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Cerulean Mist Muted
Color detail

Cerulean Mist Muted

Blue · Hue 190
Metrics
S 18% · L 90%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.2:1Failon black17:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Cerulean Mist Muted (#E1E9EA) belongs to the blue family — hue 190°, 18% 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-cerulean-mist-muted: #E1E9EA;
  --colorarchive-cerulean-mist-muted-hsl: hsl(190, 18%, 90%);
  --colorarchive-cerulean-mist-muted-rgb: rgb(225, 233, 234);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

SereneTrustworthyClean
Common in

Social Media · Cloud Storage · Baby Products

Pairs well with

Light gray for tech minimalism, peach for friendly warmth

Design tip

The default choice for tech and social platforms for good reason. Light blue backgrounds reduce anxiety and increase trust.

Cultural context ▶

Light blue represents peace, sky, and openness. It's the most universally liked color, making it safe for global brands.

Color Origins

Blue family

The most-loved color on the planet, and the most overused.

Heritage

Blue is one of the hardest colors for nature to make with pigment — and, historically, one of the most expensive to paint with. Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan, could cost as much as gold in Renaissance Europe; Vermeer used it lavishly. Egyptian blue (the first synthetic pigment, ~3000 BCE) was lost for centuries and rediscovered in the 19th. Prussian blue (1704) quickly gave painters a cheap alternative to ultramarine; Yves Klein's IKB (1960) re-aristocratized blue.

Across cultures

In ancient Egypt blue was the color of the Nile and the heavens — sacred, protective. In China blue-and-white porcelain (qinghua) defined export ceramics for centuries. In Mediterranean traditions blue wards off the evil eye. In America, IBM's blue logo helped earn it the nickname 'Big Blue'; in Japan, indigo (ai) is the centuries-old workwear dye that became the ground tone of an entire textile tradition. Across the world blue is consistently rated the most-liked color — in one ten-country survey it led every other color by 8 to 18 points.

In the wild

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook is blue because he is red-green colorblind. Levi's blue is the natural color of indigo on cotton. Twitter Blue (#1DA1F2) defined social-media blue for years before the 2023 rebrand to X scrapped it. The blue checkmark, the blue link, the blue 'send' button — blue has become the default color of digital trust, to the point of being a UX cliché.

How it reads

Blue tends to recede — the eye focuses blue light slightly in front of the retina, which can make blue elements feel deep or distant. It reads as trustworthy, calm, corporate, and (at the cool end) cold. Light blues read airy and clinical; mid blues are the default for tech and finance; deep blues read as luxurious or naval. The omnipresence of blue in software is real: most enterprise UIs reach for it because it offends the fewest stakeholders, which is also the reason it can feel like the absence of a real choice.

This particular tone

A pale, gentle tone — pastel territory, where the hue acts more like a tinted neutral than a stated color.

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 low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #E1E9EA.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Light Gray · #E8E6DC
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Aesopneutral
    Cream Paper · #EFE4D2
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #E1E9EA.

  • Turkey (Istanbul)Marble White
    #F0EBE0 · Marmara marble, used since Roman era
    →
  • AustraliaBeach Cream
    #F2EFE1 · Western Australian quartz sand
    →
  • IrelandAran Cream
    #F0E8D2 · Undyed Aran wool sweater tradition
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using blue and color in design.

Color PsychologyBlue Color Psychology in Branding: Why Every Bank and Tech Giant Chooses BlueHistoryIndigo: The Color That Built Trade Routes and Made Blue CheapColor TheoryMastering Color Saturation: When to Be Bold and When to Pull Back

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
Cerulean Whisper Muted
#EDF2F2 · hsl(190, 18%, 94%)
Darker companion
Cerulean Pearl Muted
#CFDBDE · hsl(190, 18%, 84%)
Complementary counterpoint
Ruby Mist Muted
#EAE2E1 · hsl(10, 18%, 90%)
Analogous lead
Sapphire Mist Muted
#E1E6EA · hsl(210, 18%, 90%)
Analogous echo
Lagoon Mist Muted
#E1EAE9 · hsl(170, 18%, 90%)
Triadic +120°
Peony Mist Muted
#EAE1E9 · hsl(310, 18%, 90%)
Triadic +240°
Honey Mist Muted
#E9EAE1 · hsl(70, 18%, 90%)
Split-comp +150°
Garnet Mist Muted
#EAE1E4 · hsl(340, 18%, 90%)
Split-comp +210°
Apricot Mist Muted
#EAE7E1 · hsl(40, 18%, 90%)
Export preview
Base: Cerulean Mist Muted #E1E9EA
Lighter companion: Cerulean Whisper Muted #EDF2F2
Darker companion: Cerulean Pearl Muted #CFDBDE
Complementary counterpoint: Ruby Mist Muted #EAE2E1
Analogous lead: Sapphire Mist Muted #E1E6EA
Analogous echo: Lagoon Mist Muted #E1EAE9
Triadic +120°: Peony Mist Muted #EAE1E9
Triadic +240°: Honey Mist Muted #E9EAE1
Split-comp +150°: Garnet Mist Muted #EAE1E4
Split-comp +210°: Apricot Mist Muted #EAE7E1

Compare

See how Cerulean Mist Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsCerulean Whisper MutedvsCerulean Pearl MutedvsRuby Mist MutedvsSapphire Mist MutedvsLagoon Mist MutedvsPeony Mist Muted

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Cerulean Whisper Muted
#EDF2F2 · hsl(190, 18%, 94%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Mist Faint
#E3E7E8 · hsl(190, 10%, 90%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Mist Dust
#DFEAEC · hsl(190, 26%, 90%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Pearl Muted
#CFDBDE · hsl(190, 18%, 84%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Veil Muted
#F9FBFB · hsl(190, 18%, 98%)
Nearby match
Cerulean Whisper Faint
#EEF1F1 · hsl(190, 10%, 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
AAA7.7:1
Ruby Shadow Faint
#4F4340
AAA7.9:1
Ruby Shadow Muted
#543F3B
AAA8.1:1
Ruby Shadow Dust
#5A3B35
AAA8.2:1
Ruby Shadow Soft
#60372F
AAA8.2:1
Ruby Shadow Clear
#6E2E21
AAA8:1
Ruby Shadow Vivid
#7C2413

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#E4E3EA
Protanopia
#E5E5EA
Tritanopia
#E1EAEA
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Cerulean Mist Faint#E3E7E8 · hsl(190, 10%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Muted#E1E9EA · hsl(190, 18%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Dust#DFEAEC · hsl(190, 26%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Soft#DDEBEE · hsl(190, 34%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Clear#D8EFF3 · hsl(190, 54%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Vivid#D3F2F8 · hsl(190, 74%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Bright#D0F4FB · hsl(190, 84%, 90%)Cerulean Mist Pure#CEF5FD · hsl(190, 92%, 90%)
More from Blue →
Appears in collections
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