#CBE5EA is a pale, temperate off-white. On the Color Lab it reads clean and engineered, restrained and easy to live with. It holds up as a large surface and is too pale to lead as a primary accent.
Not just a swatch — here's how #CBE5EA works with other colors. Named schemes with #CBE5EA in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Gainsboro keeps this Nordic scheme quiet — cool greys and a soft white around it, a muted-blue support and a charcoal anchor.
Gainsboro opens this coastal palette with sea-glass and warm sand alongside it, grounded by driftwood grey and a deep-navy anchor.
Gainsboro sets a calm, sun-bleached base here, wrapped in bone and paper off-whites and a soft greige, with a single ink accent for wabi-sabi restraint.
Gainsboro is the vivid signal in this product UI — on a near-black surface with cool white, a slate grey and a lighter tint of Gainsboro.
Gainsboro is the single accent in this high-contrast editorial system — set on near-white paper against near-black ink, with a warm grey and a desaturated tint of Gainsboro carrying the quiet middle.
How #CBE5EA actually behaves in design work — read from its OKLCH lightness, chroma and hue, not just its raw numbers. Ten signals to help you decide where this color earns its place.
Not a swatch to memorise — a color to build with. Here is #CBE5EA at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #CBE5EA;
--color-base-rgb: 203 229 234;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(90.4% 0.028 210.5);
--color-50: #F4FAFB;
--color-100: #E2F1F4;
--color-200: #C5E2E7;
--color-300: #9CCAD3;
--color-400: #76B0BC;
--color-500: #55939F;
--color-600: #47727B;
--color-700: #365358;
--color-800: #26373B;
--color-900: #192224;
--color-on-base: #141310;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
gainsboro: {
50: '#F4FAFB',
100: '#E2F1F4',
200: '#C5E2E7',
300: '#9CCAD3',
400: '#76B0BC',
500: '#55939F',
600: '#47727B',
700: '#365358',
800: '#26373B',
900: '#192224',
},
}
$base: #CBE5EA; $base-ink: #141310; $base-50: #F4FAFB; $base-100: #E2F1F4; $base-200: #C5E2E7; $base-300: #9CCAD3; $base-400: #76B0BC; $base-500: #55939F; $base-600: #47727B; $base-700: #365358; $base-800: #26373B; $base-900: #192224; $base-hover: #8EC6D1; $base-subtle: #F1F7F8;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#CBE5EA",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#141310",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#F4FAFB",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#E2F1F4",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#C5E2E7",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#9CCAD3",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#76B0BC",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#55939F",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#47727B",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#365358",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#26373B",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#192224",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}