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Apricot Pearl Soft
Color detail

Apricot Pearl Soft

Orange · Hue 40
Hex
#E4DBC8
RGB
rgb(228, 219, 200)
HSL
hsl(40, 34%, 84%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 4%, 12%, 11%)
Metrics
S 34% · L 84%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
1.4:1Fail
on black
15.3:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Pearl Soft (#E4DBC8) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 34% saturation, 84% 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-pearl-soft: #E4DBC8;
  --colorarchive-apricot-pearl-soft-hsl: hsl(40, 34%, 84%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-pearl-soft-rgb: rgb(228, 219, 200);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

CheerfulApproachableWarm
Common in

Children's Products · Wellness · Social Apps

Pairs well with

Soft teal for playful contrast, warm white for minimalism

Design tip

Perfect for onboarding screens and friendly UI. Light oranges feel welcoming without the intensity of pure orange.

Cultural context ▶

Peach and apricot tones are associated with friendliness and optimism. In many Asian cultures, orange symbolizes happiness.

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 bright, airy reading of the hue — clean and approachable, the kind of color that holds up well in product photography and on light backgrounds.

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 clear, mid-saturation register is the most common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #E4DBC8.

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

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #E4DBC8.

  • France (Paris)Lutetian Limestone
    #E5DDC8 · Paris facade stone (Haussmannian-era buildings)
    →
  • IcelandLopapeysa Cream
    #E8DFCC · Undyed Icelandic sheep wool
    →
  • Korea (Obangsaek)Hanji Cream
    #EAE0CB · Mulberry-fiber Korean paper
    →

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 Mist Soft
#EEE8DD · hsl(40, 34%, 90%)
Darker companion
Apricot Bloom Soft
#D7C9AD · hsl(40, 34%, 76%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Pearl Soft
#C8D2E4 · hsl(220, 34%, 84%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Pearl Soft
#E4E4C8 · hsl(60, 34%, 84%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Pearl Soft
#E4CFC8 · hsl(15, 34%, 84%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Pearl Soft
#C8E4DB · hsl(160, 34%, 84%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Pearl Soft
#DBC8E4 · hsl(280, 34%, 84%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Pearl Soft
#C8DFE4 · hsl(190, 34%, 84%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Pearl Soft
#CDC8E4 · hsl(250, 34%, 84%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Pearl Soft #E4DBC8
Lighter companion: Apricot Mist Soft #EEE8DD
Darker companion: Apricot Bloom Soft #D7C9AD
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Pearl Soft #C8D2E4
Analogous lead: Citrine Pearl Soft #E4E4C8
Analogous echo: Vermillion Pearl Soft #E4CFC8
Triadic +120°: Teal Pearl Soft #C8E4DB
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Pearl Soft #DBC8E4
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Pearl Soft #C8DFE4
Split-comp +210°: Violet Pearl Soft #CDC8E4

Compare

See how Apricot Pearl Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Mist SoftvsApricot Bloom SoftvsCobalt Pearl SoftvsCitrine Pearl SoftvsVermillion Pearl SoftvsTeal Pearl Soft

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Apricot Pearl Dust
#E1DACC · hsl(40, 26%, 84%)
Nearby match
Apricot Mist Soft
#EEE8DD · hsl(40, 34%, 90%)
Nearby match
Saffron Pearl Soft
#E4DDC8 · hsl(45, 34%, 84%)
Nearby match
Apricot Bloom Soft
#D7C9AD · hsl(40, 34%, 76%)
Nearby match
Apricot Pearl Muted
#DED9CF · hsl(40, 18%, 84%)
Nearby match
Apricot Whisper Soft
#F5F1EA · hsl(40, 34%, 94%)

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
AAA7:1
Cobalt Shadow Faint
#40454F
AAA7.2:1
Cobalt Shadow Muted
#3B4354
AAA7.4:1
Cobalt Shadow Dust
#35415A
AAA7.6:1
Cobalt Shadow Soft
#2F3F60
AAA8:1
Cobalt Shadow Clear
#213B6E
AAA8.3:1
Cobalt Shadow Vivid
#13367C

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#E1E1CE
Protanopia
#E0E0CD
Tritanopia
#E4D1D1
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Appears in collections
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