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magenta / pink · neutral

#b49bb4

a light, muted magenta / pink · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Morning Peony

RGB
180, 155, 180
HSL
300°, 14%, 66%
CMYK
0, 14, 0, 29
Luminance
0.3644

#b49bb4 is a light muted magenta / pink, 300° on the wheel and 50/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.29:1). As text it scores 2.53:1 on white — use #8E6A8E instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(300 14% 66%)rgb(180 155 180)Base step 400AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #b49bb4 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#b49bb4
Hue
300°
magenta / pink
Saturation
14%
muted
Lightness
66%
light
Brightness
71%
HSV value
Perceived
65%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3644
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
50/100 cool
Color family
Magenta / pink
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
8.29:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 9.8
Chroma
16.7
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.720
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 20.9
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue300° of 360°
Saturation14%
Lightness66%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #b49bb4.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool50% cool

Reads neutral. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red27%
Green64%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#b49bb4
HEX (8-digit)#b49bb4ff
RGBrgb(180, 155, 180)
RGBArgba(180, 155, 180, 1)
HSLhsl(300, 14%, 66%)
HSV / HSBhsv(300, 14%, 71%)
HWBhwb(300 61% 29%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 14%, 0%, 29%)
LABlab(66.9 13.7 -9.5)
LCHlch(66.9 16.7 325.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.720 0.045 326.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(38.78, 36.44, 48.16)
Decimal11836340
Display P3color(display-p3 0.706 0.608 0.706)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #b49bb4;
background-color: #b49bb4;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #b49bb4;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#b49bb4] bg-[#b49bb4]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #b49bb4;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.706, green: 0.608, blue: 0.706)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.706, green: 0.608, blue: 0.706, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#B49BB4</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFB49BB4)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFB49BB4)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(180, 155, 180)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(180, 155, 180)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(180, 155, 180)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 180, 155, 180)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7059f, 0.6078f, 0.7059f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{180,155,180}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #b49bb4 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #b49bb4 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#493749, #E5DCE5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #b49bb4 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: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-100: #F1EEF1;
  --brand-200: #E2DAE2;
  --brand-300: #CFBFCF;
  --brand-400: #b49bb4;
  --brand-500: #9F7F9F;
  --brand-600: #8C698C;
  --brand-700: #755775;
  --brand-800: #5D465D;
  --brand-900: #453545;
  --brand-950: #2B212B;
  --brand: #b49bb4;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #DCD0DC;
  --brand-hover: #A587A5;
  --brand-pressed: #957295;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #201820;
    --brand-ink: #E5DCE5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F1EEF1',
        200: '#E2DAE2',
        300: '#CFBFCF',
        400: '#b49bb4',
        500: '#9F7F9F',
        600: '#8C698C',
        700: '#755775',
        800: '#5D465D',
        900: '#453545',
        950: '#2B212B',
        DEFAULT: '#b49bb4',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F1EEF1,
  '200': #E2DAE2,
  '300': #CFBFCF,
  '400': #b49bb4,
  '500': #9F7F9F,
  '600': #8C698C,
  '700': #755775,
  '800': #5D465D,
  '900': #453545,
  '950': #2B212B,
);
$brand-base: #b49bb4;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F6F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E2DAE2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CFBFCF", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#b49bb4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9F7F9F", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#8C698C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#755775", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#5D465D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#453545", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2B212B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #b49bb4 · 8.29:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.53:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.29:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #b49bb4 as text scores 2.53:1 on white and 8.29:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #493749 at 4.30:1.

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
#8E6A8E · 4.56:1
AA on white−17% L
#8E6A8E
The quick fox
#6B506B · 7.04:1
AAA on white−29% L
#6B506B
The quick fox
#b49bb4 · 8.29:1
AA on blackalready passes
#b49bb4
The quick fox
#b49bb4 · 8.29:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#b49bb4

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A98CA9 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
#b49bb4 on white: 2.53:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#b49bb4 on black: 8.29:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #b49bb4 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #b49bb4.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.53:1AaAa
Slate 502.42:1AaAa
Slate 1002.31:1AaAa
Slate 2002.06:1AaAa
Slate 3001.71:1AaAa
Slate 4001.01:1AaAa
Slate 5001.88:1AaAa
Slate 6002.99:1AaAa
Slate 7004.09:1AaAa
Slate 8005.77:1AaAa
Slate 9007.05:1AaAa
Black8.29:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #9AA1B5
deuteranopia · #9FA4B3
tritanopia · #B69DA3

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. #b49bb4 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F6F8
#F1EEF1
#E2DAE2
#CFBFCF
#b49bb4
#9F7F9F
#8C698C
#755775
#5D465D
#453545
#2B212B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #2B212BText 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 0.011 326.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.018 326.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.027 326.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.035 326.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.042 326.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.045 326.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.045 326.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.043 326.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.038 326.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.032 326.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.025 326.0);
}

Colors that work with #b49bb4

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#F8F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#DCD0DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#836283
Captions on the surface
Accent#5D7953
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#493749
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F4F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#201820
Dark-mode background
Hover#A587A5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#957295
Two steps down
Disabled#E4DBE4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#C59FC5
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 #b49bb4

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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 #493749
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A98CA9

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.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. 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
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight34/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#9BB49B
Analogous left#A89BB4
Analogous right#B49BA8
Split-complement 1#A8B49B
Split-complement 2#9BB4A8
Triadic 1#B4B49B
Triadic 2#9BB4B4
Tetradic#B4A89B
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°300°

#b49bb4 sits at 300°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red70.6%
Green60.8%
Blue70.6%
R · 0–255
180
0xb4
G · 0–255
155
0x9b
B · 0–255
180
0xb4

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta13.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)29.4%

Total ink coverage is 43%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#b49bb4 text on a black background

contrast 8.29:1

Card sample

#b49bb4 text on a white background

contrast 2.53:1

Card sample

#b49bb4 on grey

2.31:1

#b49bb4 on its own surface

2.36:1

#b49bb4 on its dark surface

6.83:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #b49bb4;
Background color
Panel with #b49bb4 background
background-color: #b49bb4;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #b49bb4;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(180, 155, 180, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(180, 155, 180, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #b49bb4;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #b49bb4, #B49BA3);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b49bb4, #B49B9D);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #b49bb4;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #b49bb4;
caret-color: #b49bb4;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #b49bb4;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F4F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #b49bb4;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#b49bb4 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #b49bb4 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(180, 155, 180, 0.5)
rgb(180 155 180 / 50%)
#b49bb480
hsl(300 14% 66% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #b49bb4 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#b49bb41a#F8F5F8
20%#b49bb433#F0EBF0
40%#b49bb466#E1D7E1
60%#b49bb499#D2C3D2
80%#b49bb4cc#C3AFC3

Gradients from #b49bb4

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, #CEBECE, #b49bb4 45%, #493749);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #b49bb4, #A78A91);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #b49bb4, #9BB49B);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DBCFDB 0%, #b49bb4 45%, #493749 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C0B8CA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C1ADB5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #493749 0%, transparent 65%), #b49bb4;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #b49bb4

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.

#b49bb4 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
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 8.29:1.

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.

#b49bb4, answered

What color is #b49bb4?

#b49bb4 is a light muted magenta / pink, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 9.8). It sits at 300° on the hue wheel with 14% saturation and 66% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #b49bb4?

rgb(180, 155, 180) — 180 red, 155 green and 180 blue out of 255, or 70.6% / 60.8% / 70.6% by channel.

What is #b49bb4 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(300, 14%, 66%) and hsv(300, 14%, 71%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #b49bb4 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3644 and perceived brightness is 65%, so black text on it reaches 8.29:1.

Should I use black or white text on #b49bb4?

Black. It scores 8.29:1 against #b49bb4, versus 2.53:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #b49bb4 accessible on a white background?

#b49bb4 on white scores 2.53:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8E6A8E to reach 4.5:1, or #6B506B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #b49bb4?

#9BB49B sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #A8B49B and #9BB4A8, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #b49bb4?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #DCD0DC for borders, #836283 for secondary text, #5D7953 as an accent and #493749 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A89BB4 and #B49BA8 stays calm, while #9BB49B is the loudest partner.

What is #b49bb4 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 14%, 0%, 29%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #b49bb4 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 50 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #B49BAB; nudged cooler, #AB99B6.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #b49bb4?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 20.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #b49bb4 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #b49bb4 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#b49bb4] or text-[#b49bb4], 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 #b49bb4 with 50% opacity?

rgba(180, 155, 180, 0.5), or #b49bb480 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #DACDDA; over black, #5A4E5A.

Is #b49bb4 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 8.5 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #b49bb4 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 low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #b49bb4?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CEBECE, #b49bb4 45%, #493749). For more colour, a short hue run to #A78A91 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #b49bb4 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #b49bb4 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.