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Refulgent Brandy

#e0bd2a
Notes

Refulgent Brandy (#E0BD2A) 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 (48°, 75%, 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
#e0bd2a
RGB
rgb(224, 189, 42)
HSL
hsl(48, 75%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(48 16% 12%)
OKLCH
oklch(80.6% 0.155 94.4)
HSV
hsv(48, 81%, 88%)
LAB
lab(77.53% -1.24 71.91)
LCH
lch(77.53% 71.92 90.99)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 16%, 81%, 12%)

Etymology

Refulgent
adjective

Latin refulgēns, shining-back — present-participle of refulgere, sharing root with fulgor (lightning). As a color modifier, refulgent implies a saturated-and-reflective-shining quality, the bright color of polished-bronze-and-armor reflective-surface mid-day-sun reflection. Sits at the bright-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to effulgent and resplendent in usage.

Brandy
noun

The grape-distilled spirit — particularly French Cognac and Armagnac, aged in oak barrels for the warm gold-brown of Old World brandy. The color refers to a Cognac VS in a snifter: a soft, slightly red-shifted warm gold with the optical clarity of grape-distilled spirit aged 2–5 years.

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

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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.

#e0bd2a
Original
#d2b900
Protanopia
#dbc435
Deuteranopia
#f3ada2
Tritanopia
#bababa
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
1.83:1
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
11.48:1

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