Sorry about the bad picture, Angie! I feared it was kinda dark, which is why I included the link to the tights on the Nordie's site. They are somewhat bright.
I thought some more about why the look works in some outfits but not others, and I'm thinking it has to do with the contrast between the tights, shoes and skirt. E.g., for my tights I would not have chosen a black skirt - I think it would have looked more jarring or "clownish". Somehow the denim skirt softens the contrast and makes the tights less of a focal point. Similarly, I'd pair fuchsia tights (which I might be interested in getting) with a dark grey/charcoal skirt rather than a black one, I think it would work better. Does that make sense? It's just an intuition, I cannot really articulate the why.