You know what I love most about a stark white? I love the fact that it sucks the glow right out of my skin and how it accentuates the dark circles under my eyes. Who’s with me? <crickets>
Okay, so we all know that bright white isn’t in the soft autumn palette. Like, not even close to our palette. I’ve got a blog post all about our beiges and tans (read here), but the aim of this post is to target those absolutely lightest colors we can get away with…as close to a bright white we can get. Is there a “white” we can wear? Yes there is!
Our white is not a bright, winter white. Think of white with a hint of brown added, and you’ll be on the right track. Think along the lines of cream or vanilla without getting too yellow because I’ve found those yellow-toned whites are about as unflattering as a bright white, on my complexion at least. As long as I can see some brown in the color, I’m usually good to go. Let’s look at some tops I own and see if we can understand what makes them a win (or not).
To start, let’s get a baseline. Here’s the whitest white I own. It has sat in the back of my closet since who knows when, and I’m holding on to it for that one day when I get invited to an event that requires bright white attire. And let’s be real, we all know that day will only come AFTER I get rid of this shirt.
Is it awful? No. Would I be embarrassed to go out in public like this? Absolutely not. Does it make me glow? No. Can we do better? Absolutely!
Moving on to something just a bit warmer in color and already things are getting better. I know lighting is a real factor to consider, but the photo above and this one were taken only a minute apart in basically the same location and lighting. Do you see how the camera was able to focus on my face and even my complexion out? I did not add makeup or do any post-editing on these photos. I never cease to be amazed at how a good color can make or break a photo. (This shirt is an old one from Loft in the color “Whisper White”.)
This shirt has a bit more yellow in it and isn’t harmonizing with my features as much as the photo above.
Unfortunately, the coloring in this photo makes this shirt look more yellow than it actually is. This shirt definitely has some yellow, but it’s a little browner than the shirt above, and I find it to be a better option. I’m also starting to notice that having the light color a little further away from my face (unlike the turtleneck in the previous photo) seems to work better for me. The v-neck and this crewneck show a little more skin, and that’s working in my favor.
And here’s an even better option. Do you notice the taupe color on the bottom of the sleeves? Taupe is one of my knockout colors, and this cream matches perfectly with it. Knowing that it was a good pairing with the taupe made me pretty confident about buying this online (I usually will only buy a cream color in person since online shopping can be so hit or miss). I’d say I did pretty well! This cream definitely leans on the browner side. Look at the color of my lips, the clarity of my eyes, and the color of my face here compared to the two above photos. The differences are quite subtle and can be just a result of the lighting, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the less yellow in the shirt, the better I look.
Here are the four photos next to each other so can see the comparisons more clearly.
Lastly, see the light v-neck with an oatmeal cardigan over top. I still consider this cardigan to be in the “off-white” category although it is noticeably darker than the light top underneath. Also notice how the cardigan is not yellow at all…it’s much cooler in undertone (neutral brown – almost gray). This tells me that if I had to choose between a yellow-white or a gray-white, I’d probably be better off with the gray. But of course, brown is going to be the best. Interesting, but not surprising!
