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Lustrous Pommery

#b9aa12
Notes

Lustrous Pommery (#B9AA12) is a true yellow with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (55°, 82%, 40%) 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
#b9aa12
RGB
rgb(185, 170, 18)
HSL
hsl(55, 82%, 40%)
HWB
hwb(55 7% 27%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.8% 0.150 102.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7155 0.6687 0.2291)
HSV
hsv(55, 90%, 73%)
LAB
lab(68.83% -9.00 68.89)
LCH
lch(68.83% 69.47 97.45)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 8%, 90%, 27%)

Etymology

Lustrous
adjective

From the Latin lustrare, to illuminate — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues with the slight specular shine of polished metal or silk. Lustrous green, lustrous gold: the implication is moderate-to-high saturation combined with surface reflectivity. Sits at the bright-and-glossy corner alongside gleaming.

Pommery
noun

The Champagne house founded in Reims in 1858 — and the saturated yellow of Pommery Brut Royal vintage labeling. Pommery refers to a vintage Pommery Champagne in a flute: a soft, slightly cool warm pale yellow with the optical clarity of long-aged sparkling wine. Warmer than champagne.

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.

#b9aa12
Original
#bba400
Protanopia
#bfab24
Deuteranopia
#c89d91
Tritanopia
#a2a2a2
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
2.38:1
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
8.82:1

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
##B9AA12
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7155 0.6687 0.2291)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.150

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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