

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.

#e9c9da, answered

What color is #e9c9da?

#e9c9da is a pale soft magenta / pink, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 4.4). It sits at 328° on the hue wheel with 42% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #e9c9da?

rgb(233, 201, 218) — 233 red, 201 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 91.4% / 78.8% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #e9c9da in HSL and HSV?

hsl(328, 42%, 85%) and hsv(328, 14%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e9c9da a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6416 and perceived brightness is 84%, so black text on it reaches 13.83:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e9c9da?

Black. It scores 13.83:1 against #e9c9da, versus 1.52:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e9c9da accessible on a white background?

#e9c9da on white scores 1.52:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #B85188 to reach 4.5:1, or #8E3A66 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e9c9da?

#C9E9D8 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CAE9C9 and #C9E9E8, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e9c9da?

For interface work: #FAF4F8 as the surface, #E7C5D7 for borders, #9B4B75 for secondary text, #36964B as an accent and #5B2541 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E8C9E9 and #E9C9CA stays calm, while #C9E9D8 is the loudest partner.

What is #e9c9da in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 6%, 9%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #e9c9da warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 34 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E9C9CE; nudged cooler, #EAC8E6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e9c9da?

The pink family — its 500 step is #ec4899, ΔE2000 28.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e9c9da as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e9c9da in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e9c9da] or text-[#e9c9da], 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 #e9c9da with 50% opacity?

rgba(233, 201, 218, 0.5), or #e9c9da80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F4E4ED; over black, #75656D.

Is #e9c9da a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFCCCC, ΔE2000 8.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e9c9da 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 #e9c9da?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F9F1F5, #e9c9da 45%, #5B2541). For more colour, a short hue run to #E0BDB3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e9c9da in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e9c9da at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.