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Olive Skintone. Is it Cool or Warm?

post #1 of 14
12/30/12 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 

I am getting mixed messages about this online so I wanted to post this in the forums to see what most of you think. I know this isn't true for all but in general are olive skintones usually cool undertones or warm? I saw a youtube video where a young lady was having a hard time with foundations and concealers and half the people were telling her she was warm while the other half was telling her she was cool. I felt she was closer to neutral but had a slightly olive skintone. I would assume that olive skintones tan easier making them a warm undertone.

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post #2 of 14
12/31/12 at 8:34am
I would think neutral or warm, with olive coloring.
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post #3 of 14
12/31/12 at 9:59am
Thread Starter 

Thank you MissLinda. Thats what I figured also. I saw so many people posting responses saying cool undertones and it confused me a little.

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post #4 of 14
12/31/12 at 10:10am

Here's why it's confusing. Olive has yellow undertones to it however depending on how much of an olive complexion you have it maybe neutral or it maybe warm.

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post #5 of 14
12/31/12 at 2:50pm
Thread Starter 

Thank you. I told her I would try to get some more information for her so that she could select the right foundation and concealer and this was the best place for me to pose the question. She had a very slight dark shade under the eye possibly with hints of purple and she was using several products to conceal making it look heavy. She did a youtube video showing the results asking for advice. On one side she used a very yellowish concealer and on the otherside she used a very orange concealer. Of the 2 I felt the yellow was less distracting but it was still too yellow so I told her she should probably find a concealer with a little less yellow or try to blend it down more. Furthermore she had purchased a MAC foundation that was an NW shade and she thought it was for warm complexions. You know how confusing MAC foundations can be. I don't know if she had been to a MAC counter to get matched but the foundation was rosey and her skin undertones were more golden/yellow.

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post #6 of 14
12/31/12 at 4:01pm

Has she tried a green based concealer which will help conceal the purple?

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post #7 of 14
1/2/13 at 10:29am
This sounds like a pretty interesting video. I have the same issues matching foundation and concealer with my ski tone, so I too would like to hear more about this.
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post #8 of 14
1/2/13 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 

Okay I found the video. Here you all can look at the video and see what she was talking about.

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post #9 of 14
1/3/13 at 10:59pm

Thanks for posting the video! It's hard to tell which is better. The orange seems to suit her skintone better; the other one (Ochre?) seemed to accentuate the yellowness in her face. Although, it did seem to brighten up that under-eye area more than the orange. eusa_wall.gifAh, I'm just not sure. Why is it so hard to tell? Someone on her YouTube page suggested combining the orange and peach colors, but that might be too much product. 

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post #10 of 14
1/3/13 at 11:19pm
Thread Starter 

Now that I look at it again the orange does blend into her skin better. I wasn't sure if the lighting was brighter on the other side or what but I was confused by her undertone the most I think. I felt like I saw gold undertones but there are some areas on her face that appear to have a little pink.

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post #11 of 14
1/4/13 at 1:22pm

Olive = Drab. It is neither cool nor warm. Green or Gray undertones will match better. When I have a client with super olive skin, for example an Asian ethnicity, I always put a drop of 185 into whatever foundation I'm mixing for her. (Makeup Forever HD). It's not enough to darken the foundation, but black/grey is the base of that color and will drab out any warm or cool tones in the lighter foundation colors. You can also check out their new additive line and get some pure green or gray pigment to add to concealers or foundations to drab down. HD Foundation also works wonders as a concealer. Simply apply foundation to the face, then dab a second layer on with fingertips under the eyes for a think but opaque coverage with diffused edges. 

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post #12 of 14
1/5/13 at 4:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ameliacandco View Post

Olive = Drab. It is neither cool nor warm. Green or Gray undertones will match better. When I have a client with super olive skin, for example an Asian ethnicity, I always put a drop of 185 into whatever foundation I'm mixing for her. (Makeup Forever HD). It's not enough to darken the foundation, but black/grey is the base of that color and will drab out any warm or cool tones in the lighter foundation colors. You can also check out their new additive line and get some pure green or gray pigment to add to concealers or foundations to drab down. HD Foundation also works wonders as a concealer. Simply apply foundation to the face, then dab a second layer on with fingertips under the eyes for a think but opaque coverage with diffused edges. 

That's interesting. I'd never heard of using gray or green to balance olive skin. Wouldn't that increase the sallow look to the skin?
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post #13 of 14
1/5/13 at 6:26pm

She doesn't even have enough discoloration to justify the need to use an extreme orange or yellow.

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post #14 of 14
1/6/13 at 7:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GiggleBlush View Post


That's interesting. I'd never heard of using gray or green to balance olive skin. Wouldn't that increase the sallow look to the skin?

The goal with foundation is not to change their inherit skin tone. The goal of foundation is to even everything out, generally matching from the decollete up. (And to shape, I contour with liquid foundation for a flawless skin-like finish.) If they are sallow, then they are sallow. You wouldn't want a pink-toned head bobbling around on a olive toned body. You'd see a line of demarcation and it would look off. So your not correcting the skin tone, your matching it and then of course correcting redness, blemishes, ect. 

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