What Color Is Lilac?

It's a feminine color with a bit of nostalgia

Lilac is similar to lavender, pink, and violet. Lilac flowers display in many colors, but the color called lilac is usually in the violet shades, though a bit duskier than lavender. A feminine, maternal color that often appears around springtime and Easter, lilac is both cool and warm with a mix of blue and red.

Lilac carries the purple symbolism associated with the lighter shades of purple. Like lavender, it can be nostalgic. It goes well with black and dark green. For a lovely lilac mix, combine shades of lilac with greens, plums, and mauve.

Colored pencils against pink background
 A. Martin/Getty Images

Use Lilac Color in Design Files

When you plan a print design project, use CMYK formulations for lilac in your page layout software or select a Pantone spot color. For display on a computer monitor, use RGB values. Use Hex designations when working with HTML, CSS, and SVG. Among the available lilac shades are:

  Hex # RGB CMYK
Lilac c8a2c8 200,162,200 20,39,2,0
Medium Lilac c17ecd 193,126,205 27,57,0,0
Rich Lilac b666d2 182,102,210 38,67,0,0
Deep Lilac 9955bb 153,85,187 49,77,0,0
Bright Lilac 9962bf 153,98,191 47,71,0,0
French Lilac 86608e 134,96,142 53,70,20,2

Choose Pantone Colors Closest to Lilac

When working with printed pieces, sometimes a solid color lilac, rather than a CMYK mix, is a more economical choice. The Pantone Matching System is the most widely recognized spot color system and is popular with most commercial printing companies. Here are the Pantone colors suggested as best matches to lilac colors for print purposes:

Color Pantone Solid Coated
Lilac 7437 C
Medium Lilac 2572 C
Rich Lilac 2582 U
Deep Lilac 7441 C
Bright Lilac 2074 C
French Lilac 7661 C

Because the eye can see more colors on a display than can be mixed with inks, some colors you see on the screen don't reproduce reliably in print.

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