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Glowing Beeswing

#cdaf3a
Notes

Glowing Beeswing (#CDAF3A) is a true amber 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 (48°, 60%, 52%) places it in the balanced 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 blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#cdaf3a
RGB
rgb(205, 175, 58)
HSL
hsl(48, 60%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(48 23% 20%)
OKLCH
oklch(76.0% 0.136 94.3)
P3
color(display-p3 0.7847 0.6906 0.3133)
HSV
hsv(48, 72%, 80%)
LAB
lab(72.19% -1.52 60.90)
LCH
lch(72.19% 60.91 91.43)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 15%, 72%, 20%)

Etymology

Glowing
adjective

The progressive participle of glow, to emit light — used as a color word since the medieval period for hues that read as if they were luminous from within. Glowing amber, glowing rose: the implication is moderate saturation combined with the optical impression of internal light. Sits in the bright-bucket alongside radiant.

Beeswing
noun

The thin, glassy crust that forms on the inside of a long-aged port or sherry bottle — fragments break loose like the wings of bees as the wine ages. The color refers to a beeswing-rich vintage port: a deep, slightly muted warm gold-brown with the optical complexity of long-cellar-aged fortified wine.

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.

#cdaf3a
Original
#c1ac28
Protanopia
#c9b541
Deuteranopia
#dda198
Tritanopia
#adadad
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
2.15:1
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
9.79:1

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
##CDAF3A
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.7847 0.6906 0.3133)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.136

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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