Palettes / Colors / #AA81BB

#AA81BB — Dusty Purple

#AA81BB is a purple color we call Dusty Purple, closest to the named color DarkGray (#A9A9A9). It belongs to the purple family.

Color name

Closest CSS keyword: darkgray (#A9A9A9) — not an exact match. CSS darkgray gives you #A9A9A9, a different color; use #AA81BB 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.

#AA81BB 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 #92BB81; it also sits naturally between #8D81BB and #BB81B0. 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 67% · Green 51% · Blue 73%

Cyan 9% · Magenta 31% · Yellow 0% · Key 27%

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

Previews

CSS code for #AA81BB

.text { color: #AA81BB; }
.background { background-color: #AA81BB; }
.border { border: 3px solid #AA81BB; }
.text-rgb { color: rgb(170, 129, 187); }
.text-hsl { color: hsl(282, 30%, 62%); }
.text-shadow-hex { text-shadow: 4px 4px 2px #AA81BB; }
.text-shadow-rgba { text-shadow: 4px 4px 2px rgba(170, 129, 187, 0.8); }
.box-shadow-hex { box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px 2px #AA81BB; }
.box-shadow-rgba { box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px 2px rgba(170, 129, 187, 0.8); }

HTML: <p style="color:#AA81BB">Text here</p> · <div style="background-color:#AA81BB">Div content here</div>

Shades of #AA81BB

Tints of #AA81BB

Tones of #AA81BB

Color harmonies

Complementary — #92BB81:

Analogous:

Triadic:

Contrast & accessibility

Best text color on #AA81BB: #000000.

Semi-transparent (opacity) text on #AA81BB

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 #AA81BB 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 #AA81BB 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

← #AA81BA  ·  #AA81BC →

Frequently asked questions

What color is #AA81BB?

#AA81BB is Dusty Purple, a purple color (RGB 170, 129, 187). Its closest standard named color is DarkGray.

What is the RGB and HSL of #AA81BB?

#AA81BB is RGB 170, 129, 187 — HSL 282°, 30%, 62% — CMYK 9%, 31%, 0%, 27%.

What colors go with #AA81BB?

Its complement is #92BB81; analogous partners are #8D81BB and #BB81B0. It also appears in 6+ palettes in our collection.

Can I use #AA81BB for text?

Black text on #AA81BB has a contrast ratio of 6.57:1 (passes WCAG AA); white text gives 3.20:1.