Olive skin: why every foundation looks grey or orange

If most foundations look either too pink or too orange on you, and the “neutral” ones make you look grey, you probably have an olive undertone.

What olive means

Olive skin has a slightly greenish or greyish cast underneath its actual colour. It exists in light, medium and deep skin. But many brands only think in warm, neutral and cool, and then none of them really fits.

Typical signs

Warm shades look orange or too yellow.
Cool shades look pink, like a mask.
Neutral shades look dull or slightly grey.
Your skin looks different in daylight from how you know it in the bathroom mirror.

What to look for

Some brands mark olive shades with “O” or “Olive”, others call them “neutral-golden”. In our catalogue, 143 of 9,042 shades are marked olive, so really only a few. If you’ve found one that fits, remember it well and use it as your starting point in the shade finder.

Olive shades you can buy

A selection from the catalogue, from light to deep. Tap one to see the closest shades at other brands:

The colours come from the brands’ own swatches, not from our own measurements. Still try a shade on your jaw in daylight before you commit.

Try it with your foundation

Type in the foundation and shade you wear. The shade finder shows you the closest shade at other brands, with an honest number. Free, no sign-up.

Open the shade finder