Yellow Gold or White Gold Jewelry: How to Choose the Right Metal Color for You | LeMel

Start with your skin tone: warm or cool?

The easiest place to start is your undertone — the subtle hue beneath your skin's surface. According to Brittney Nazarian, a certified House of Colour stylist based in Houston's Inner Loop, approximately 80% of people have warm undertones — which means yellow gold is the most universally flattering choice for the majority of skin tones. If you've never been sure which category you fall into, the odds are already in yellow gold's favor.

Want to discover your exact undertone? Book a session with Brittney

Warm undertones — if your skin has hints of yellow, peach, or golden hues, you likely have warm undertones. Yellow gold was made for you. It enhances your natural warmth and gives your complexion a radiant, sun-kissed glow. When layering necklaces, we love odd numbers — try three at a time.

Cool undertones — if your skin has pink, blue, or purple hints, white gold is your match. It complements cool undertones beautifully and makes diamonds and pavé stones sparkle like nothing else.

Not sure which undertone you have? Look at the veins on your inner wrist. Green-ish veins = warm. Blue or purple veins = cool. A mix of both means you're neutral — lucky you, both metals look great.

What's your personal style?

Your metal choice can also reflect how you like to dress.

Dot Layering Necklace 14K | Family Heart Pendant 14K 

Classic and timeless — yellow gold has been the jewelry standard for centuries for a reason. It reads sophisticated and elegant for both everyday wear and special occasions. And because everything at LeMel is 14k gold, it's a piece that holds its value and can be passed down.

Modern and minimal — white gold has a cooler, cleaner look that pairs effortlessly with minimalist outfits and contemporary style. You can never go wrong with a pair of white gold hoops or a pavé tennis bracelet. 

Mix both

Don't feel limited to one metal. Mixing yellow and white gold creates an effortless, layered look that feels current and personal. Everything at LeMel is designed to mix and match — we actively encourage it.

And there's a design reason beyond style: some of our pieces intentionally combine both metals in a single piece. Our Diamond Name Necklace and Diamond Name Bangle — two of our best sellers — both feature diamonds set in white gold prongs on yellow gold settings. White gold makes diamonds catch and reflect light more brilliantly, while the yellow gold adds warmth and wearability you can feel all day. It's not just a style choice — it's a deliberate design decision, and once you see it in person you'll understand why these two pieces fly out of our Houston store.

Why we set diamonds in white gold (even on a yellow gold piece)

There's a reason our diamond pieces are almost always set in white gold, even when the chain or band is yellow gold. White gold keeps the focus entirely on the stone — the prongs disappear into the diamond rather than competing with it, and the cool metal makes the facets pop with more brilliance and fire.

You can see it in two ways in the photo above. Jen is wearing the Triple Crown Huggies in white gold. This white gold earring featuring three full-cut round diamonds in her first hole — set in white gold so the diamonds are the only thing your eye goes to. And layered at her neck, a white gold diamond tennis necklace sits alongside yellow gold chains. White gold is our most popular choice for full-cut diamond tennis necklaces for exactly this reason — but as you can see, it layers seamlessly with yellow gold pieces too. That mix of metals is intentional, relaxed, and completely wearable every day.

This is the same thinking behind our Diamond Name Necklace and Diamond Name Bangle — white gold where the diamonds live, yellow gold everywhere else.

The same logic applies to our best-selling lab diamond studs. A classic round brilliant diamond stud in white gold is one of those pieces that works with everything — a tennis necklace, a name necklace, whatever you're already wearing. The white gold prong setting keeps all the attention on the diamond itself, and with lab grown stones you're getting the same cut, clarity, and brilliance as a mined diamond at a fraction of the price. It's the foundation piece we recommend to almost every customer building their jewelry stack from scratch.

Think about your wardrobe

The colors you wear most can guide your metal choice too.

Earth tones and neutrals — yellows, browns, greens, warm beiges — yellow gold elevates these effortlessly. It adds warmth and a touch of luxury to everyday outfits.

Cool tones and pastels — blues, purples, grays, lavender — white gold adds a crisp, polished contrast that feels fresh and intentional.

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