We're live on Product Hunt!Support us
ColorArchive

A curated color library with 5,446 algorithmically generated colors. Browse, search, save favorites, and export palette tokens — no account required.

CollectionsFamiliesBrandsRegionsJournalNotesGuidesFree ResourcesEmbed widgetConvertColorblindAboutSupportUpdatesiOS app
Ready for static export
Privacy·Terms·Refunds·Cookies·Commerce Disclosure
colorarchive.org · © 2026 ColorArchive
Skip to content
ColorArchive
ProLog in
ArchiveAll ColorsCollections
Apricot Mist Soft
Color detail

Apricot Mist Soft

Orange · Hue 40
Metrics
S 34% · L 90%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.2:1Failon black17.2:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Mist Soft (#EEE8DD) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 34% saturation, 90% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-apricot-mist-soft: #EEE8DD;
  --colorarchive-apricot-mist-soft-hsl: hsl(40, 34%, 90%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-mist-soft-rgb: rgb(238, 232, 221);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

CheerfulApproachableWarm
Common in

Children's Products · Wellness · Social Apps

Pairs well with

Soft teal for playful contrast, warm white for minimalism

Design tip

Perfect for onboarding screens and friendly UI. Light oranges feel welcoming without the intensity of pure orange.

Cultural context ▶

Peach and apricot tones are associated with friendliness and optimism. In many Asian cultures, orange symbolizes happiness.

Color Origins

Orange family

Citrus, fire, and a color named after a fruit.

Heritage

Orange is unusual: in English the color was named after the fruit, not the other way around — the fruit's name arrived in the 14th century, but until the 16th century this hue was simply 'yellow-red'. Earlier pigments included realgar (toxic), saffron (priceless), and orpiment. Cadmium orange, introduced in the 19th century, gave painters from the Impressionists onward a stable, brilliant orange — though cadmium is itself toxic.

Across cultures

In Hindu and Buddhist tradition saffron orange marks renunciation — the robe of Hindu sannyasis and of Theravada monks. The Dutch House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a national identity color, still worn at football matches and on King's Day. In Ireland, orange is the Protestant counterpart to green's Catholic association — the country's flag literally encodes the divide. Halloween's orange-and-black is a 20th-century American invention that has since gone global.

In the wild

Hermès orange is a brand asset traceable to a 1942 wartime cardboard shortage. Penguin Books color-coded its early paperbacks by genre — orange meant general fiction. Nickelodeon, Fanta, and easyJet all use orange, which reads playful and consumer-friendly while staying outside the more crowded red and yellow lanes. NASA's shuttle-era launch-and-entry suits were International Orange so rescue crews could spot astronauts after a bailout over the ocean.

How it reads

Orange is warm without the urgency of red. It signals appetite (used heavily in fast food), creativity, and approachability. At low saturation it becomes terracotta, rust, or apricot — earthy palettes for hospitality and craft. At high saturation it reads as a sport, energy drink, or warning hazard. Orange and teal is a familiar modern film-grade pairing; the contrast between warm skin tones and cool shadows is engineered for it.

This particular tone

A bright, airy reading of the hue — clean and approachable, the kind of color that holds up well in product photography and on light backgrounds.

Lightness band: At this lightness the hue almost recedes into the surface around it — useful for backgrounds, hover states, and any surface where the color should suggest a mood without competing with content.

Saturation band: The clear, mid-saturation register is a common identity sweet spot — saturated enough to register as a 'real' color, restrained enough not to fight typography or photography placed over it.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #EEE8DD.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Light Gray · #E8E6DC
    →
  • Aesopneutral
    Cream Paper · #EFE4D2
    →
  • Lululemonneutral
    Off White · #F5F5F5
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #EEE8DD.

  • Turkey (Istanbul)Marble White
    #F0EBE0 · Marmara marble, used since Roman era
    →
  • IrelandAran Cream
    #F0E8D2 · Undyed Aran wool sweater tradition
    →
  • MoroccoAtlas White
    #F2EAD3 · Lime-washed walls
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using orange and color in design.

Color History1970s Earth Tone Colors: Harvest Gold, Avocado Green & Burnt Orange PalettesColor TheoryWarm Color Palette Guide: Reds, Oranges, Yellows, and Their NeutralsUI DesignGradient Design: Chromatic Progressions That Feel Contemporary

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Apricot Whisper Soft
#F5F1EA · hsl(40, 34%, 94%)
Darker companion
Apricot Pearl Soft
#E4DBC8 · hsl(40, 34%, 84%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Mist Soft
#DDE3EE · hsl(220, 34%, 90%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Mist Soft
#EEEEDD · hsl(60, 34%, 90%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Mist Soft
#EEE1DD · hsl(15, 34%, 90%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Mist Soft
#DDEEE8 · hsl(160, 34%, 90%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Mist Soft
#E8DDEE · hsl(280, 34%, 90%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Mist Soft
#DDEBEE · hsl(190, 34%, 90%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Mist Soft
#E0DDEE · hsl(250, 34%, 90%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Mist Soft #EEE8DD
Lighter companion: Apricot Whisper Soft #F5F1EA
Darker companion: Apricot Pearl Soft #E4DBC8
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Mist Soft #DDE3EE
Analogous lead: Citrine Mist Soft #EEEEDD
Analogous echo: Vermillion Mist Soft #EEE1DD
Triadic +120°: Teal Mist Soft #DDEEE8
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Mist Soft #E8DDEE
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Mist Soft #DDEBEE
Split-comp +210°: Violet Mist Soft #E0DDEE

Compare

See how Apricot Mist Soft compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Whisper SoftvsApricot Pearl SoftvsCobalt Mist SoftvsCitrine Mist SoftvsVermillion Mist SoftvsTeal Mist Soft

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Apricot Whisper Soft
#F5F1EA · hsl(40, 34%, 94%)
Nearby match
Apricot Mist Dust
#ECE8DF · hsl(40, 26%, 90%)
Nearby match
Apricot Pearl Soft
#E4DBC8 · hsl(40, 34%, 84%)
Nearby match
Saffron Mist Soft
#EEEADD · hsl(45, 34%, 90%)
Nearby match
Apricot Veil Soft
#FCFAF8 · hsl(40, 34%, 98%)
Nearby match
Apricot Whisper Dust
#F4F1EC · hsl(40, 26%, 94%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA7.4:1
Cobalt Dusk Clear
#284786
AAA7.7:1
Cobalt Dusk Vivid
#174197
AAA7.8:1
Cobalt Dusk Bright
#0E3EA0
AAA7.8:1
Cobalt Dusk Pure
#073CA6
AAA7.9:1
Cobalt Shadow Faint
#40454F
AAA8.1:1
Cobalt Shadow Muted
#3B4354

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#ECECE0
Protanopia
#EBEBE0
Tritanopia
#EEE2E2
Color of the Day

Like Apricot Mist Soft? Get one like it every morning.

One hand-picked color a day — with its hex, family, and the story behind it.

Get a color every morning

One email per day. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ready to build

Turn these colors into design tokens

Copy the CSS variables and the Tailwind class free, right here. ColorArchive Pro lifts the daily export limit — 10 a day signed in, 3 without an account.

Upgrade to ProFree downloadView collections

Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Taupe Gray Mist#E7E6E4 · hsl(40, 5%, 90%)Apricot Mist Faint#E8E6E3 · hsl(40, 10%, 90%)Apricot Mist Muted#EAE7E1 · hsl(40, 18%, 90%)Apricot Mist Dust#ECE8DF · hsl(40, 26%, 90%)Apricot Mist Soft#EEE8DD · hsl(40, 34%, 90%)Apricot Mist Clear#F3EAD8 · hsl(40, 54%, 90%)Apricot Mist Vivid#F8ECD3 · hsl(40, 74%, 90%)Apricot Mist Bright#FBEDD0 · hsl(40, 84%, 90%)Apricot Mist Pure#FDEDCE · hsl(40, 92%, 90%)
More from Orange →