diff --git a/shell/browser/api/electron_api_base_window.cc b/shell/browser/api/electron_api_base_window.cc
index 27f4279f4cae..1e6530a446f7 100644
--- a/shell/browser/api/electron_api_base_window.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/api/electron_api_base_window.cc
@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ bool BaseWindow::IsTabletMode() const {
 }
 
 void BaseWindow::SetBackgroundColor(const std::string& color_name) {
-  SkColor color = ParseCSSColor(color_name);
+  SkColor color = ParseCSSColor(color_name).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
   window_->SetBackgroundColor(color);
 }
 
diff --git a/shell/browser/api/electron_api_browser_window.cc b/shell/browser/api/electron_api_browser_window.cc
index c352ee79a5de..4af43407d845 100644
--- a/shell/browser/api/electron_api_browser_window.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/api/electron_api_browser_window.cc
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ void BrowserWindow::Blur() {
 
 void BrowserWindow::SetBackgroundColor(const std::string& color_name) {
   BaseWindow::SetBackgroundColor(color_name);
-  SkColor color = ParseCSSColor(color_name);
+  SkColor color = ParseCSSColor(color_name).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
   if (api_web_contents_) {
     api_web_contents_->SetBackgroundColor(color);
     // Also update the web preferences object otherwise the view will be reset
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ void BrowserWindow::SetBackgroundColor(const std::string& color_name) {
     auto* web_preferences =
         WebContentsPreferences::From(api_web_contents_->web_contents());
     if (web_preferences) {
-      web_preferences->SetBackgroundColor(ParseCSSColor(color_name));
+      web_preferences->SetBackgroundColor(color);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/shell/browser/api/electron_api_web_contents.cc b/shell/browser/api/electron_api_web_contents.cc
index 9bc48c5185be..fe9d0a78f80d 100644
--- a/shell/browser/api/electron_api_web_contents.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/api/electron_api_web_contents.cc
@@ -864,9 +864,10 @@ WebContents::WebContents(v8::Isolate* isolate,
     // webPreferences does not have a transparent option, so if the window needs
     // to be transparent, that will be set at electron_api_browser_window.cc#L57
     // and we then need to pull it back out and check it here.
-    std::string background_color;
-    options.GetHidden(options::kBackgroundColor, &background_color);
-    bool transparent = ParseCSSColor(background_color) == SK_ColorTRANSPARENT;
+    std::string background_color_str;
+    options.GetHidden(options::kBackgroundColor, &background_color_str);
+    SkColor bc = ParseCSSColor(background_color_str).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
+    bool transparent = bc == SK_ColorTRANSPARENT;
 
     content::WebContents::CreateParams params(session->browser_context());
     auto* view = new OffScreenWebContentsView(
diff --git a/shell/browser/native_window.cc b/shell/browser/native_window.cc
index c63253aa138b..f69be2feb605 100644
--- a/shell/browser/native_window.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/native_window.cc
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ void NativeWindow::InitFromOptions(const gin_helper::Dictionary& options) {
 
   SkColor background_color = SK_ColorWHITE;
   if (std::string color; options.Get(options::kBackgroundColor, &color)) {
-    background_color = ParseCSSColor(color);
+    background_color = ParseCSSColor(color).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
   } else if (IsTranslucent()) {
     background_color = SK_ColorTRANSPARENT;
   }
diff --git a/shell/browser/native_window_views.cc b/shell/browser/native_window_views.cc
index c7b68140383a..00a9e8639bb9 100644
--- a/shell/browser/native_window_views.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/native_window_views.cc
@@ -218,7 +218,9 @@ NativeWindowViews::NativeWindowViews(const gin_helper::Dictionary& options,
   overlay_symbol_color_ = color_utils::GetSysSkColor(COLOR_BTNTEXT);
 
   if (std::string str; options.Get(options::kAccentColor, &str)) {
-    accent_color_ = ParseCSSColor(str);
+    std::optional<SkColor> parsed_color = ParseCSSColor(str);
+    if (parsed_color.has_value())
+      accent_color_ = parsed_color.value();
   } else if (bool flag; options.Get(options::kAccentColor, &flag)) {
     accent_color_ = flag;
   }
diff --git a/shell/browser/native_window_views_win.cc b/shell/browser/native_window_views_win.cc
index c7f3456f2f20..21fbdcfed846 100644
--- a/shell/browser/native_window_views_win.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/native_window_views_win.cc
@@ -574,43 +574,36 @@ void NativeWindowViews::UpdateWindowAccentColor() {
   if (base::win::GetVersion() < base::win::Version::WIN11)
     return;
 
-  COLORREF border_color;
+  std::optional<COLORREF> border_color;
   bool should_apply_accent = false;
 
-  if (std::holds_alternative<bool>(accent_color_)) {
-    bool force_accent = std::get<bool>(accent_color_);
-    if (!force_accent) {
-      should_apply_accent = false;
-    } else {
-      std::optional<DWORD> accent_color = GetAccentColor();
-      if (accent_color.has_value()) {
-        border_color = RGB(GetRValue(accent_color.value()),
-                           GetGValue(accent_color.value()),
-                           GetBValue(accent_color.value()));
-        should_apply_accent = true;
-      }
-    }
-  } else if (std::holds_alternative<SkColor>(accent_color_)) {
+  if (std::holds_alternative<SkColor>(accent_color_)) {
+    // If the user has explicitly set an accent color, use it
+    // regardless of whether the system accent color is enabled.
     SkColor color = std::get<SkColor>(accent_color_);
     border_color =
         RGB(SkColorGetR(color), SkColorGetG(color), SkColorGetB(color));
     should_apply_accent = true;
+  } else if (std::holds_alternative<bool>(accent_color_)) {
+    // Allow the user to optionally force system color on/off.
+    should_apply_accent = std::get<bool>(accent_color_);
   } else if (std::holds_alternative<std::monostate>(accent_color_)) {
-    if (IsAccentColorOnTitleBarsEnabled()) {
-      std::optional<DWORD> accent_color = GetAccentColor();
-      if (accent_color.has_value()) {
-        border_color = RGB(GetRValue(accent_color.value()),
-                           GetGValue(accent_color.value()),
-                           GetBValue(accent_color.value()));
-        should_apply_accent = true;
-      }
+    // If no explicit color was set, default to the system accent color.
+    should_apply_accent = IsAccentColorOnTitleBarsEnabled();
+  }
+
+  // Use system accent color as fallback if no explicit color was set.
+  if (!border_color.has_value() && should_apply_accent) {
+    std::optional<DWORD> system_accent_color = GetAccentColor();
+    if (system_accent_color.has_value()) {
+      border_color = RGB(GetRValue(system_accent_color.value()),
+                         GetGValue(system_accent_color.value()),
+                         GetBValue(system_accent_color.value()));
     }
   }
 
-  // Reset to default system colors when accent color should not be applied.
-  if (!should_apply_accent)
-    border_color = DWMWA_COLOR_DEFAULT;
-  SetWindowBorderAndCaptionColor(GetAcceleratedWidget(), border_color);
+  COLORREF final_color = border_color.value_or(DWMWA_COLOR_DEFAULT);
+  SetWindowBorderAndCaptionColor(GetAcceleratedWidget(), final_color);
 }
 
 void NativeWindowViews::ResetWindowControls() {
diff --git a/shell/browser/ui/cocoa/electron_touch_bar.mm b/shell/browser/ui/cocoa/electron_touch_bar.mm
index ee198098f3ba..8fb63c7c823a 100644
--- a/shell/browser/ui/cocoa/electron_touch_bar.mm
+++ b/shell/browser/ui/cocoa/electron_touch_bar.mm
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ static NSString* const ImageScrubberItemIdentifier = @"scrubber.image.item";
 }
 
 - (NSColor*)colorFromHexColorString:(const std::string&)colorString {
-  SkColor color = electron::ParseCSSColor(colorString);
+  SkColor color = electron::ParseCSSColor(colorString).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
   return skia::SkColorToDeviceNSColor(color);
 }
 
diff --git a/shell/browser/web_contents_preferences.cc b/shell/browser/web_contents_preferences.cc
index 7096c8bc5f81..f4601a08bd9b 100644
--- a/shell/browser/web_contents_preferences.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/web_contents_preferences.cc
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ void WebContentsPreferences::SetFromDictionary(
   }
   std::string background_color;
   if (web_preferences.GetHidden(options::kBackgroundColor, &background_color))
-    background_color_ = ParseCSSColor(background_color);
+    background_color_ = ParseCSSColor(background_color).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
   std::string safe_dialogs_message;
   if (web_preferences.Get("safeDialogsMessage", &safe_dialogs_message))
     safe_dialogs_message_ = safe_dialogs_message;
diff --git a/shell/common/color_util.cc b/shell/common/color_util.cc
index d8b169a4e4d4..66669a38c5bb 100644
--- a/shell/common/color_util.cc
+++ b/shell/common/color_util.cc
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ bool IsHexFormatWithAlpha(const std::string& str) {
 
 namespace electron {
 
-SkColor ParseCSSColor(const std::string& color_string) {
+std::optional<SkColor> ParseCSSColor(const std::string& color_string) {
   // ParseCssColorString expects RGBA and we historically use ARGB
   // so we need to convert before passing to ParseCssColorString.
   std::string converted_color_str;
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ SkColor ParseCSSColor(const std::string& color_string) {
 
   SkColor color;
   if (!content::ParseCssColorString(converted_color_str, &color))
-    color = SK_ColorWHITE;
+    return std::nullopt;
 
   return color;
 }
diff --git a/shell/common/color_util.h b/shell/common/color_util.h
index 8ea422e75b1b..c1e880d8fe4a 100644
--- a/shell/common/color_util.h
+++ b/shell/common/color_util.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #ifndef ELECTRON_SHELL_COMMON_COLOR_UTIL_H_
 #define ELECTRON_SHELL_COMMON_COLOR_UTIL_H_
 
+#include <optional>
 #include <string>
 
 #include "third_party/skia/include/core/SkColor.h"
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ namespace electron {
 
 // Parses a CSS-style color string from hex, rgb(), rgba(),
 // hsl(), hsla(), or color name formats.
-SkColor ParseCSSColor(const std::string& color_string);
+std::optional<SkColor> ParseCSSColor(const std::string& color_string);
 
 // Convert color to RGB hex value like "#RRGGBB".
 std::string ToRGBHex(SkColor color);
diff --git a/shell/common/gin_converters/gfx_converter.cc b/shell/common/gin_converters/gfx_converter.cc
index c54ec7062eab..2af4e8a097e8 100644
--- a/shell/common/gin_converters/gfx_converter.cc
+++ b/shell/common/gin_converters/gfx_converter.cc
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ bool Converter<WrappedSkColor>::FromV8(v8::Isolate* isolate,
   std::string str;
   if (!gin::ConvertFromV8(isolate, val, &str))
     return false;
-  *out = electron::ParseCSSColor(str);
+  *out = electron::ParseCSSColor(str).value_or(SK_ColorWHITE);
   return true;
 }