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Dazzling Wallflower

#b9a519
Notes

Dazzling Wallflower (#B9A519) is a true amber with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (53°, 76%, 41%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b9a519
RGB
rgb(185, 165, 25)
HSL
hsl(53, 76%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(53 10% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(71.8% 0.144 100.2)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7124 0.6499 0.2331)
HSV
hsv(53, 86%, 73%)
LAB
lab(67.50% -6.23 66.42)
LCH
lch(67.50% 66.71 95.36)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 11%, 86%, 27%)

Etymology

Dazzling
adjective

The progressive participle of dazzle, to overwhelm with brightness — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that read as intense enough to be momentarily blinding. Dazzling white, dazzling pink: the implication is luminance pushed to the extreme. Sits at the bright-bucket extreme alongside electric.

Wallflower
noun

Erysimum cheiri, the European biennial whose fragrant yellow-orange flowers cover medieval-castle walls (the source of the name) and cottage gardens in late spring. The color refers to a fresh wallflower bloom in May: a saturated, slightly red yellow with the satin finish of four-petaled mustard-family flower.

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.

#b9a519
Original
#b6a000
Protanopia
#bba827
Deuteranopia
#c8988d
Tritanopia
#9f9f9f
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
2.48:1
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
8.46:1

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
##B9A519
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7124 0.6499 0.2331)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.144

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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