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violet · neutral

#dfd6e2

a pale, soft violet · neutral · closest name: Lavender

Token name suggestion: Chalk Thistle

RGB
223, 214, 226
HSL
285°, 17%, 86%
CMYK
1, 5, 0, 11
Luminance
0.6927

#dfd6e2 is a pale soft violet, 285° on the wheel and 54/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.85:1). As text it scores 1.41:1 on white — use #8B6B96 instead. Nearest name is Lavender, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(285 17% 86%)rgb(223 214 226)Base step 200AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfd6e2 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfd6e2
Hue
285°
violet
Saturation
17%
soft
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
89%
HSV value
Perceived
86%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6927
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
54/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.85:1
Closest name
Lavender
ΔE2000 5.7
Chroma
7.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.887
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 31.2
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue285° of 360°
Saturation17%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfd6e2.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool54% 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
Red23%
Green69%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#dfd6e2
HEX (8-digit)#dfd6e2ff
RGBrgb(223, 214, 226)
RGBArgba(223, 214, 226, 1)
HSLhsl(285, 17%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(285, 5%, 89%)
HWBhwb(285 84% 11%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 5%, 0%, 11%)
LABlab(86.6 5.2 -4.8)
LCHlch(86.6 7.1 317.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.887 0.019 317.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(68.20, 69.27, 81.71)
Decimal14669538
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.839 0.886)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfd6e2;
background-color: #dfd6e2;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfd6e2;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfd6e2] bg-[#dfd6e2]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfd6e2;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.839, blue: 0.886)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.839, blue: 0.886, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFD6E2</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFD6E2)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFD6E2)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(226, 214, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 214, 226)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 214, 226)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 214, 226)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.8392f, 0.8863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,214,226}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd6e2 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd6e2 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#45354B, #E3DBE6);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfd6e2 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: #F1EEF2;
  --brand-200: #dfd6e2;
  --brand-300: #CCBDD0;
  --brand-400: #B29CB9;
  --brand-500: #987CA2;
  --brand-600: #85658F;
  --brand-700: #6F5577;
  --brand-800: #594460;
  --brand-900: #423447;
  --brand-950: #29202C;
  --brand: #dfd6e2;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F9;
  --brand-border: #DACFDD;
  --brand-hover: #CFC1D3;
  --brand-pressed: #BEACC4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1721;
    --brand-ink: #E3DBE6;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F6F8',
        100: '#F1EEF2',
        200: '#dfd6e2',
        300: '#CCBDD0',
        400: '#B29CB9',
        500: '#987CA2',
        600: '#85658F',
        700: '#6F5577',
        800: '#594460',
        900: '#423447',
        950: '#29202C',
        DEFAULT: '#dfd6e2',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F6F8,
  '100': #F1EEF2,
  '200': #dfd6e2,
  '300': #CCBDD0,
  '400': #B29CB9,
  '500': #987CA2,
  '600': #85658F,
  '700': #6F5577,
  '800': #594460,
  '900': #423447,
  '950': #29202C,
);
$brand-base: #dfd6e2;
$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": "#F1EEF2", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dfd6e2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CCBDD0", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B29CB9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#987CA2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#85658F", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6F5577", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#594460", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#423447", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#29202C", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfd6e2 · 14.85:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.41:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.85:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfd6e2 as text scores 1.41:1 on white and 14.85:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #45354B 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
#8B6B96 · 4.52:1
AA on white−36% L
#8B6B96
The quick fox
#674F6F · 7.18:1
AAA on white−49% L
#674F6F
The quick fox
#dfd6e2 · 14.85:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfd6e2
The quick fox
#dfd6e2 · 14.85:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfd6e2

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A58BAD 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
#dfd6e2 on white: 1.41:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfd6e2 on black: 14.85:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfd6e2 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfd6e2.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.41:1AaAa
Slate 501.35:1AaAa
Slate 1001.29:1AaAa
Slate 2001.15:1AaAa
Slate 3001.05:1AaAa
Slate 4001.81:1AaAa
Slate 5003.37:1AaAa
Slate 6005.36:1AaAa
Slate 7007.32:1AaAa
Slate 80010.35:1AaAa
Slate 90012.63:1AaAa
Black14.85:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D5D8E3
deuteranopia · #D7D9E2
tritanopia · #DFD7DA

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. #dfd6e2 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.

#F8F6F8
#F1EEF2
#dfd6e2
#CCBDD0
#B29CB9
#987CA2
#85658F
#6F5577
#594460
#423447
#29202C
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F8F6F8Darkest = 950 · #29202CText 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 0.005 317.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 317.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.011 317.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.015 317.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.017 317.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.019 317.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.019 317.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.018 317.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.016 317.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.013 317.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.010 317.7);
}

Colors that work with #dfd6e2

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#F8F6F9
Tinted page background
Border#DACFDD
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7D5F86
Captions on the surface
Accent#667A52
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#45354B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F0F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1721
Dark-mode background
Hover#CFC1D3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#BEACC4
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EAE0ED
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 #dfd6e2

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 #45354B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A58BAD

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.

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

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#D9E2D6
Analogous left#D9D6E2
Analogous right#E2D6DF
Split-complement 1#DFE2D6
Split-complement 2#D6E2D9
Triadic 1#E2DFD6
Triadic 2#D6E2DF
Tetradic#E2D9D6
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°285°

#dfd6e2 sits at 285°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green83.9%
Blue88.6%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
214
0xd6
B · 0–255
226
0xe2

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.3%
Magenta5.3%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)11.4%

Total ink coverage is 18%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfd6e2 text on a black background

contrast 14.85:1

Card sample

#dfd6e2 text on a white background

contrast 1.41:1

Card sample

#dfd6e2 on grey

1.29:1

#dfd6e2 on its own surface

1.32:1

#dfd6e2 on its dark surface

12.38:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfd6e2;
Background color
Panel with #dfd6e2 background
background-color: #dfd6e2;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfd6e2;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 214, 226, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 214, 226, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfd6e2;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfd6e2, #E2D6DD);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd6e2, #E2D6DA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfd6e2;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfd6e2;
caret-color: #dfd6e2;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfd6e2;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F0F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfd6e2;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfd6e2 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfd6e2 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(223, 214, 226, 0.5)
rgb(223 214 226 / 50%)
#dfd6e280
hsl(285 17% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfd6e2 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfd6e21a#FCFBFC
20%#dfd6e233#F9F7F9
40%#dfd6e266#F2EFF3
60%#dfd6e299#ECE6EE
80%#dfd6e2cc#E5DEE8

Gradients from #dfd6e2

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, #F6F3F7, #dfd6e2 45%, #45354B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfd6e2, #D5C4CD);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd6e2, #D9E2D6);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F6F9 0%, #dfd6e2 45%, #45354B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F4F4F7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EFE8EC 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #45354B 0%, transparent 65%), #dfd6e2;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfd6e2

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.

#dfd6e2 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

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 14.85:1.

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.

#dfd6e2, answered

What color is #dfd6e2?

#dfd6e2 is a pale soft violet, closest to Lavender (ΔE2000 5.7). It sits at 285° on the hue wheel with 17% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #dfd6e2?

rgb(223, 214, 226) — 223 red, 214 green and 226 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 83.9% / 88.6% by channel.

What is #dfd6e2 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(285, 17%, 86%) and hsv(285, 5%, 89%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfd6e2 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6927 and perceived brightness is 86%, so black text on it reaches 14.85:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfd6e2?

Black. It scores 14.85:1 against #dfd6e2, versus 1.41:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfd6e2 accessible on a white background?

#dfd6e2 on white scores 1.41:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #8B6B96 to reach 4.5:1, or #674F6F for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfd6e2?

#D9E2D6 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DFE2D6 and #D6E2D9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfd6e2?

For interface work: #F8F6F9 as the surface, #DACFDD for borders, #7D5F86 for secondary text, #667A52 as an accent and #45354B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #D9D6E2 and #E2D6DF stays calm, while #D9E2D6 is the loudest partner.

What is #dfd6e2 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 5%, 0%, 11%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfd6e2 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 54 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #E2D6E1; nudged cooler, #DBD5E3.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfd6e2?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 31.2 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfd6e2 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfd6e2 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfd6e2] or text-[#dfd6e2], 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 #dfd6e2 with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 214, 226, 0.5), or #dfd6e280 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFEBF1; over black, #706B71.

Is #dfd6e2 a web-safe color?

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

What does the color #dfd6e2 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #dfd6e2?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F6F3F7, #dfd6e2 45%, #45354B). For more colour, a short hue run to #D5C4CD keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfd6e2 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfd6e2 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.