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blue · cool

#cac3ee

a light, vivid blue · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Drift Sapphire

RGB
202, 195, 238
HSL
250°, 56%, 85%
CMYK
15, 18, 0, 7
Luminance
0.5776

#cac3ee is a light vivid blue, 250° on the wheel and 78/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.55:1). As text it scores 1.67:1 on white — use #7664D3 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(250 56% 85%)rgb(202 195 238)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cac3ee is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cac3ee
Hue
250°
blue
Saturation
56%
vivid
Lightness
85%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5776
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
78/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.55:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 8.3
Chroma
23.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.837
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 27.8
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue250° of 360°
Saturation56%
Lightness85%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cac3ee.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool78% 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
Red22%
Green68%
Blue11%

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

Every format

HEX#cac3ee
HEX (8-digit)#cac3eeff
RGBrgb(202, 195, 238)
RGBArgba(202, 195, 238, 1)
HSLhsl(250, 56%, 85%)
HSV / HSBhsv(250, 18%, 93%)
HWBhwb(250 76% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 18%, 0%, 7%)
LABlab(80.6 10.8 -20.4)
LCHlch(80.6 23.1 298.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.837 0.060 292.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(59.30, 57.76, 88.90)
Decimal13288430
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.765 0.933)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cac3ee;
background-color: #cac3ee;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cac3ee;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cac3ee] bg-[#cac3ee]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cac3ee;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.765, blue: 0.933)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.765, blue: 0.933, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAC3EE</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAC3EE)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAC3EE)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(238, 195, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 195, 238)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 195, 238)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 195, 238)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.7647f, 0.9333f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,195,238}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cac3ee 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cac3ee 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#281C63, #D7D3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cac3ee 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: #F5F4FB;
  --brand-100: #EBE9F6;
  --brand-200: #cac3ee;
  --brand-300: #B2A8E6;
  --brand-400: #8B7CDA;
  --brand-500: #6550CD;
  --brand-600: #4C36BF;
  --brand-700: #402D9F;
  --brand-800: #33247F;
  --brand-900: #281E5D;
  --brand-950: #19133A;
  --brand: #cac3ee;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F4FA;
  --brand-border: #C7C0ED;
  --brand-hover: #B1A7E6;
  --brand-pressed: #998BDE;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #161424;
    --brand-ink: #D7D3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F4FB',
        100: '#EBE9F6',
        200: '#cac3ee',
        300: '#B2A8E6',
        400: '#8B7CDA',
        500: '#6550CD',
        600: '#4C36BF',
        700: '#402D9F',
        800: '#33247F',
        900: '#281E5D',
        950: '#19133A',
        DEFAULT: '#cac3ee',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F4FB,
  '100': #EBE9F6,
  '200': #cac3ee,
  '300': #B2A8E6,
  '400': #8B7CDA,
  '500': #6550CD,
  '600': #4C36BF,
  '700': #402D9F,
  '800': #33247F,
  '900': #281E5D,
  '950': #19133A,
);
$brand-base: #cac3ee;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F4FB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EBE9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#cac3ee", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B2A8E6", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#8B7CDA", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6550CD", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#4C36BF", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#402D9F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#33247F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#281E5D", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#19133A", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cac3ee · 12.55:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.67:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.55:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cac3ee as text scores 1.67:1 on white and 12.55:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #281C63 at 8.74:1.

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
#7664D3 · 4.63:1
AA on white−24% L
#7664D3
The quick fox
#5640C9 · 7.06:1
AAA on white−33% L
#5640C9
The quick fox
#cac3ee · 12.55:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cac3ee
The quick fox
#cac3ee · 12.55:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cac3ee

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9587DD 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
#cac3ee on white: 1.67:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cac3ee on black: 12.55:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cac3ee as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cac3ee.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.67:1AaAa
Slate 501.60:1AaAa
Slate 1001.53:1AaAa
Slate 2001.36:1AaAa
Slate 3001.13:1AaAa
Slate 4001.53:1AaAa
Slate 5002.84:1AaAa
Slate 6004.53:1AaAa
Slate 7006.19:1AaAa
Slate 8008.74:1AaAa
Slate 90010.67:1AaAa
Black12.55:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BAC9F0
deuteranopia · #BAC7ED
tritanopia · #C3CAD1

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. #cac3ee 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.

#F5F4FB
#EBE9F6
#cac3ee
#B2A8E6
#8B7CDA
#6550CD
#4C36BF
#402D9F
#33247F
#281E5D
#19133A
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F5F4FBDarkest = 950 · #19133AText 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 0.015 292.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 292.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 292.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 292.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 292.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.060 292.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.060 292.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 292.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 292.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 292.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 292.5);
}

Colors that work with #cac3ee

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#F5F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#C7C0ED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#584B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A49A28
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#281C63
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EDEBF9
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#161424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B1A7E6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#998BDE
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D6D0F5
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 #cac3ee

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 #281C63
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9587DD

Meaning and mood

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

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight15/100
  • 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#E7EEC3
Analogous left#C3D1EE
Analogous right#E0C3EE
Split-complement 1#EEE0C3
Split-complement 2#D1EEC3
Triadic 1#EECAC3
Triadic 2#C3EECA
Tetradic#EEC3D1
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°250°

#cac3ee sits at 250°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green76.5%
Blue93.3%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
195
0xc3
B · 0–255
238
0xee

CMYK percentages

Cyan15.1%
Magenta18.1%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)6.7%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cac3ee text on a black background

contrast 12.55:1

Card sample

#cac3ee text on a white background

contrast 1.67:1

Card sample

#cac3ee on grey

1.53:1

#cac3ee on its own surface

1.53:1

#cac3ee on its dark surface

10.82:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cac3ee;
Background color
Panel with #cac3ee background
background-color: #cac3ee;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cac3ee;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 195, 238, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 195, 238, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cac3ee;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cac3ee, #E7C3EE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac3ee, #EEC3EB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cac3ee;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cac3ee;
caret-color: #cac3ee;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cac3ee;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EDEBF9;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cac3ee;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cac3ee 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cac3ee 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(202, 195, 238, 0.5)
rgb(202 195 238 / 50%)
#cac3ee80
hsl(250 56% 85% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cac3ee 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cac3ee1a#FAF9FD
20%#cac3ee33#F4F3FC
40%#cac3ee66#EAE7F8
60%#cac3ee99#DFDBF5
80%#cac3eecc#D5CFF1

Gradients from #cac3ee

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, #F1EFFA, #cac3ee 45%, #281C63);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cac3ee, #E2ABE7);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cac3ee, #E7EEC3);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F3FC 0%, #cac3ee 45%, #281C63 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EBF1F9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EEDBF5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #281C63 0%, transparent 65%), #cac3ee;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cac3ee

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.

#cac3ee in the real world

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

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
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 12.55:1.

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.

#cac3ee, answered

What color is #cac3ee?

#cac3ee is a light vivid blue, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 8.3). It sits at 250° on the hue wheel with 56% saturation and 85% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cac3ee?

rgb(202, 195, 238) — 202 red, 195 green and 238 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 76.5% / 93.3% by channel.

What is #cac3ee in HSL and HSV?

hsl(250, 56%, 85%) and hsv(250, 18%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cac3ee a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5776 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.55:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cac3ee?

Black. It scores 12.55:1 against #cac3ee, versus 1.67:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cac3ee accessible on a white background?

#cac3ee on white scores 1.67:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7664D3 to reach 4.5:1, or #5640C9 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cac3ee?

#E7EEC3 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EEE0C3 and #D1EEC3, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cac3ee?

For interface work: #F5F4FA as the surface, #C7C0ED for borders, #584B9B for secondary text, #A49A28 as an accent and #281C63 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C3D1EE and #E0C3EE stays calm, while #E7EEC3 is the loudest partner.

What is #cac3ee in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 18%, 0%, 7%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cac3ee warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 78 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DAC3EE; nudged cooler, #C2CBEF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cac3ee?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 27.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cac3ee as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cac3ee in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cac3ee] or text-[#cac3ee], 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 #cac3ee with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 195, 238, 0.5), or #cac3ee80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5E1F7; over black, #656277.

Is #cac3ee a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 3.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cac3ee mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #cac3ee?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F1EFFA, #cac3ee 45%, #281C63). For more colour, a short hue run to #E2ABE7 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cac3ee in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cac3ee at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.