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Bleached quartz

#b099a0
Notes

Bleached quartz (#B099A0) is a true red with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (342°, 13%, 65%) places it in the muted band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary teal. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b099a0
RGB
rgb(176, 153, 160)
HSL
hsl(342, 13%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(342 60% 31%)
OKLCH
oklch(70.5% 0.029 357.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6753 0.6033 0.6267)
HSV
hsv(342, 13%, 69%)
LAB
lab(65.40% 9.70 -0.52)
LCH
lch(65.40% 9.72 356.92)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 13%, 9%, 31%)

Etymology

Bleached
adjective

The past participle of bleach, to whiten by chemical or solar action. Used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that have lost their original saturation through chemical treatment or sun exposure. Bleached wood, bleached linen: low saturation combined with high lightness. Sits at the pale-bucket alongside faded.

quartz
noun

Silicon dioxide — the most abundant single mineral on Earth's continental crust, occurring as everything from beach sand to gem-grade rock crystal. Quartz as a color refers to a polished pale-gray quartz crystal: a soft, very pale slightly cool gray with the high specular shine of a translucent silicate. Cooler than pearl, warmer than mist.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#b099a0
Original
#9b9da0
Protanopia
#a0a0a0
Deuteranopia
#b4989b
Tritanopia
#9e9e9e
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.65:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
7.91:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##B099A0
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6753 0.6033 0.6267)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.029

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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