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Merlot Mist Faint
Color detail

Merlot Mist Faint

Red · Hue 350
Metrics
S 10% · L 90%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white1.3:1Failon black16.5:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Merlot Mist Faint (#E8E3E4) belongs to the red family — hue 350°, 10% 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-merlot-mist-faint: #E8E3E4;
  --colorarchive-merlot-mist-faint-hsl: hsl(350, 10%, 90%);
  --colorarchive-merlot-mist-faint-rgb: rgb(232, 227, 228);
}

AI Color Names

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

Design Context

TenderRomanticGentle
Common in

Beauty · Wedding · Healthcare

Pairs well with

Soft neutrals (warm gray, cream) or muted greens for balance

Design tip

Use as a background for emotional storytelling or as an accent in healthcare and wellness brands to convey warmth without intensity.

Cultural context ▶

In many cultures, light reds and pinks symbolize love, tenderness, and new beginnings. In Japan, sakura pink represents the ephemeral beauty of life.

Color Origins

Red family

Among the oldest pigments, and still the loudest signal.

Heritage

Red ochre is among the oldest pigments in the human visual record. Ochre reds lie beside burials at Qafzeh, Israel, about 100,000 years old; red ochre and costly cinnabar lit Pompeian walls; cinnabar was prized from Rome to China. Madder, kermes, and later New World cochineal built fortunes before synthetic alizarin arrived in 1869 and collapsed the madder market almost overnight.

Across cultures

In China red signals fortune and weddings, painted on doors and lanterns and given in money envelopes. In much of South Asia red is the bridal color (saris, sindoor) for the same reason. Western traditions split red between love (Valentine's) and danger (stoplights, balance sheets). Across the Christian liturgy red marks martyrdom and Pentecost; across cinema it has long marked the femme fatale.

In the wild

Coca-Cola has used red since its earliest signage. Netflix and YouTube both build their identities around a single saturated red. Christian Louboutin trademarked a single red — Pantone 18-1663 — on the soles of his shoes. Ferrari's racing red began as the Italian national racing color (Rosso Corsa). Emergency stop buttons are red on a yellow background under international machinery-safety standards, a convention so widespread it functions as international iconography.

How it reads

Red advances. On a page it draws the eye first; in a UI it implies destructive action or urgent state. Increasing saturation pushes it toward warning; reducing saturation moves it toward earthen, terra-cotta, comfort. Pairing red with white reads as energetic and consumer-facing; pairing it with black reads cinematic and luxurious; pairing it with cream reads as heritage or hospitality.

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 #E8E3E4.

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

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #E8E3E4.

  • Turkey (Istanbul)Marble White
    #F0EBE0 · Marmara marble, used since Roman era
    →
  • IrelandAran Cream
    #F0E8D2 · Undyed Aran wool sweater tradition
    →
  • IcelandLopapeysa Cream
    #E8DFCC · Undyed Icelandic sheep wool
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using red and color in design.

Color TheoryWarm Color Palette Guide: Reds, Oranges, Yellows, and Their NeutralsUI DesignColor in Financial UI: Trust, Data Visualization, and the Red/Green ConventionBrand & MarketingColor Palette for Social Media: Building a Recognizable Visual Brand

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
Merlot Whisper Faint
#F1EEEF · hsl(350, 10%, 94%)
Darker companion
Merlot Pearl Faint
#DAD2D3 · hsl(350, 10%, 84%)
Complementary counterpoint
Lagoon Mist Faint
#E3E8E7 · hsl(170, 10%, 90%)
Analogous lead
Vermillion Mist Faint
#E8E4E3 · hsl(15, 10%, 90%)
Analogous echo
Blush Mist Faint
#E8E3E6 · hsl(330, 10%, 90%)
Triadic +120°
Leaf Mist Faint
#E4E8E3 · hsl(110, 10%, 90%)
Triadic +240°
Indigo Mist Faint
#E3E4E8 · hsl(230, 10%, 90%)
Split-comp +150°
Seafoam Mist Faint
#E3E8E5 · hsl(140, 10%, 90%)
Split-comp +210°
Azure Mist Faint
#E3E6E8 · hsl(200, 10%, 90%)
Export preview
Base: Merlot Mist Faint #E8E3E4
Lighter companion: Merlot Whisper Faint #F1EEEF
Darker companion: Merlot Pearl Faint #DAD2D3
Complementary counterpoint: Lagoon Mist Faint #E3E8E7
Analogous lead: Vermillion Mist Faint #E8E4E3
Analogous echo: Blush Mist Faint #E8E3E6
Triadic +120°: Leaf Mist Faint #E4E8E3
Triadic +240°: Indigo Mist Faint #E3E4E8
Split-comp +150°: Seafoam Mist Faint #E3E8E5
Split-comp +210°: Azure Mist Faint #E3E6E8

Compare

See how Merlot Mist Faint compares side by side with related colors.

vsMerlot Whisper FaintvsMerlot Pearl FaintvsLagoon Mist FaintvsVermillion Mist FaintvsBlush Mist FaintvsLeaf Mist Faint

Nearest neighbors

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

Search by hex
Nearby match
Merlot Whisper Faint
#F1EEEF · hsl(350, 10%, 94%)
Nearby match
Merlot Mist Muted
#EAE1E2 · hsl(350, 18%, 90%)
Nearby match
Merlot Pearl Faint
#DAD2D3 · hsl(350, 10%, 84%)
Nearby match
Merlot Veil Faint
#FAF9FA · hsl(350, 10%, 98%)
Nearby match
Merlot Whisper Muted
#F2EDEE · hsl(350, 18%, 94%)
Nearby match
Merlot Mist Dust
#ECDFE1 · hsl(350, 26%, 90%)

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
AAA9.5:1
Lagoon Nocturne Faint
#2E3836
AAA9.2:1
Lagoon Nocturne Muted
#2A3C39
AAA8.8:1
Lagoon Nocturne Dust
#26403C
AAA8.4:1
Lagoon Nocturne Soft
#22443F
AAA7.4:1
Lagoon Nocturne Clear
#174F45
AAA12:1
Lagoon Ink Faint
#202726

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#E6E7E4
Protanopia
#E6E6E4
Tritanopia
#E8E4E4
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Merlot Mist Faint#E8E3E4 · hsl(350, 10%, 90%)Merlot Mist Muted#EAE1E2 · hsl(350, 18%, 90%)Merlot Mist Dust#ECDFE1 · hsl(350, 26%, 90%)Merlot Mist Soft#EEDDE0 · hsl(350, 34%, 90%)Merlot Mist Clear#F3D8DC · hsl(350, 54%, 90%)Merlot Mist Vivid#F8D3D9 · hsl(350, 74%, 90%)Merlot Mist Bright#FBD0D7 · hsl(350, 84%, 90%)Merlot Mist Pure#FDCED6 · hsl(350, 92%, 90%)
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