The thing nobody mentions about tan boots is that they go lighter with wear, not darker. A few months of pavements and car park puddles and the leather softens and warms up a shade, especially around the toe and ankle crease, and instead of looking tired it starts looking lived in, like a good handbag. That only happens if you buy real leather or a decent faux. The stiff man made stuff just scuffs white and stays scuffed.
These come into their own from September through to about April, oddly enough, rather than in the summer you might picture them for. They do the early autumn in between weather, too warm for proper boots, too cold for bare ankles, and they carry you right through to the point where you can get away with no socks again. Where they struggle is heavy summer rain. Tan shows a watermark faster than black does, so a sudden downpour on the school run will leave a tide line that takes a clean and a feed to shift.
On shade, go for something with a bit of red or chestnut in it rather than a flat honey or biscuit tan. The red toned ones hide scuffs and rain spots far better, and they read as a proper colour rather than a beige that's trying too hard to be neutral. A matte or lightly waxed finish ages well. The high shine patent style tan boots look sharp for about a fortnight and then every knock shows.
For pairing, tan sits happiest with denim, a camel or grey coat, and anything in cream, white or olive. It gets visually noisy next to black, the two neutrals argue with each other rather than agreeing, so if you're wearing black tights or a black coat, tan boots need to be the only tan thing in the outfit. Gold jewellery works with them better than silver does, which is a small detail but it's the one that makes an outfit look thought through rather than thrown on.
Looking after them is mostly about getting ahead of the problem rather than fixing it. A coat of leather protector before the first proper wear, then a wipe down after wet days and a feed with leather balm once a month through the damp part of the year. Scuffs on tan show more than on black, that's simply the trade off you're making for the colour, and a bit of the right coloured cream worked in with a soft cloth will take most of them back.
Put them under jeans and a plain jumper you've had for years and the whole thing stops looking like laundry day and starts looking like you meant it.