Silver vs Gold: A small guide to choosing your next jewelry

Choosing silver jewelry or gold jewelry does not have to be an either/or choice. Both are classic, versatile, and tend to trend equally well year after year. If you have faced the dilemma of which choice is the best for you, read on for some helpful tips and pointers.

Skin Tone

By far the most misunderstood, and coincidentally the most impactful, component in choosing gold or silver is your skin’s complexion. More specifically, your complexion is made up of two components: skin tone, which is the surface color of your skin; and undertone, which is the color beneath your skin. Your skin tone is what people see on the surface of your skin. It can change over time and is affected by exposure to the sun. Skin tone is categorized as light, medium, or dark. In contrast, your undertone cannot be changed over time and makes up the base of your skin’s color. Undertones are described as cool, warm, and neutral.

The best way to determine your skin tone is to look at your veins. Under natural light, if your veins appear blue, then you fall into the cool category. If your veins appear green in color, then you fall under the warm tone category. For those lucky people who have more of a purplish hue to their veins, congratulations! You have neutral toned skin! Let’s find out what this skin tone does for our jewelry selection.

Cool Tone

If your skin falls in the cool tone category, white metals will compliment your skin better. White gold, silver, and platinum are your best friends. The reasoning is yellow gold can potentially draw out redness in the skin color. Silver will enhance your features and draws attention away from redness.

Warm Tone

In contrast to cool skin tones, earth tones like rose gold, bronze, or black metals look great on people with warm skin tones. It’s said to brighten warm skin and highlight the bronze color in these complexions, whereas silver can make the skin appear more muted.

Neutral Tone

Ah, those happy neutral toned rock stars get the best of both worlds. People with a neutral tone to their complexion can look good in gold, silver, platinum, bronze… you name, it will look good on you!

Style

Aside from skin tone, your wardrobe and personal style goes a long way in determining what jewelry choice is best for you. Like skin tone, the choice of colors in your wardrobe has an impact on how well the jewelry looks. Clothing with hues of blue and green will be complimented best with silver-colored jewelry (including platinum and white gold). Similarly, jewelry with overtones of yellow and bronze will look fantastic if you are wearing warm hues like orange or yellow.

Another consideration is your personality and personal statement. Large ornamental pieces or very modern design will speak to people who are bold and have an edgy style. Think hip-hop rappers with oversized gold necklaces! In contrast, if your tastes run more traditional and refined, you might prefer delicate silver jewelry with understated patterns.

Gold or Silver

At the end of the day, our guidelines are just that: guidelines, not rules. Your best approach is to try both silver and gold and determine which you like best. Be creative, enjoy experimenting, and have fun!