Why does my new LED bulb look wrong?
A disappointing LED is one of the most common lighting frustrations: the new bulb goes in, and something just feels off. The good news is that "wrong" almost always comes down to one of a handful of causes — and most are solved simply by choosing a better bulb, not by changing any wiring.
Harsh, clinical or too blue
The usual culprit is a colour temperature that's too high — a cool, blue-white "daylight" bulb (5000–6500K) in a room meant for relaxing. Dropping to 2700–3000K warm white usually fixes it. If the bulb is already warm but still feels harsh, the cause is more likely glare or low colour rendering. See why LED bulbs look harsh.
Too yellow
The opposite problem — a warm bulb in a space that wants crisp task light, like a kitchen or bathroom. Stepping up to 3000–4000K neutral white gives a cleaner, brighter feel.
Too dim or too bright
This is about lumens, not watts. Too dim means too few lumens (or a shade soaking up the light); too bright means too many. Our watts-to-lumens calculator helps you land on the right brightness.
Flickering, buzzing or won't dim
Almost always a dimmer mismatch: a non-dimmable LED on a dimmer, or an old dimmer not built for LEDs. Fitting a dimmable bulb is a simple swap; changing the dimmer itself is electrical work for a qualified electrician. See why LED bulbs flicker.
Glary, or colours look washed out
A clear, exposed bulb throws a sharp, glary point of light — a pearl or frosted finish softens it. Washed-out colours usually mean low CRI; look for a bulb rated CRI 90+.
How this tool helps
The diagnostic above asks what's wrong and a couple of details — importantly, the bulb's colour temperature if you know it — then pinpoints the most likely cause and tells you exactly what to buy instead. It's smart enough to tell the difference between a "harsh" bulb that's genuinely too cool and one that's warm but glary, because the fix for each is completely different.
Nearly every fix here is a simple bulb swap you can do yourself. The only jobs that need a qualified electrician are changing a switch, dimmer, transformer or driver.