Gold or silver jewellery: which suits you best?
Find the jewellery that suits you best
Not sure whether gold or silver suits you best? You're far from alone. Some find that warm gold jewellery brings out the best in their skin, while others prefer the cooler look of silver.
Your skin tone and undertone can be helpful guides when choosing between gold and silver. But there's no single rule that applies to everyone.
In this guide, you can work out whether gold, silver or a combination of both suits you best. You'll get a simple guide to skin tone and undertone, practical ways to test gold and silver, and inspiration to help you find the metal that flatters you most.
Gold or silver: how to find your best match
Short answer: Gold often harmonises with warm undertones, while silver often harmonises with cool undertones. If you have a neutral undertone, both gold and silver can be great choices.
Warm undertone: Gold will often create a harmonious match.
Cool undertone: Silver will often harmonise with the skin's cooler shades.
Neutral undertone: Both gold and silver will often work well.
That said, your skin's undertone is a guide, not a rule. The best way to find out whether gold or silver flatters you most is to try both metals against your skin.
Gold for warm skin tones and undertones
A warm undertone typically has golden, yellow or peachy shades. Gold often harmonises beautifully with these warm tones, which makes it an obvious choice.
If you prefer the warm look, you can explore our gold jewellery.
If you have a warm undertone, you can still happily wear silver. Silver will simply create a cooler contrast against your skin.
Silver for cool skin tones and undertones
A cool undertone typically has pink, reddish or bluish shades. Silver often harmonises with these cooler tones and can give a natural, harmonious look.
If you prefer the cool look, take a look at our silver jewellery.
If you have a cool undertone but prefer gold, there's no reason to rule it out. Gold can create a lovely warm contrast.
Neutral skin tone: gold or silver?
If you have a neutral undertone, both gold and silver will often flatter you.
If you find it hard to tell whether your undertone is warm or cool, and both metals look natural against your skin, that in itself can be a sign of a neutral undertone.
So you can choose based on the look you want, or combine gold and silver in the same look.
How to find your undertone
Skin tone and undertone aren't the same thing. Your skin tone describes how light or dark your skin is overall, while your undertone describes the shades beneath the skin and is typically divided into warm, cool or neutral.
There isn't one test that can determine your undertone with certainty. So feel free to use several of these methods.
Look at the veins on your wrist
Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in natural daylight.
Blue or purple veins: May point to a cool undertone.
Green veins: May point to a warm undertone.
Both blue and green: May point to a neutral undertone.
The vein test is only a guide and shouldn't be relied on alone.
Look at the colours that suit you
Warm shades such as cream, beige, camel and brown can point to a warm undertone, while pure white, grey, navy and blue often harmonise with cooler undertones.
If you can carry off both colour palettes, your undertone may be neutral.
Try gold and silver in daylight
The simplest test is to try both.
Hold a piece of gold jewellery and a piece of silver jewellery against your skin in natural daylight. Which metal makes your skin look the most alive and harmonious?
Try both against a neutral colour so your clothing has as little influence on the result as possible.
If both gold and silver work, you don't have to choose.
Can you mix gold and silver?
Yes. Gold and silver can absolutely be worn together.
For example, you can combine a gold chain with a silver necklace, or stack rings in both metals. If you'd like inspiration for combining several rings, you can also follow our guide to ring stacking.
A good trick is to repeat both metals in several places throughout your look, so the combination feels deliberate. You can also use a piece of jewellery that already combines gold and silver as a link between the two.
Does hair colour matter for gold or silver?
Hair colour can affect the overall impression, but it shouldn't decide your choice on its own.
Cool blonde tones, for example, can harmonise with silver, while golden, copper and warm brown shades can look wonderful with gold.
So use your skin's undertone as your primary guide, and see hair colour as part of the overall impression.
There's no single rule for whether you should choose gold or silver.
Gold often harmonises with warm undertones and silver with cool undertones, while both metals often work well with neutral undertones.
Use that as a starting point, but always try the jewellery against your own skin. What matters most is the look you prefer yourself.
Explore our gold jewellery and silver jewellery, and find the metal that suits you best.
