Palettes / Colors / #856496

#856496 — Dusty Purple

#856496 is a purple color we call Dusty Purple, closest to the named color SlateGray (#708090). It belongs to the purple family.

Color name

Closest CSS keyword: slategray (#708090) — not an exact match. CSS slategray gives you #708090, a different color; use #856496 when you need this exact shade.

Sources: common names follow widely used color-name references; CSS keywords and their hex values follow the CSS Color specification.

#856496 is a cool purple color associated with luxury, creativity and mystery. It sits comfortably in the middle: usable for large areas in soft schemes, or as a supporting color beside something stronger.

Its strongest partner is its complement #759664; it also sits naturally between #6C6496 and #96648E. In the palettes below you can see it working alongside real color combinations from our collection.

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Color values

RGB & CMYK percentages

Red 52% · Green 39% · Blue 59%

Cyan 11% · Magenta 33% · Yellow 0% · Key 41%

CMYK values are unprofiled approximations for screen reference — not a print-proofing guarantee.

Previews

CSS code for #856496

.text { color: #856496; }
.background { background-color: #856496; }
.border { border: 3px solid #856496; }
.text-rgb { color: rgb(133, 100, 150); }
.text-hsl { color: hsl(280, 20%, 49%); }
.text-shadow-hex { text-shadow: 4px 4px 2px #856496; }
.text-shadow-rgba { text-shadow: 4px 4px 2px rgba(133, 100, 150, 0.8); }
.box-shadow-hex { box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px 2px #856496; }
.box-shadow-rgba { box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px 2px rgba(133, 100, 150, 0.8); }

HTML: <p style="color:#856496">Text here</p> · <div style="background-color:#856496">Div content here</div>

Shades of #856496

Tints of #856496

Tones of #856496

Color harmonies

Complementary — #759664:

Analogous:

Triadic:

Contrast & accessibility

Best text color on #856496: #FFFFFF.

Semi-transparent (opacity) text on #856496

Text set with opacity blends into the background, so its real contrast is lower than the solid ratios above. Choose a text color and an opacity to see the blended color and its true ratio:

How #856496 looks with color blindness

Simulated with standard Machado color-vision-deficiency matrices — useful when this color carries meaning in charts, maps or interfaces:

Closest design-system colors

The nearest matches in the Tailwind CSS, Material Design and Bootstrap palettes — handy when you need a framework class instead of a raw hex:

Palettes with a similar color

These palettes use a close neighbour of #856496 rather than the exact color:

Similar colors

The closest colors that actually appear in our palette collection — click any to open its page:

Browse neighbouring colors

← #856495  ·  #856497 →

Frequently asked questions

What color is #856496?

#856496 is Dusty Purple, a purple color (RGB 133, 100, 150). Its closest standard named color is SlateGray.

What is the RGB and HSL of #856496?

#856496 is RGB 133, 100, 150 — HSL 280°, 20%, 49% — CMYK 11%, 33%, 0%, 41%.

What colors go with #856496?

Its complement is #759664; analogous partners are #6C6496 and #96648E. It also appears in 6+ palettes in our collection.

Can I use #856496 for text?

White text on #856496 has a contrast ratio of 4.93:1 (passes WCAG AA); black text gives 4.26:1.