Creams when younger can be almost white in appearance but this can vary in shades up to hot creams (when a cream is similar to a shaded red in coat colour). When the adult coat comes through it can have darker points (ears, legs, muzzle and even some of the saddle), by this I mean similar to a shaded red in these points with the rest of the chow being cream/ white in colour. The longer guard hairs will tend to start to be visible through the puppy coat at around 9 months to 18 months pending the maturity of the puppy in question. As a Cream ages they may gain or lose pigment on their nose through the year (the amount of sun they are exposed to, their diet etc can effect this), we should always aim for as dark as possible yet many creams have pink gums and a very light nose.