Mauve and Charcoal color palette
darkslategray · 0.033
Soft purple needs an anchor, otherwise it drifts toward sweet or sentimental. Charcoal solves that. The dark slate-gray of #36454F gives mauve #B784A7 a serious base to sit against, so the pairing reads as grown-up romantic rather than girlish.
The between them is moderate at 3.24 to 1, driven by lightness rather than . That gap is enough for charcoal headlines on a mauve background at larger sizes, but body text should stay charcoal on white or mauve on charcoal.
In interiors, think a charcoal sofa with mauve cushions, or charcoal walls with mauve linen. For branding, it suits wellness, beauty, and boutique hospitality. A blended midpoint, a muted gray-purple (#75647A), works well as a quiet third tone.
See Mauve and Charcoal in use
better
Mauve Tailwind scale (50-900)
Charcoal Tailwind scale (50-900)
Mauve to Charcoal blend
A continuous interpolation from Mauve to Charcoal, sampled into the 10 steps below. Tap any swatch to copy its hex.
Why Mauve and Charcoal blend best in OKLab
The same two colors blended three ways. This site uses OKLab, which keeps the blend smooth and evenly lit. The other two are shown so you can see what to avoid: sRGB darkens and muddies the middle, and HSL detours through colors that are not in your palette.
Accessibility
Do not place Mauve text on Charcoal (or the reverse) for body copy. For readable text, pair a dark scale step such as mauve-800 or charcoal-900 with a light one like charcoal-50.
Contrast pairing grid
Rows are Mauve steps, columns are Charcoal steps. Each mark is a Mauve step shown on a Charcoal step: a check means it clears WCAG AA for text (4.5:1). If you can read the mark, the pairing is legible.
| 50 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 100 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 200 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 300 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 400 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 500 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 600 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| 700 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 800 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 900 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
✓ passes AA ✗ fails AA
Copy for Tailwind
Tailwind v4 — @theme (paste into your CSS)
@theme {
--color-mauve-50: #FBF7FA;
--color-mauve-100: #F7F0F4;
--color-mauve-200: #F0E3EB;
--color-mauve-300: #E6D2DF;
--color-mauve-400: #D8BACE;
--color-mauve-500: #B784A7;
--color-mauve-600: #956B88;
--color-mauve-700: #704F66;
--color-mauve-800: #412C3A;
--color-mauve-900: #1A1017;
--color-charcoal-50: #F2F3F4;
--color-charcoal-100: #E5E7E8;
--color-charcoal-200: #CFD3D5;
--color-charcoal-300: #B1B7BC;
--color-charcoal-400: #8A949A;
--color-charcoal-500: #36454F;
--color-charcoal-600: #2A373F;
--color-charcoal-700: #1E272E;
--color-charcoal-800: #0D1317;
--color-charcoal-900: #030406;
}
Tailwind v3 — tailwind.config.js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'mauve': {
50: '#FBF7FA',
100: '#F7F0F4',
200: '#F0E3EB',
300: '#E6D2DF',
400: '#D8BACE',
500: '#B784A7',
600: '#956B88',
700: '#704F66',
800: '#412C3A',
900: '#1A1017',
},
'charcoal': {
50: '#F2F3F4',
100: '#E5E7E8',
200: '#CFD3D5',
300: '#B1B7BC',
400: '#8A949A',
500: '#36454F',
600: '#2A373F',
700: '#1E272E',
800: '#0D1317',
900: '#030406',
},
},
},
},
};
CSS variables
:root {
--mauve-50: #FBF7FA;
--mauve-100: #F7F0F4;
--mauve-200: #F0E3EB;
--mauve-300: #E6D2DF;
--mauve-400: #D8BACE;
--mauve-500: #B784A7;
--mauve-600: #956B88;
--mauve-700: #704F66;
--mauve-800: #412C3A;
--mauve-900: #1A1017;
--charcoal-50: #F2F3F4;
--charcoal-100: #E5E7E8;
--charcoal-200: #CFD3D5;
--charcoal-300: #B1B7BC;
--charcoal-400: #8A949A;
--charcoal-500: #36454F;
--charcoal-600: #2A373F;
--charcoal-700: #1E272E;
--charcoal-800: #0D1317;
--charcoal-900: #030406;
}SCSS variables
$mauve-50: #FBF7FA; $mauve-100: #F7F0F4; $mauve-200: #F0E3EB; $mauve-300: #E6D2DF; $mauve-400: #D8BACE; $mauve-500: #B784A7; $mauve-600: #956B88; $mauve-700: #704F66; $mauve-800: #412C3A; $mauve-900: #1A1017; $charcoal-50: #F2F3F4; $charcoal-100: #E5E7E8; $charcoal-200: #CFD3D5; $charcoal-300: #B1B7BC; $charcoal-400: #8A949A; $charcoal-500: #36454F; $charcoal-600: #2A373F; $charcoal-700: #1E272E; $charcoal-800: #0D1317; $charcoal-900: #030406;
JSON tokens
{
"mauve": {
"50": "#FBF7FA",
"100": "#F7F0F4",
"200": "#F0E3EB",
"300": "#E6D2DF",
"400": "#D8BACE",
"500": "#B784A7",
"600": "#956B88",
"700": "#704F66",
"800": "#412C3A",
"900": "#1A1017"
},
"charcoal": {
"50": "#F2F3F4",
"100": "#E5E7E8",
"200": "#CFD3D5",
"300": "#B1B7BC",
"400": "#8A949A",
"500": "#36454F",
"600": "#2A373F",
"700": "#1E272E",
"800": "#0D1317",
"900": "#030406"
}
}How we name colors
There is no single official authority for naming colors. We use the common, widely recognized name as the primary label for each color (here, Mauve and Charcoal); many common names are themselves W3C CSS named colors. For transparency we also show the nearest W3C CSS named color and the perceptual distance, ΔE, measured in OKLab. A small ΔE means the name is essentially exact; a larger one means it is the closest standard name rather than a perfect match.
Sources: W3C CSS Color Module Level 4 and the open color-name-list dataset, used to verify every color sits near a recognized name.