Olive Skin ≠ Tanned Skin.

Dec 26, 2012

Cameron R.

I was semi-ranting about this in another discussion, but didn't want to take too much attention off the important subject at hand so I thought I would go on a FULL-ON rant about this here. = P

Too often I hear people with obviously warm or cool undertones, refer to themselves as "Olive" simply because they have a tan, or have a deeper skin tone. This is inaccurate. Olive isn't a measure for depth of skin color, it's an undertone. The most pale people can be olive-toned, and even the darkest people can be olive. I am Olive, and my natural skin without any makeup or self-tanner has no trace of pink, yellow, or peach undertones. It is greyish-green. YES. GREYISH-GREEN.

Whenever I ask a SA to help me find a foundation, she always runs for something yellow toned because I am hispanic. These foundations make me look sallow, plastic-like, and jaundiced. If she grabs a pink or peach toned foundation, I end up looking like a sunburned lush. Sometimes I will explain the whole greyish green thing to them, and if we are really lucky we will find a shade that is too dark or too light and I just have to bite the bullet and accept the possibility of extra blending work/bronzing/mixing with darker foundations that I will end up doing.

I used to get spray tans religiously to yellow/orange out my skin tone so I could get matches to foundations easier, but I hate the look of them now, and eventually found some luck with MUFE's HD and Face and Body line.

I just wanted to know if anyone else shares this annoyance with me, or if any of you also get heart palpitations whenever a new foundation comes out and you start thinking about the color selection.

Thanks! = P

Dec 26, 2012

Alisa D.

I do share your annoyance on the lack of being able to find makeup! Too many times I have trusted the SA when she swore up and down whatever she picked (and applied) to me was PUUURRRRFECT... then walked out on to find that my face was glowing and beautiful on top of a now EXTREMELY NOTICEABLE green neck and body. I look warm in my photos, but I am most definitely green! So annoying, frustrating, and embarrassing...I started to do my own swatching, go outside and work from that, it takes FOREVER lol, but less time and hassle that buying and returning products and doing it all over again! And yeah, I cannot stand when they don't understand the concept of real deal green skin. I'd share a pic sans makeup but i'm way too insecure for that lol! Yes, MUFE has been kind to me as well! Now I mix my own from various pro palettes. You could look into some... :) 

Dec 26, 2012

Cameron R.

I do that also! I have a post on here with my foundations and you can see how light some are and how dark some are with all different undertones to try to find the perfect match. I mix them ALL up lol. Do you have trouble with determining EXACTLY how deep or pale you are? I have talked to a few other olive-toned people before that have told me that it is sometimes impossible to determine how dark or pale we are because our skin can (most of the time) adapt easily to lighter and darker olive shades that are far apart on the spectrum depending on the lighting/weather. 

Dec 26, 2012

Tiare H.

I absolutely agree with you gals. I feel like its hard to find a foundation for my face because I have different colors on different parts of my face. My forehead is darker and so is my chin but my cheeks are lighter and so is my nose. And so I find it better to blend different colors from different brands of makeup to match my face. And yes!!!....I hate when I go to the makeup counters and they say YES....this is the color for your skin tone. NOT! I trust only myself to MAKE the color that matches MY color. :)

Dec 26, 2012

Charisse S.

You know I agree. Also I feel like its messed up that employees try to convince you it's your color and them after you buy it and use it you realize it's really not! I think the problem is lack of knowledge and lack of options. I always try to find someone similar to my skin tone so they can understand. I don't think they're are many options out now that cater to olive undertones :/

Dec 26, 2012

Cameron R.

I know it's so annoying! Like, do I look yellow or orange to you?? And then they get an attitude when you try to help them do their jobs better by educating them for future customers, or asking them politely if you can move to a mirror closer to the window so we can see how it matches under natural light.

Mar 11, 2013

Jeana V.

See, I have been told I was "olive" for many years, but then I was told I was too light. I got color matched, and was told I'm simply a lighter shade of olive. It really does explain a lot. I can be lighter or more medium depending on how much tan I've gotten in the summer. I can be just as fair as the next person, but in the natural daylight, I have this greenish tinge. But in the lack-of natural daylight, the greenish tinge is less obvious and people that don't notice the different undertones, and think olive is that medium/tan color, just see me as "fair." I sometimes don't think my mom realizes how fair I really am, and that I am still capable of burning. Sure I have dark features with a green undertone (I wouldn't be olive obviously LOL) and I do tan quickly to a dark brown, but in reality, I'm still light complected, not medium-tan like my mom makes it out to be.

And I've been told I was "golden" at Sephora a few times. I know I don't have yellow or golden skin and that earth tones look really awful against my skin. Then the SA explained that "olive" had orange undertones. Orange is NOT a real color. It comes out of a bottle LOL!

As far as foundation goes, I'm on a budget right now, so I'm simply going to stick with True Match, but use N2 or N3, (I've been using W4), and just mix a bit of green primer in it. That way it won't be too pink or too warm.

I think the SA's at Sephora, and other big makeup stores, are really just trying to get a sale out of you. They must make commission, they seem to be out for your money more than service.