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Apricot Silk Faint
Color detail

Apricot Silk Faint

Orange · Hue 40
Hex
#B6B0A5
RGB
rgb(182, 176, 165)
HSL
hsl(40, 10%, 68%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 3%, 9%, 29%)
Metrics
S 10% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2.2:1Fail
on black
9.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Silk Faint (#B6B0A5) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 10% saturation, 68% 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-silk-faint: #B6B0A5;
  --colorarchive-apricot-silk-faint-hsl: hsl(40, 10%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-silk-faint-rgb: rgb(182, 176, 165);
}

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 grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where most identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

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 #B6B0A5.

  • Glossierprimary
    Glossier Pink · #F8D6CD
    →
  • Slackaccent
    Slack Yellow · #ECB22E
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #B6B0A5.

  • 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
Apricot Bloom Faint
#C8C4BC · hsl(40, 10%, 76%)
Darker companion
Apricot Tone Faint
#A39C8F · hsl(40, 10%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Silk Faint
#A5ABB6 · hsl(220, 10%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Silk Faint
#B6B6A5 · hsl(60, 10%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Silk Faint
#B6A9A5 · hsl(15, 10%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Silk Faint
#A5B6B0 · hsl(160, 10%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Silk Faint
#B0A5B6 · hsl(280, 10%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Silk Faint
#A5B3B6 · hsl(190, 10%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Silk Faint
#A8A5B6 · hsl(250, 10%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Silk Faint #B6B0A5
Lighter companion: Apricot Bloom Faint #C8C4BC
Darker companion: Apricot Tone Faint #A39C8F
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Silk Faint #A5ABB6
Analogous lead: Citrine Silk Faint #B6B6A5
Analogous echo: Vermillion Silk Faint #B6A9A5
Triadic +120°: Teal Silk Faint #A5B6B0
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Silk Faint #B0A5B6
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Silk Faint #A5B3B6
Split-comp +210°: Violet Silk Faint #A8A5B6

Compare

See how Apricot Silk Faint compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Bloom FaintvsApricot Tone FaintvsCobalt Silk FaintvsCitrine Silk FaintvsVermillion Silk FaintvsTeal Silk Faint

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Taupe Gray Silk
#B1AFA9 · hsl(40, 5%, 68%)
Nearby match
Apricot Silk Muted
#BCB29F · hsl(40, 18%, 68%)
Nearby match
Saffron Silk Faint
#B6B1A5 · hsl(45, 10%, 68%)
Nearby match
Apricot Tone Faint
#A39C8F · hsl(40, 10%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Bloom Faint
#C8C4BC · hsl(40, 10%, 76%)
Nearby match
Apricot Silk Dust
#C3B498 · hsl(40, 26%, 68%)

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
AAA7.3:1
Cobalt Ink Faint
#202327
AAA7.4:1
Cobalt Ink Muted
#1D222A
AAA7.5:1
Cobalt Ink Dust
#1A212D
AAA7.6:1
Cobalt Ink Soft
#182030
AAA7.8:1
Cobalt Ink Clear
#101D37
AAA7.9:1
Cobalt Ink Vivid
#091B3E

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#B4B4A8
Protanopia
#B3B3A8
Tritanopia
#B6AAAA
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