Dusty Eggshell
Dusty Eggshell (#EEF9D4) is a soft lime with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (78°, 76%, 90%) places it in the highly saturated band at a light 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
An adjectival form of dust — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as covered or muted by fine particulate. Dusty pink, dusty lavender: low saturation combined with optical mattness. Sits at the pale-bucket alongside misty and chalky.
The calcium-carbonate shell of a chicken egg — the surface familiar to any kitchen, in shades from pure white (Leghorn) to brown (Rhode Island Red). The color refers specifically to a white-shelled egg in good light: a soft, very pale slightly warm off-white with the matte finish of porous biomineral. Warmer than chalk, cooler than cream.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.