Olive Skin Makeup Tips: Your Ultimate Guide to Radiant Beauty
- Fiona Lovell
- Feb 18
- 4 min read
Let's start at the beginning. What is undertone and overtone?
🎨 Quick Definitions
💡 Undertone
The fixed, underlying hue beneath the surface of your skin.
It doesn’t change with sun exposure, redness, tanning, or mood.
Determines whether your colouring is cool or warm— crucial for accurate colour analysis
💡 Overtone
The visible, surface colour of your skin that you see with your eyes.
Influenced by things like melanin, sun, circulation (redness), tanning, redness or sallowness — and can change over time or with lighting.
🧠 Think of It Like This
🎯 Undertone = your skin’s true base colour
This is the pigment underneath everything else — it’s what colour analysis is actually trying to identify when we drape.👉 It stays constant whether you’re pale, tan, flushed, or tired.
Example:
Two people may both look golden on the surface (overtone), but one might have a cool undertone and the other a warm one — this is why surface appearance can be misleading if you don’t drape.
👁️ Overtone = the colour you can see on the skin
This is what shows up when you look in the mirror:
yellowish
peachy
pinkish
olive
brown
reddish
These are variations based on melanin, carotene, blood flow, sun exposure, etc. — and they can change.
But overtone on its own doesn’t tell you what colours flatter you — because it can hide the real undertone underneath.
💭 Why This Matters in Colour Analysis
🧪 Undertone is what drives colour choices
Colour analysis drills down to undertone because it tells us what colour direction will harmonise with your natural physiology. It’s essentially the base temperature of your complexion.
🪩 Overtone can mislead
Your overtone might:
look warm because you’re sun-tanned
look cool because you’re flushed
look olive because of a grey-green cast
…but your undertone might be completely different. That’s why draping is essential — it overrides what your overtone looks like and shows what actually works.
🧬 A Useful Analogy
Undertone = the root colour in your DNA that doesn’t change. Overtone = the current weather of your skin — visible, variable, and influenced by what’s happening on the surface.
Makeup artists often match foundation to overtone (because it needs to disappear on the skin), but colour analysts match seasonal palettes to undertone because that’s what keeps you looking vibrant long-term.
So let's now drill down on Olive Complexions.
🌿 What Olive Skin Actually Is
Olive skin is not automatically warm or cool.
It’s a skin characteristic & overtone where the skin has a green/grey cast to it (often looks slightly “ashy”, “khaki”, or “muted” underneath).
That’s why olive skin often:
looks golden in some lighting
looks grey/green in other lighting
can appear tanned even without sun
can look “sallow” in the wrong colours
🔥 Olive Skin Can Be Warm OR Cool
Warm olive:
will glow in yellow-based colours
often suits gold
looks healthiest in warm earthy colours
Cool olive:
will glow in blue-based colours
often suits silver
looks healthiest in cool jewel tones or cool muted colours
So olive is like… a filter sitting over the undertone.
🎭 Why Olive Skin Is Tricky to Analyse
Olive skin is one of the hardest to type because it can fake you out.
Olive skin can make people appear:
warmer than they are
cooler than they are
more muted than they are
or even “neutral” (even though your system doesn’t use neutral undertones)
Basically: olive skin creates visual confusion.
⚠️ Common Colour Mistakes with Olive Skin
Olive skin is often pushed into the wrong palette because people assume:
❌ “Olive = warm”
Not always true.
❌ “Olive = Autumn”
Also not always true.
Some olives are actually:
cool + muted
cool + deep
warm + bright
warm + deep
💄 Makeup Notes (Big One)
Olive skin often struggles with foundation and makeup because:
foundations pull too pink
or turn too orange
or sit “off” because they don’t match the green/grey cast
Olive skin often needs:
more balanced tones
or olive-friendly undertone options
and careful lipstick choices
✨ What Happens in the Wrong Colours
This is the big takeaway:
When olive skin wears the wrong undertone, it often looks:
grey
muddy
tired
yellow/green in a bad way
or like the skin has a “film” over it
And when it wears the right undertone?It looks:
clearer
smoother
brighter
and more even
👀 Draping + The “Olive Effect”
You cannot rely on assumptions with olive skin — you have to be draped properly, because olive skin can “hide” the true undertone until the correct colours are placed next to the face.
Olive skin is a skin tone characteristic, not an undertone — and it must be tested carefully because it can mimic warmth or coolness depending on lighting and clothing.
Embracing Your Olive Skin Makeup Tips
First things first: embrace your undertones. Olive skin can be cool or warm. Discover your undertone here.
Foundation and Concealer: The Base of All Beauty
Finding the perfect foundation for olive skin can be a bit of a quest. You want something that matches your undertone without making you look ashy or orange.
Pro tip: test foundation on your jawline, not your wrist. This area gives a better match to your face and neck. Also, consider formulas with a natural or dewy finish to enhance your skin’s natural glow.
For concealer, pick a shade that’s one or two tones lighter than your foundation to brighten under your eyes and cover any imperfections without looking cakey.
Your Personal Style Transformation Starts Here
Remember, makeup is not just about looking good - it’s about feeling good. When you find the right colours and products that celebrate your skin, you unlock a new level of confidence.
If you want to explore more about your undertone there are plenty of resources and expert advice waiting for you. Your personal style transformation is just a brush stroke away!
So, what are you waiting for? Book Your Colour Analysis or start shopping for your best make up!
Fe Xo
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