I don't think plain English is quite up to the task here. Silver is "brighter" than nickel by a long shot, but adding 10% nickel to gold turns it completely white, while you need 50% or more silver to wash out the gold color. For that matter, do the right fiddling with high-powered lasers, and you can produce a 100% gold-metal surface that's matte black. It's not due to oxidation or anything, it's just due to confining those surface electrons. So, unless you're willing to go back to school for quite a while, the best "plain English" answer is "it's complicated".
That's what I use to tell my students when they were mostly males, but 80% in my classes now are females.They will someday rule the world.
In the 1930s and 40s, Mexico made 5 and 10 centavo pieces with a composition of 80% Cu, 20% Ni. In hand they have a slight pinkish or copperish tint (though I can’t decide whether it’s visible here). Anyway, in plain language I guess if ya put in enough copper, it’ll eventually look like copper.
So you're saying the electrons are playing a shell game with our eyes, and we wouldn't be worrying about it if we kept our metals in the dark?
Or paint them with thick gunk. The same rules apply to trace elements in minerals. Al2O3 is aluminum oxide ( old fashion sandpaper or quartz). Mainly transparent colorless corundum. Add the right level of chromium you can have a Ruby ( red) . Other contaminants in other corundum such as iron, magnesium, copper, can make different colors called Sapphires( because all red are rubies), such as blue, pink, green, yellow, etc. When these contaminants electrons distort the arrangement of the crystal matrix ( aluminum oxide) you get the non-stable reactions that change energy level, and color, in presence of energy. That's why jewelers don't just show colored stone rings to serious customers by holding it up. Usually they move the customer to a directional lighted area to give the spiel. Always insist on wearing it in outside light ( take the guard along also) to decide. If any one is further interested, read the Wiki posting for Ruby Laser, and see more what that electron energy can do. Jim