We all know the gold extracted from the earth’s crust is orange-yellow and way too soft in its raw form. Therefore, we add other metals like silver, copper, nickel, iron, zinc, tin, manganese, cadmium, and titanium to improve their strength.
The mixture of the metal makes the gold hard enough to be molded into jewelry. However, it ends up taking the gold’s original color.
As you can see even the yellow gold is creamy yellow, not the orange-yellow.
Silver, copper, nickel, iron, zinc, tin, manganese, cadmium, and titanium are not added all at once.
One or two metals are added at a time to achieve certain strength and color. It is the main reason why gold today comes in a variety of colors; yellow, white, rose, blue, green, grey, and black.
Green, grey, black, and blue are the least famous and known colors of gold. Yellow and white happen to be the most popular and the rose color has just started gaining popularity. Yellow gold is easy to distinguish from white and rose.
However, the rose gold and white look a lot similar and are often mistaken to be the same. Want to know how these two golds are different so you do not confuse the next time?
White Gold vs. Rose Gold
| Properties | White Gold | Rose Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | lustrous white | Gold ting shade of Pink |
| Durable | Less Durable | More Durable |
| Popularity | More Popular in both genders | Less Popular and in one gender |
| Hypoallergenic properties | Allergic to some skins | Suitable for all skins |
| Price | More Expensive | Less Expensive |
Let’s dive deeper into white and rose gold and find out the strengths and weaknesses of white and rose gold.
Appearance
The jewelry, whether it’s gold or not, is first judged by its appearance. Therefore, we are going to judge the colors by their appearance first as well.
The more common between the two colors (white gold) is elegant, striking, and prominently light grey color.
It is not a true white color however the finished piece of jewelry appears a bit lustrous white. Whereas, the rose gold has a pretty soft, golden-tinged shade of pink. Rose gold does not always have the same shade of pink.
It can be light pink to reddish brown as well. The mixture of the metal determines what shade of pink the rose gold would have.
Construction
The white and rose gold is not extracted from the earth in the white and rose gold color.
The orange-yellow gold is processed to give the light grey or soft golden-tinged pink color.
The white gold is constructed by mixing the orange-yellow gold with palladium, nickel, or manganese. Whereas, the least-famous color of gold is formed by mixing orange-yellow gold with copper or silver.
Durability
It is a least-known fact that not all types of gold are equally durable. The white gold and the rose gold are also no exception.
Rose gold is proven to be more durable than white gold. It is because rose gold contains a good amount of copper, a metal that is more durable than palladium, nickel, or manganese.
Popularity and preference
As stated above, white gold is more popular among men and women. Whereas, rose gold is slightly less common however it is gaining popularity with every passing day. A day would surely come when rose gold would become as popular as white gold.
The white gold is adored and worn by both genders; men and women. However, rose gold is only preferred by women so far. However, Muslims do not wear white Gold even.
It is probably because of the rose pink color as the pink color stands for nurturing femininity.
Hypoallergenic properties
Pure gold is hypoallergenic. However, some metals it is mixed with are hypoallergenic and a few are not.
The mixture of metals with gold can make the gold favorable or unfavorable. Rose gold is suitable for all skin types.
It has not been proven to cause any allergic reaction so far. White gold, on the other hand, contains nickel therefore it may not be as suitable as rose gold.
Price
As we all know demand affects the price, if demand is high the product’s price would be high as well.
If the demand is low the product’s price would also be low. White gold is more in demand and it is mixed with some expensive metals to achieve strength and color, therefore it is more expensive.
Rose gold, due to low demand and the copper content happens to remain slightly less expensive than white gold.