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Amethyst Bloom Muted
Color detail

Amethyst Bloom Muted

Blue · Hue 245
Hex
#B9B7CD
RGB
rgb(185, 183, 205)
HSL
hsl(245, 18%, 76%)
CMYK
cmyk(10%, 11%, 0%, 20%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 76%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2:1Fail
on black
10.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Amethyst Bloom Muted (#B9B7CD) belongs to the blue family — hue 245°, 18% saturation, 76% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-amethyst-bloom-muted: #B9B7CD;
  --colorarchive-amethyst-bloom-muted-hsl: hsl(245, 18%, 76%);
  --colorarchive-amethyst-bloom-muted-rgb: rgb(185, 183, 205);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

SereneTrustworthyClean
Common in

Social Media · Cloud Storage · Baby Products

Pairs well with

Light gray for tech minimalism, peach for friendly warmth

Design tip

The default choice for tech and social platforms for good reason. Light blue backgrounds reduce anxiety and increase trust.

Cultural context ▶

Light blue represents peace, sky, and openness. It's the most universally liked color, making it safe for global brands.

Color Origins

Blue family

The most-loved color on the planet, and the most overused.

Heritage

Blue is the rarest pigment in the natural world — and so, historically, the most expensive. Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli mined only in Afghanistan, was worth more than gold in Renaissance Europe; Vermeer's bills were enormous because of how much he used. Egyptian blue (the first synthetic pigment, ~3000 BCE) was lost for centuries and rediscovered in the 19th. Prussian blue (1704) democratized blue overnight; Yves Klein's IKB (1960) re-aristocratized it.

Across cultures

In ancient Egypt blue was the color of the Nile and the heavens — sacred, protective. In China blue-and-white porcelain (qinghua) defined export ceramics for 600 years. In Mediterranean traditions blue wards off the evil eye. In post-WWII America, blue became the corporate default ('IBM blue'); in Japan, indigo (ai) is the centuries-old workwear dye that became the ground tone of an entire textile tradition. Across the world blue is consistently rated the most-liked color — sometimes by 35% margins.

In the wild

Facebook is blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind. IBM's blue dates to 1947. Levi's blue is the natural color of indigo on cotton. Twitter Blue (#1DA1F2) defined social-media blue for a decade before X scrapped it. Pixar's Up famously runs on a single complementary palette built on blue. The blue checkmark, the blue link, the blue 'send' button — blue has become the default color of digital trust, to the point of being a UX cliché.

How it reads

Blue recedes — physically, the eye focuses blue light slightly behind the retina, which makes blue elements feel deep or distant. It reads as trustworthy, calm, corporate, and (at the cool end) cold. Light blues read airy and clinical; mid blues are the default for tech and finance; deep blues read as luxurious or naval. The omnipresence of blue in software is real: most enterprise UIs reach for it because it offends the fewest stakeholders, which is also the reason it can feel like the absence of a real choice.

This particular tone

A pale, gentle tone — pastel territory, where the hue acts more like a tinted neutral than a stated color.

Lightness band: At this lightness the hue almost recedes into the surface around it — useful for backgrounds, hover states, and any surface where the color should suggest a mood without competing with content.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #B9B7CD.

  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Glossierprimary
    Glossier Pink · #F8D6CD
    →
  • Aesopneutral
    Cream Paper · #EFE4D2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #B9B7CD.

  • ScandinaviaAsh Grey
    #A8AAA5 · Birch and ash bark
    →
  • China (Traditional)Celadon (青瓷)
    #9CB48F · Song Dynasty Longquan kilns
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Amethyst Pearl Muted
#D0CFDE · hsl(245, 18%, 84%)
Darker companion
Amethyst Silk Muted
#A19FBC · hsl(245, 18%, 68%)
Complementary counterpoint
Citrine Bloom Muted
#CDCDB7 · hsl(60, 18%, 76%)
Analogous lead
Plum Bloom Muted
#C2B7CD · hsl(270, 18%, 76%)
Analogous echo
Cobalt Bloom Muted
#B7BECD · hsl(220, 18%, 76%)
Triadic +120°
Scarlet Bloom Muted
#CDB9B7 · hsl(5, 18%, 76%)
Triadic +240°
Emerald Bloom Muted
#B7CDB7 · hsl(120, 18%, 76%)
Split-comp +150°
Coral Bloom Muted
#CDC2B7 · hsl(30, 18%, 76%)
Split-comp +210°
Lime Bloom Muted
#C2CDB7 · hsl(90, 18%, 76%)
Export preview
Base: Amethyst Bloom Muted #B9B7CD
Lighter companion: Amethyst Pearl Muted #D0CFDE
Darker companion: Amethyst Silk Muted #A19FBC
Complementary counterpoint: Citrine Bloom Muted #CDCDB7
Analogous lead: Plum Bloom Muted #C2B7CD
Analogous echo: Cobalt Bloom Muted #B7BECD
Triadic +120°: Scarlet Bloom Muted #CDB9B7
Triadic +240°: Emerald Bloom Muted #B7CDB7
Split-comp +150°: Coral Bloom Muted #CDC2B7
Split-comp +210°: Lime Bloom Muted #C2CDB7

Compare

See how Amethyst Bloom Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsAmethyst Pearl MutedvsAmethyst Silk MutedvsCitrine Bloom MutedvsPlum Bloom MutedvsCobalt Bloom MutedvsScarlet Bloom Muted

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Amethyst Bloom Faint
#BDBCC8 · hsl(245, 10%, 76%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Bloom Dust
#B5B2D2 · hsl(245, 26%, 76%)
Nearby match
Iris Bloom Muted
#B7B7CD · hsl(240, 18%, 76%)
Nearby match
Violet Bloom Muted
#BAB7CD · hsl(250, 18%, 76%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Silk Muted
#A19FBC · hsl(245, 18%, 68%)
Nearby match
Amethyst Pearl Muted
#D0CFDE · hsl(245, 18%, 84%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA7.7:1
Citrine Ink Faint
#272720
AAA7.4:1
Citrine Ink Muted
#2A2A1D
AAA7.1:1
Citrine Ink Dust
#2D2D1A
AAA7.7:1
Honey Ink Faint
#262720
AAA7.4:1
Honey Ink Muted
#282A1D
AAA7.2:1
Honey Ink Dust
#2A2D1A

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#B8B8C7
Protanopia
#B8B8C8
Tritanopia
#B9C4C3
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