SKILL

Beautiful Shadows

From Skills by @mengto · View on GitHub

Apply exact Tailwind arbitrary shadow utilities for polished, layered neutral elevation. Use when compact cards, controls, panels, popovers, hero media, feature callouts, or modal-like containers need refined shadows without default Tailwind shadow scales or colored tinting.

This skill ships inside the skills package. Install the package to get this skill plus everything else in the bundle.

sv install mengto/skills

Beautiful Shadows

Use When

  • A surface needs polished, layered elevation.
  • Default Tailwind shadows feel too generic or blunt.
  • The design needs neutral, refined depth without colored glow.

Shadow Utilities

Use these exact Tailwind classes.

Beautiful sm

Use for compact cards, form controls, pills, and quieter surfaces.

txt
shadow-[0px_2px_3px_-1px_rgba(0,0,0,0.1),0px_1px_0px_0px_rgba(25,28,33,0.02),0px_0px_0px_1px_rgba(25,28,33,0.08)]

Beautiful md

Use for cards, panels, popovers, and the default elevated surface style.

txt
shadow-[0px_0px_0px_1px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_1px_1px_-0.5px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_3px_3px_-1.5px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),_0px_6px_6px_-3px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_12px_12px_-6px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_24px_24px_-12px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06)]

Beautiful lg

Use for hero media, feature callouts, modal-like containers, and the strongest lift.

txt
shadow-[0_2.8px_2.2px_rgba(0,_0,_0,_0.034),_0_6.7px_5.3px_rgba(0,_0,_0,_0.048),_0_12.5px_10px_rgba(0,_0,_0,_0.06),_0_22.3px_17.9px_rgba(0,_0,_0,_0.072),_0_41.8px_33.4px_rgba(0,_0,_0,_0.086),_0_100px_80px_rgba(0,_0,_0,_0.12)]

Examples

html
<div class="rounded-xl bg-white shadow-[0px_0px_0px_1px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_1px_1px_-0.5px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_3px_3px_-1.5px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),_0px_6px_6px_-3px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_12px_12px_-6px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06),0px_24px_24px_-12px_rgba(0,0,0,0.06)]">
  ...
</div>

Usage Rules

  • Use Beautiful sm for compact cards, form controls, pills, and quieter surfaces.
  • Use Beautiful md for cards, panels, popovers, and the default elevated surface style.
  • Use Beautiful lg for hero media, feature callouts, modal-like containers, and the strongest lift.
  • Pair with a clean surface fill and a consistent radius.
  • Use one shadow strength per component state unless an interaction clearly changes elevation.

Avoid

  • Mixing these with default Tailwind shadow scales on the same component.
  • Tinting these shadows with strong colors; keep them neutral and refined.
  • Applying Beautiful lg to dense lists or tiny controls.
  • Stacking multiple shadow utilities on one element.
  • Using these as a substitute for clear borders in very low-contrast layouts.