as white as

[alpacinou]

I want to suggest someone has really white skin. I'm looking for a comparison that is nice.

I came up with this:

That woman's skin is as white as the sands of Maldives beaches.

What do you think? How lame is it? What are your suggestions?

 

[Rover_KE]

As white as snow.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

As white as cotton.

 

[Rover_KE]

You'll also hear 'as white as a sheet/a ghost', but these similes are typically used to describe an unnatural pallor of the skin due to fear, horror, illness, or shock, so they don't meet the OP's criterion of 'nice'.

 

[Rover_KE]

As white as cotton.

Not natural among English-speakers.:-(

 

[PeterCW]

The most common poetic similie is milk-white.

 

[alpacinou]

The most common poetic similie is milk-white.

Does it have a positive connotation? I'm looking for a positive word.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

Not natural among English-speakers.:-(

I just coined it. :lol:

 

[emsr2d2]

You could use "She has/had porcelain skin".

 

[SoothingDave]

"Alabaster skin" is a term.

 

[probus]

We know your taste for old-fashioned poetic usage alpacinoutd, so how about:

pure as the driven snow.

 

[PeterCW]

Does it have a positive connotation? I'm looking for a positive word.

Yes, that is why it gets used poetically.

 

[emsr2d2]

We know your taste for old-fashioned poetic usage alpacinoutd, so how about:

pure as the driven snow.

That doesn't work for me as a description of someone's skin. It's already in use as a description of someone's personality/humanity. It's used to say that someone is morally perfect and, in the case of women, virginal.

 

[alpacinou]

Yes, that is why it gets used poetically.

What do you think about this?

Her milk-white skin was glistening with water droplets as she swum in the river.

 

[emsr2d2]

Use the correct past simple of swim and it'll be better.

 

[alpacinou]

Use the correct past simple of swim and it'll be better.

1. Her milk-white skin was glistening with water droplets as she swam in the river.

What about past continuous for the second one? Which one is better?

2. Her milk-white skin glistened with water droplets as she was swimming in the river.

 

[Skrej]

There's something of a logical fallacy. The water isn't going to form beads or droplets while she's still moving about in the water. I'd expect them to form once she either left the water or at least stopped swimming about.

Her ivory skin glistened with beads of water as she emerged from the water's caress.

At the very least, you need a verb with slow movement.

Glistening beads formed on her alabaster skin as she glid through the still water.


These sentences brought to you by Harlequin Enterprises.

 

[GoesStation]

Glid? I think this is the first time I've seen this. I suppose it's an archaic past simple for "glide". If so, I would only say glided.

 

[probus]

I'm with GS on glid. I've never seen or heard it before, and a google search says it belongs to certain British and Scottish dialects. Such rare words should be avoided by learners.

 

[tedmc]

It is true of slide and slid.