Olive Skin Tone Explained: What It Is, How It Shows Up, and the Colors That Truly Flatter You

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If you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit neatly into “warm” or “cool,” you’re not alone. In fact, the number one question we get inside Your Color Style is:

“Am I olive… and what do I do with that?”

Olive skin is one of the most misunderstood undertones in color analysis, and until recently, most color systems didn’t account for it at all. That’s why so many women have spent their lives feeling frustrated, confused, and convinced that color just “doesn’t work on them.”

If this is you?
Take a deep breath.
You’re not difficult — you’re different. And you deserve a color palette designed for your unique beauty.

Before we dive deeper, you can watch the full Midlife Moxy episode on olive skin here:

🎥 Watch the Episode: Understanding Olive Skin Tone

**What Olive Skin Tone Really Is**

Most color systems treat undertones as simple:

Warm = yellow-based
Cool = blue-based
Neutral = a mix of both

But olive?
Olive is not neutral.
It’s its own category entirely.

From a color theory perspective, olive undertones are a mix of:

Yellow (warm)
Blue (cool)

And those two combine to create a subtle greenish undertone.

This creates a unique situation where:

Pink foundations look too pink
Yellow ones look too yellow
“Neutral” ones still look off
And many standard color palettes just don’t feel right

If this is your experience, you’re likely olive—and now it finally makes sense.

How Olive Skin Shows Up in Real Life

Olive isn’t just the classic Mediterranean tan. Olive undertones appear across many ethnicities and show up in a few distinct ways.

1. Light Olive (Green-Gray)

Fair skin with muted, ashy, or grayish tones
Little to no pink showing
Often looks “cool,” but warm colors don’t work either

2. Medium Olive (Golden-Green)

Tans easily
Looks golden in certain lighting
Still no true pink or peach coming through

3. Deep Olive (Rich Green-Gold)

Deep complexion with a cool-warm hybrid
Often paired with dark hair and dark eyes
Looks best in saturated, rich colors

No matter the depth, olive skin rarely shows true pink, which is why soft, muted, dusty shades tend to fall flat.

Why Olive Skin Is So Hard to Analyze in Traditional Systems

Older seasonal systems weren’t built for olive undertones, which leads to:

Being typed warm… then feeling awful in mustard
Being typed cool… but looking sallow in icy pink
Being typed neutral… and still not resonating with the palette
Being told your skin “pulls yellow” or “pulls green”
Years of frustration with foundation matching

This is why Your Color Style now recognizes Olive as its own category within Step 2 of the process (Warm, Cool, or Olive).
Olive people deserve their own palette.

The Colors Olive Skin Should Avoid

These shades amplify your undertone in the wrong way:

❌ Yellow-Greens

Lime, chartreuse, kelly green
→ Enhances the green in your skin

❌ Golden Yellows & Mustards

→ Can make olive look sallow or “bruised”

❌ Icy Pastels

Icy pink, icy lavender, icy blue
→ Pull out grayness

❌ Soft, Muted, Dusty Tones

Beige, stone, pale taupe
→ Make the skin look flat and tired

If these have always washed you out… now you know why.

The Best Colors for Olive Skin

Despite the colors you eliminate, your power shades are absolute showstoppers. These are colors most people can’t wear well — and you look incredible in them.

✔️ Blue-Greens & Green-Blues

Teal
Deep aqua
Marine blue
Pine
Evergreen
→ Perfect blend of cool + warm, just like you

✔️ Deep Warm Reds

Tomato red
Pimento
Brick red
→ Cuts through green and creates instant radiance

✔️ Vibrant Violets & True Purples

Royal purple
Plum
Violet
→ Opposite green on the color wheel = perfect harmony

✔️ Rich Berries & Deep Pinks

Raspberry
Boysenberry
Magenta-with-depth
→ Adds life and glow without washing you out

✔️ Deep, Saturated Neutrals

Espresso
Charcoal
Chocolate
Black
→ You need neutrals that feel like actual colors

When you wear saturated, richly pigmented colors, your features come alive — your eyes brighten and your skin tone evens out naturally.

Makeup Tips for Olive Skin

Makeup is where olive skin often struggles the most.

Foundation Tips

Ignore shade names like “Ivory” or “Beige”
Follow undertone letters (C, W, N, O) if provided
Avoid overtly yellow or overly pink formulas
Some olives do best in neutral foundations, others in olive-specific brands
Adjusters or mixers can help fine-tune a match

Eyeshadow

Best colors for most olives:

Teal
Pine green
Eggplant
Deep plum
Chocolate
Navy

Avoid:

Silvery-white shimmer
Icy pinks
Chalky nudes

Blush

You need depth and richness:

Berry
Plum
Terracotta
Deep warm red

Avoid:

Baby pink
Icy rose
Bubblegum shades

Lips

Rock these:

Brick
Cranberry
Plum
Berry
Deep red

Skip these:

Nude-beige
Light pastel pink
Dusty rose

Bold colors will look natural on you — trust the process.

Olives, You Are Not “Difficult.” You Are Distinct.

If you’ve ever felt:

“No foundation looks right on me”
“Everything washes me out”
“Color just doesn’t look good on me”
“I don’t fit any category”

You. Are. Not. Alone.

And now you finally have a system designed to support you.

Your Color Style’s Olive Skin Tone Palettes give you:

Colors that balance your undertone
Saturation that brings your face to life
A palette custom-designed for your depth (Light, Medium, or Deep Olive)

This is the moment olives finally get to feel seen.

Ready to Discover Your Olive Palette?

Get a Signature Color Analysis (we’ll determine if you’re olive + your depth)
Add a Makeup Analysis with Gail for precise foundation, blush, eye, and lip shades
Explore the digital Olive Skin Tone palettes, instantly downloadable and automatically updated over time

When you wear the right colors, you don’t just look better — you look like yourself again.

Jennifer Vax

Jen Vax is the founder of Your Color Style. She is a best selling author, speaker, artist and entrepreneur. She helps women learn how to wear color in a way that expresses their true nature. Watch the FREE webinar "3 Steps To Disovering Your Colors.