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violet · cool

#cdbfe9

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Plum

RGB
205, 191, 233
HSL
260°, 49%, 83%
CMYK
12, 18, 0, 9
Luminance
0.5612

#cdbfe9 is a light vivid violet, 260° on the wheel and 72/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.22:1). As text it scores 1.72:1 on white — use #8360C8 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(260 49% 83%)rgb(205 191 233)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cdbfe9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cdbfe9
Hue
260°
violet
Saturation
49%
vivid
Lightness
83%
light
Brightness
91%
HSV value
Perceived
79%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5612
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
72/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.22:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.6
Chroma
23.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.830
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 27.4
Web-safe
#CCCCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue260° of 360°
Saturation49%
Lightness83%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cdbfe9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool72% 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
Red23%
Green66%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#cdbfe9
HEX (8-digit)#cdbfe9ff
RGBrgb(205, 191, 233)
RGBArgba(205, 191, 233, 1)
HSLhsl(260, 49%, 83%)
HSV / HSBhsv(260, 18%, 91%)
HWBhwb(260 75% 9%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 18%, 0%, 9%)
LABlab(79.7 12.9 -19.1)
LCHlch(79.7 23.0 304.1)
OKLCHoklch(0.830 0.060 300.3)
XYZ (D65)xyz(58.51, 56.12, 84.83)
Decimal13484009
Display P3color(display-p3 0.804 0.749 0.914)
Web-safe#CCCCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cdbfe9;
background-color: #cdbfe9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cdbfe9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cdbfe9] bg-[#cdbfe9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cdbfe9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.804, green: 0.749, blue: 0.914)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.804, green: 0.749, blue: 0.914, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CDBFE9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCDBFE9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCDBFE9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(233, 191, 205)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(205, 191, 233)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(205, 191, 233)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 205, 191, 233)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8039f, 0.7490f, 0.9137f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{205,191,233}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cdbfe9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cdbfe9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#35215F, #DCD3EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cdbfe9 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: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-100: #EEEAF6;
  --brand-200: #cdbfe9;
  --brand-300: #BEACE2;
  --brand-400: #9D82D4;
  --brand-500: #7D58C6;
  --brand-600: #663FB6;
  --brand-700: #553498;
  --brand-800: #442A79;
  --brand-900: #342259;
  --brand-950: #211537;
  --brand: #cdbfe9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F6F4FA;
  --brand-border: #D0C2EA;
  --brand-hover: #B8A4E0;
  --brand-pressed: #A38AD7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #191424;
    --brand-ink: #DCD3EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F6F4FA',
        100: '#EEEAF6',
        200: '#cdbfe9',
        300: '#BEACE2',
        400: '#9D82D4',
        500: '#7D58C6',
        600: '#663FB6',
        700: '#553498',
        800: '#442A79',
        900: '#342259',
        950: '#211537',
        DEFAULT: '#cdbfe9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F6F4FA,
  '100': #EEEAF6,
  '200': #cdbfe9,
  '300': #BEACE2,
  '400': #9D82D4,
  '500': #7D58C6,
  '600': #663FB6,
  '700': #553498,
  '800': #442A79,
  '900': #342259,
  '950': #211537,
);
$brand-base: #cdbfe9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F6F4FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEEAF6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#cdbfe9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#BEACE2", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#9D82D4", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#7D58C6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#663FB6", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#553498", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#442A79", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#342259", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#211537", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cdbfe9 · 12.22:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.72:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.22:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cdbfe9 as text scores 1.72:1 on white and 12.22:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #35215F at 7.97:1.

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
#8360C8 · 4.70:1
AA on white−25% L
#8360C8
The quick fox
#673FB7 · 7.07:1
AAA on white−35% L
#673FB7
The quick fox
#cdbfe9 · 12.22:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cdbfe9
The quick fox
#cdbfe9 · 12.22:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cdbfe9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A086D5 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
#cdbfe9 on white: 1.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cdbfe9 on black: 12.22:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cdbfe9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cdbfe9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.72:1AaAa
Slate 501.64:1AaAa
Slate 1001.57:1AaAa
Slate 2001.39:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4001.49:1AaAa
Slate 5002.77:1AaAa
Slate 6004.41:1AaAa
Slate 7006.03:1AaAa
Slate 8008.52:1AaAa
Slate 90010.39:1AaAa
Black12.22:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B7C5EB
deuteranopia · #B9C5E8
tritanopia · #C9C5CD

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. #cdbfe9 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.

#F6F4FA
#EEEAF6
#cdbfe9
#BEACE2
#9D82D4
#7D58C6
#663FB6
#553498
#442A79
#342259
#211537
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F6F4FADarkest = 950 · #211537Text 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 0.015 300.3);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.024 300.3);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.036 300.3);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.047 300.3);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.055 300.3);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.060 300.3);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.060 300.3);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.056 300.3);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.050 300.3);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.042 300.3);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.033 300.3);
}

Colors that work with #cdbfe9

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#F6F4FA
Tinted page background
Border#D0C2EA
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#654B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#939D2F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#35215F
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F0ECF8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#191424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B8A4E0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A38AD7
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D8CBF1
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 #cdbfe9

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 #35215F
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A086D5

Meaning and mood

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

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

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

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight17/100
  • 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#DBE9BF
Analogous left#BFC6E9
Analogous right#E2BFE9
Split-complement 1#E9E2BF
Split-complement 2#C6E9BF
Triadic 1#E9CDBF
Triadic 2#BFE9CD
Tetradic#E9BFC6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°260°

#cdbfe9 sits at 260°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red80.4%
Green74.9%
Blue91.4%
R · 0–255
205
0xcd
G · 0–255
191
0xbf
B · 0–255
233
0xe9

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.0%
Magenta18.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)8.6%

Total ink coverage is 39%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cdbfe9 text on a black background

contrast 12.22:1

Card sample

#cdbfe9 text on a white background

contrast 1.72:1

Card sample

#cdbfe9 on grey

1.57:1

#cdbfe9 on its own surface

1.57:1

#cdbfe9 on its dark surface

10.48:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cdbfe9;
Background color
Panel with #cdbfe9 background
background-color: #cdbfe9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cdbfe9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(205, 191, 233, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(205, 191, 233, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cdbfe9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cdbfe9, #E9BFE9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdbfe9, #E9BFDE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cdbfe9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cdbfe9;
caret-color: #cdbfe9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cdbfe9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F0ECF8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cdbfe9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cdbfe9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cdbfe9 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(205, 191, 233, 0.5)
rgb(205 191 233 / 50%)
#cdbfe980
hsl(260 49% 83% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cdbfe9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cdbfe91a#FAF9FD
20%#cdbfe933#F5F2FB
40%#cdbfe966#EBE5F6
60%#cdbfe999#E1D9F2
80%#cdbfe9cc#D7CCED

Gradients from #cdbfe9

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, #F0ECF9, #cdbfe9 45%, #35215F);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cdbfe9, #E1A8DC);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cdbfe9, #DBE9BF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F6F4FB 0%, #cdbfe9 45%, #35215F 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F4FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E5E9F6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EFD6F1 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #35215F 0%, transparent 65%), #cdbfe9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cdbfe9

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.

#cdbfe9 in the real world

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

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
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 12.22:1.

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.

#cdbfe9, answered

What color is #cdbfe9?

#cdbfe9 is a light vivid violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.6). It sits at 260° on the hue wheel with 49% saturation and 83% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cdbfe9?

rgb(205, 191, 233) — 205 red, 191 green and 233 blue out of 255, or 80.4% / 74.9% / 91.4% by channel.

What is #cdbfe9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(260, 49%, 83%) and hsv(260, 18%, 91%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cdbfe9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5612 and perceived brightness is 79%, so black text on it reaches 12.22:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cdbfe9?

Black. It scores 12.22:1 against #cdbfe9, versus 1.72:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cdbfe9 accessible on a white background?

#cdbfe9 on white scores 1.72:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8360C8 to reach 4.5:1, or #673FB7 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cdbfe9?

#DBE9BF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #E9E2BF and #C6E9BF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cdbfe9?

For interface work: #F6F4FA as the surface, #D0C2EA for borders, #654B9B for secondary text, #939D2F as an accent and #35215F for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #BFC6E9 and #E2BFE9 stays calm, while #DBE9BF is the loudest partner.

What is #cdbfe9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 18%, 0%, 9%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cdbfe9 warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 72 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DCBFE9; nudged cooler, #BEBFEA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cdbfe9?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 27.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cdbfe9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cdbfe9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cdbfe9] or text-[#cdbfe9], 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 #cdbfe9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(205, 191, 233, 0.5), or #cdbfe980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E6DFF4; over black, #676075.

Is #cdbfe9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCFF, ΔE2000 6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cdbfe9 mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #cdbfe9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0ECF9, #cdbfe9 45%, #35215F). For more colour, a short hue run to #E1A8DC keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cdbfe9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cdbfe9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.