We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,000+ algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdates
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Apricot Nocturne Dust
Color detail

Apricot Nocturne Dust

Orange · Hue 40
Hex
#403726
RGB
rgb(64, 55, 38)
HSL
hsl(40, 26%, 20%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 14%, 41%, 75%)
Metrics
S 26% · L 20%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
11.7:1AA
on black
1.8:1Fail
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Nocturne Dust (#403726) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 26% saturation, 20% 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-apricot-nocturne-dust: #403726;
  --colorarchive-apricot-nocturne-dust-hsl: hsl(40, 26%, 20%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-nocturne-dust-rgb: rgb(64, 55, 38);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

EarthyArtisanalGrounded
Common in

Coffee & Bakery · Craft & Handmade · Outdoor Gear

Pairs well with

Olive green, warm cream, or slate gray for organic, natural palettes

Design tip

Great for artisanal brands and rustic interfaces. Combines well with textured backgrounds and serif typography.

Cultural context ▶

Burnt orange and terra cotta evoke earthiness, autumn, and craftsmanship. Popular in Southwestern and Mediterranean design.

Color Origins

Orange family

Citrus, fire, and the only color named after a fruit.

Heritage

Orange is unusual: in English the color was named after the fruit, not the other way around — before the fruit reached Europe in the 16th century, this hue was simply 'yellow-red'. Earlier pigments included realgar (toxic), saffron (priceless), and orpiment. Cadmium orange, introduced in the 19th century, gave painters from the Impressionists onward a stable, brilliant orange that didn't fade or poison.

Across cultures

In Hindu and Buddhist tradition saffron orange marks renunciation — the robe of monks across Theravada and Tibetan lineages. The Dutch House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a national identity color, still worn at football matches and on King's Day. In Ireland, orange is the Protestant counterpart to green's Catholic association — the country's flag literally encodes the divide. Halloween's orange-and-black is a 20th-century American invention that has since gone global.

In the wild

Hermès orange is a brand asset traceable to a 1942 wartime cardboard shortage. Penguin Books used orange-and-white spines as a class signal — fiction was always orange. Nickelodeon, Fanta, and easyJet all chose orange for the same reason: it reads playful and consumer-friendly while staying outside the more crowded red and yellow lanes. NASA flight suits use International Orange specifically because nothing in nature matches it, making astronauts maximally visible against any background.

How it reads

Orange is warm without the urgency of red. It signals appetite (used heavily in fast food), creativity, and approachability. At low saturation it becomes terracotta, rust, or apricot — earthy palettes for hospitality and craft. At high saturation it reads as a sport, energy drink, or warning hazard. Orange and teal is the most common modern film-grade pairing; the contrast between warm skin tones and cool shadows is engineered for it.

This particular tone

A dim, atmospheric reading — closer to a colored shadow than a stated hue. Excellent as a near-black on dark UI or as a moody background.

Lightness band: At this depth the hue starts behaving like a neutral — it can substitute for black in many contexts while still carrying a faint chromatic temperature. It pairs especially well with off-whites and warm metallics.

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 #403726.

  • Xiaohongshu 小红书neutral
    Slate Text · #333333
    →
  • JD.com 京东neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →
  • Taobao 淘宝neutral
    Slate · #333333
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #403726.

  • VietnamPho Broth Brown
    #5C3A21 · Anise-and-cinnamon star, slow simmer
    →
  • France (Paris)Bordeaux Wine
    #5C2E2A · Bordeaux region red wine
    →
  • IrelandPeat Brown
    #604024 · Cut turf bog, Mayo + Connemara
    →

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
Apricot Shadow Dust
#5A4E35 · hsl(40, 26%, 28%)
Darker companion
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A · hsl(40, 26%, 14%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Nocturne Dust
#262F40 · hsl(220, 26%, 20%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Nocturne Dust
#404026 · hsl(60, 26%, 20%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Nocturne Dust
#402C26 · hsl(15, 26%, 20%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Nocturne Dust
#264037 · hsl(160, 26%, 20%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Nocturne Dust
#372640 · hsl(280, 26%, 20%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Nocturne Dust
#263C40 · hsl(190, 26%, 20%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Nocturne Dust
#2A2640 · hsl(250, 26%, 20%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Nocturne Dust #403726
Lighter companion: Apricot Shadow Dust #5A4E35
Darker companion: Apricot Ink Dust #2D271A
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Nocturne Dust #262F40
Analogous lead: Citrine Nocturne Dust #404026
Analogous echo: Vermillion Nocturne Dust #402C26
Triadic +120°: Teal Nocturne Dust #264037
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Nocturne Dust #372640
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Nocturne Dust #263C40
Split-comp +210°: Violet Nocturne Dust #2A2640

Compare

See how Apricot Nocturne Dust compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Shadow DustvsApricot Ink DustvsCobalt Nocturne DustvsCitrine Nocturne DustvsVermillion Nocturne DustvsTeal Nocturne Dust

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Apricot Nocturne Muted
#3C362A · hsl(40, 18%, 20%)
Nearby match
Apricot Nocturne Soft
#443922 · hsl(40, 34%, 20%)
Nearby match
Apricot Ink Dust
#2D271A · hsl(40, 26%, 14%)
Nearby match
Saffron Nocturne Dust
#403A26 · hsl(45, 26%, 20%)
Nearby match
Apricot Shadow Dust
#5A4E35 · hsl(40, 26%, 28%)
Nearby match
Apricot Nocturne Faint
#38352E · hsl(40, 10%, 20%)

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
AAA11.2:1
Cobalt Veil Faint
#F9FAFA
AAA11.2:1
Cobalt Veil Muted
#F9FAFB
AAA11.1:1
Cobalt Veil Dust
#F9F9FB
AAA11.1:1
Cobalt Veil Soft
#F8F9FC
AAA11.1:1
Cobalt Veil Clear
#F7F9FD
AAA11.1:1
Cobalt Veil Vivid
#F6F9FE

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#3D3D2C
Protanopia
#3C3C2B
Tritanopia
#402E2F
Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

ColorArchive Pro includes CSS variables, Figma tokens, Tailwind config, and Procreate swatches — ready to drop into any project.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Related colors

More from Orange

Search
Vermillion Ink Faint#272220 · hsl(15, 10%, 14%)Vermillion Nocturne Faint#38302E · hsl(15, 10%, 20%)Vermillion Shadow Faint#4F4440 · hsl(15, 10%, 28%)Vermillion Dusk Faint#5F524E · hsl(15, 10%, 34%)Vermillion Velvet Faint#766660 · hsl(15, 10%, 42%)Vermillion Core Faint#87746E · hsl(15, 10%, 48%)Vermillion Radiant Faint#95847E · hsl(15, 10%, 54%)Vermillion Tone Faint#A3948F · hsl(15, 10%, 60%)