ShadecubbyOlive undertones: how to tell, and which foundation shades to try
If every foundation looks either too orange or too pink on you, you may have an olive undertone. It’s common, especially in light-medium to medium skin, and it’s the undertone most shade ranges leave out.
Updated · 4 min read
Signs you have an olive undertone
- Next to white paper, your skin looks slightly green, gray or ashy rather than clearly pink or yellow.
- “Warm” foundations look orange on you and “cool” ones look pink or chalky.
- You tan easily, but your skin can look sallow when you haven’t been in the sun.
- Your veins look greenish, and both gold and silver jewelry seem to work.
None of these is conclusive alone. Our guide to finding your undertone has the full set of tests.
Why olive is hard to shop for
Olive skin has a green-gray cast along with some yellow. Most foundations are built on a warm (yellow-orange) or cool (pink) base, so on olive skin the warm ones pull orange and the cool ones look gray or pink. A true olive shade adds a little green to cancel that out.
How to shop for olive shades
- Look for an O in the shade code. Many brands now label olive shades O, or say “olive” in the name.
- Try neutral next. If a brand has no olive shades, a neutral (N) at your depth is often closer than a warm one.
- Avoid shades described as peach or rosy. Those lean pink and usually look ashy on olive skin.
- Swatch along the jaw, in daylight. The right shade disappears; the wrong one shows a line of orange or gray.
Shadecubby marks each complexion shade with its undertone and the source, so you can see which brands make olive shades at your depth before you go to the store to swatch.