colors
Back to gallery

Unblemished Vanilla

#f3e2b2
Notes

Unblemished Vanilla (#F3E2B2) is a soft amber with a pastel character. It reads calm and airy, with enough chroma to feel intentional rather than washed out. Its HSL profile (44°, 73%, 83%) places it in the balanced band at a light lightness. It works as a background wash, large-area fill, or soft illustration tone. Add a darker ink of the same hue when you need type over it. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#f3e2b2
RGB
rgb(243, 226, 178)
HSL
hsl(44, 73%, 83%)
HWB
hwb(44 70% 5%)
OKLCH
oklch(91.5% 0.065 90.9)
HSV
hsv(44, 27%, 95%)
LAB
lab(90.17% -1.41 25.62)
LCH
lch(90.17% 25.65 93.15)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 7%, 27%, 5%)

Etymology

Unblemished
adjective

Old French blesmir, to wound — negative-prefix un- plus past-participle of blemish. As a color modifier, unblemished implies a clear-and-flawless quality where the hue carries no defect or imperfection. Sits at the crisp-and-clean end of the grid, parallel to pristine and spotless in usage.

Vanilla
noun

Vanilla planifolia, the climbing orchid native to Mexico whose cured seed pods yield the world's second-most-expensive spice (after saffron). The color vanilla refers to the pale yellow-cream of a fresh vanilla cream filling: a soft, very pale slightly warm off-white with the matte finish of egg-and-cream emulsion. Warmer than cream, cooler than honey.

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.

#f3e2b2
Original
#ede0af
Protanopia
#f1e5b3
Deuteranopia
#fedad5
Tritanopia
#e2e2e2
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
1.29:1
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
16.33:1

Related Colors

Canvas