Fresh Kicks
The cleanest, truest white Clare sells, reviewed honestly: the trim and cabinets it was built for, the walls where it goes stark, and what to pick instead.
Jessica has spec'd whites and neutrals for more than 300 rooms and keeps a sample wall of painted drawdowns in her studio. Every color review is checked against real reader rooms in the comments and re-tested when a formula changes. About the testing process →
- 1Classic Gray74
- 2Alabaster82
- 3Fresh Kicks94
- 4White100
The Fast Verdict
Fresh Kicks is Clare's untinted white — no yellow, no gray, no green, nothing added to knock it off true. That purity is exactly why Clare sells it as a trim, door and cabinet paint first and a wall paint second: with zero undertone to fall back on, it has nothing to soften it in bad light, and untinted paint famously needs more coats than a tinted one. Give it good daylight, warm wood or a bold wall color to sit against, and it is the sharpest white in Clare's lineup. Give it a dim room and one coat over navy, and it will show you exactly why.
Trim, interior doors and cabinets in any light · bathrooms, mudrooms and laundry rooms that need a wipeable semi-gloss · a true, zero-undertone white next to warm wood or a saturated wall color · exteriors — Clare sells a matching exterior formula for trim and shutters
You want one-coat coverage over a dark or saturated wall · your room is dim and north-facing with no plan for lamps · you need paint today and can't wait on shipping · you haven't ordered Clare's peel-and-stick sample first
- A genuinely zero-undertone white — never yellow, never green, never pink
- The sharpest trim, door and cabinet white in Clare's lineup
- Semi-gloss wipes clean in bathrooms, mudrooms and laundry rooms
- Sits against any wall color without arguing over warm or cool
- Clare sells a matching exterior formula for trim and shutters
- Untinted paint needs more coats — 3 to 4 over a dark existing color
- Reads flat and cold on bare walls in a dim or north-facing room
- Clare is online-only — no in-store tinting or same-day backup can
- No undertone to fall back on means it shows scuffs and shadows more than a softer white
What Color Is Fresh Kicks, Really?
Fresh Kicks is untinted — Clare's base white with nothing added, which is the whole reason it reads as the cleanest option in their catalog. Most "bright whites" still carry a trace of tint to warm or cool them; Fresh Kicks skips that step, and the tradeoff is real: untinted paint has less pigment load than a tinted formula, so it needs more coats to build full, even coverage. Clare itself says two coats minimum, three to four over a dark existing color — that is not a manufacturing defect, it is the direct cost of true, no-undertone white.
At LRV 94 it sits in the same bright tier as Behr's Ultra Pure White (LRV 97) and just above Clare's own siblings, Snow Day and Whipped (LRV 95 each) — but where those two lean cool and warm respectively, Fresh Kicks is the deliberately neutral one in the trio. It reflects almost all the light that hits it, which is what makes it read so sharp on trim against a mid-tone wall, and also what makes it show every shadow, scuff and roller mark a duller white would hide.
Undertone in one line: none, on purpose — that is the product. If your sample looks warm or cool on the wall, that is your daylight, your floor, or the color next to it bouncing back at you, not the paint switching sides.
Where It Shines
This is a trim-and-millwork white first. On doors, casings, baseboards and cabinets in semi-gloss, the total absence of undertone reads as sharp, deliberate contrast against almost any wall color — it never fights a warm greige or argues with a cool gray the way a creamier or grayer white would. Bathrooms, mudrooms and laundry rooms are its other natural home: the semi-gloss trim formula wipes clean, and a room that gets steam or muddy boots benefits from a white with nothing to yellow or dull over time.
Where It Fails
Almost every complaint about Fresh Kicks traces back to one of three situations, and all three are predictable before the first coat goes on. None of them are the paint failing — they are what happens when a true, zero-undertone white meets a real house instead of a swatch.
A white with nothing warm or cool built in has nothing to lean on when the light is bad. In a dim, north-facing room with the lamps off, Fresh Kicks doesn't go cozy or creamy the way an undertoned white would — it just goes flat and cold. If the room doesn't get real daylight, pick Whipped instead, or plan on warm bulbs staying on.
This is Clare's own warning, not a surprise complaint: untinted paint is thinner in pigment than a tinted color, so going over navy, charcoal or a saturated accent wall can take three to four coats to fully block the old color. Budget the extra gallon and the extra day before you start, not after the first coat looks patchy.
Clare is online-only — no hardware-store counter, no can-it-tinted-today backup plan. Order the peel-and-stick sample first and expect a shipping window before the gallon arrives. If your timeline is tight, Behr Ultra Pure White or Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace give you the same crisp, true-white character from a can you can buy in person today.
Room by Room
Semi-gloss Fresh Kicks against almost any wall color reads sharp and deliberate. It never competes with the wall's undertone because it doesn't carry one of its own — the classic 'let the trim disappear into cleanliness' move.
Clare markets this exact formula for cabinets, and it earns it: a true white doesn't yellow near stainless or warm wood counters the way a creamier white can over a decade. Satin or semi-gloss cabinet enamel, and plan on the full coat count over any stained wood underneath.
On a vanity or a shower trim it is durable and moisture-friendly in semi-gloss. On all four bathroom walls, it needs a window — a windowless powder room with only can lights will read colder and flatter than the sample promised.
High-traffic rooms are exactly what Clare sells this formula for: semi-gloss wipes off boot scuffs and detergent splashes without the yellowing an off-white eventually shows in a hard-use room.
In a bright, south-facing room with warm wood floors and furniture, it can work as a crisp, gallery-style wall white. In a dim or north-facing room, it is the first color on this page to skip — there is no undertone to warm it back up, so it reads institutional instead of clean.
Clare sells a matching exterior Fresh Kicks formula, and full outdoor sun is genuinely kind to it — the brightness that can feel stark indoors reads crisp and clean on porch trim, columns and window casings against nearly any siding color.
Your Light Is the Risk
Real daylight is the only thing this white needs — no undertone to manage, it simply reads clean and true all day.
With no warmth built in to fall back on, low cool light leaves it flat and institutional instead of cozy. Test with the lamps off before you commit to walls.
It doesn't swing warm or cool through the day the way an undertoned white does — instead it mirrors whatever color is reflecting off the walls, floor and furniture around it.
2700K bulbs soften it toward a gentle ivory at night. Cool LEDs keep it clinically bright — good for a workspace or bath, harsh in a living room.
Most complaints about Fresh Kicks are a light mismatch. Upload a photo of your actual room and see it on your walls — then ask for the same wall in north light or evening lamps before you buy a single sample.
Need It From Another Brand?
Any paint counter can custom-tint Clare PNT100-LT-03 directly. If you would rather stay in one brand's own deck, these are the closest stock matches, measured as ΔE2000. Under 2 is a difference you will not see on the wall.
| Brand | Closest color | ΔE | LRV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams | UltraWhiteSW 9500 · Sherwin-Williams | 2.8 | 94 | Color page → |
| Behr | Smart White730A-1 · Behr | 0.6 | 94 | Color page → |
| Benjamin Moore | Chantilly Lace2121-70 · Benjamin Moore | 3.0 | 91 | Color page → |
| Valspar | Ultra White7006-24 · Valspar | 2.6 | 93.6 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | Delicate WhitePPG1001-1 · PPG / Glidden | 2.7 | 88 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Delicate WhitePPG1001-1 · Glidden | 2.6 | 88 | Color page → |
Similar Clare Colors
The nearest shades to Fresh Kicks within Clare's own range, ranked by perceptual color distance — useful when you want the same look a touch lighter, darker, or warmer.
WCAG 2.1: AA is 4.5 : 1 for normal text, 3 : 1 for large text, AAA is 7 : 1.
Fresh Kicks vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every Fresh Kicks sample board has the same rivals on it. The numbers show the real lightness gap — then it comes down to which risk you would rather live with.
Pick this if you want a hair less blinding on trim and you're fine ordering Clare's sample first.
Behr W-B-500 · LRV 97Ultra Pure WhitePick this if you want to buy it today at any Behr counter — a near-identical zero-undertone brightness with no shipping wait.
Pick this for the one Clare white with genuinely zero undertone, in any light.
Clare PNT100-LT-01 · LRV 95Snow DayPick this if you want Clare's cool-leaning bright white instead — it needs more daylight to stay friendly than Fresh Kicks does.
Fresh Kicks Coordinating Colors
Because Fresh Kicks carries no undertone of its own, it is unusually easy to pair — it doesn't argue with a warm wall or a cool one. The one rule that matters: give it something with actual color or depth to sit against, because two undertone-free neutrals next to each other can read as a mistake rather than a choice. These are the partners that keep it looking deliberate:
Fresh Kicks and Clare's Online-Only Model
Part of what you're buying with Fresh Kicks isn't just the paint — it's Clare's whole direct-to-consumer process. There is no hardware-store counter to walk up to and no can to grab off a shelf; every order starts with a peel-and-stick sample or a sample pot shipped to your door, then the full gallon ships separately once you commit. For a color this precise — genuinely zero undertone, which is rare — that process is worth the wait, because you're testing the real paint on your real wall before the big can arrives.
The tradeoff shows up when you need paint fast: a mid-project touch-up, a rental turnover on a deadline, a color you decided on last week. In those cases, an in-store true white like Behr Ultra Pure White or Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace gets you a very similar crisp, no-undertone result the same afternoon. Neither is a knock on Fresh Kicks — it's a scheduling decision, not a color one.
Fresh Kicks With Wood Tones and Floors
Warm wood is what keeps this white from feeling clinical. Oak, walnut and butcher block all give Fresh Kicks something to play against — the wood carries the room's warmth so the trim or cabinets get to stay genuinely, crisply white without the room going cold. This is the pairing behind almost every kitchen photo where the color looks its best.
Cool-toned floors are the one combination to sample first: gray-washed wood or cool LVP paired with a zero-undertone white can push a room toward feeling sterile rather than clean, especially without much daylight. It isn't a dealbreaker — a warm rug and brass hardware fix it in most rooms — but it's worth testing a large sample against the actual floor before committing to four walls.
Three Ready Palettes Built on Fresh Kicks
A color is never alone on the wall. These are complete combinations in the 60-30-10 pattern, with the reason each one holds together. Every one opens in the visualizer.
A warm beige wall gives Fresh Kicks something to contrast against instead of compete with — the trim reads bright and deliberate, not stark, because the wall is doing the warming. The near-black door is the one dark note the scheme needs.
Try this palette in your roomRevere Pewter's soft greige keeps the room from feeling clinical, so the cabinets get to be the sharp, true-white moment. The navy island grounds the palette and gives brass hardware something to shine against.
Try this palette in your roomThis is the room Clare built the formula for: a warm, forgiving wall color, semi-gloss white millwork that wipes clean of boot scuffs, and a dark bench-and-hook wall that hides daily wear.
Try this palette in your roomFresh Kicks FAQ
Is Fresh Kicks warm or cool?
Neither — it's untinted, so it has no built-in undertone at all. Whatever warm or cool cast you see on the wall is coming from your daylight, your floor, or the colors around it reflecting back, not from the paint itself.
How many coats does it need?
Two coats minimum over an existing light color; Clare itself says budget three to four coats over a dark or saturated wall. Untinted paint carries less pigment than a tinted formula, so it needs more passes to build full, even coverage.
Is it good for kitchen cabinets?
Yes — Clare sells this exact formula as a trim and cabinet paint in semi-gloss. Because it has zero undertone, it won't drift yellow against stainless or warm wood counters the way a creamier white eventually can.
Can I use it on walls?
Yes, but only if the room has real daylight or warm wood to play off of. Without either, a true white with no undertone reads stark and cold rather than clean — that's the single most common regret with this color.
Does Clare sell Fresh Kicks for exteriors?
Yes, Clare offers a matching exterior formula, and full outdoor sun genuinely flatters it — the same brightness that can feel harsh indoors reads crisp and classic on porch trim, columns and shutters.
Can I buy Fresh Kicks in a store, or only online?
Online only — Clare is a direct-to-consumer brand with no in-store tinting counter. Order the peel-and-stick sample before you buy the gallon, and if your timeline is tight, Behr Ultra Pure White or Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace give you a very similar true-white character from a can you can buy today.
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