"Ethnic" magazines always confuse olive skin with golden or tanned.

[Babybub10]

I know I hate it too! But I don't agree with all the replies. African Americans no matter how light there skin is don't have an olive skin tone because just the shad of the color is different. Skin tones like Rihanna have their own category and it falls under brown, specifically caramel brown. Caramel and chocolate are under the brown category. A perfect example of an olive skin tone is Nina dobrev's. That is a true olive color. And olive can range from a little lighter to a little darker it all doesn't have to be one shade but what I hate is when big top magazines confuse fair or medium skin tones with olive, that's not olive! Example, Megan fox! She is NOT olive she is way too light for olive! I think native olive skin tones are of people from the middle east, central Asia, and eastern Europe like Turkey or Bulgaria, and maybe even Hispanics. Darker people falling into the olive category doesn't bother me, but lighter skin tones falling into the olive category bothers the HELL out of me! People who are fair or pale are like yeah I have olive skin it's like uh no you don't! You are not olive so shut up! One day, people who are obviously white are gonna start calling themselves olive and then us olives are going to be categorized as browns! Here are the skin shades, light/pale, fair, medium, olive, tan, brown, dark, and black. Light or pale is just pale like snow or pinkish like Anne Hathaway or Kate Winslet, fair is like leighton meester or maybe Miley Cyrus who have generally white skin, medium is like a beige or golden brown like Blake lively or Megan fox, OLIVE is like a golden BROWN/light brown to moderate brown from Nina Dobrev to Jessica Alba or Aishwarya Rai (known as "prettiest woman in the world), tan is like a moderate brown to a general brown like Freida Pinto and I'm a little hesitant on Eva Longoria because she could fall under the olive category too, brown is just your general brown from as light as Rihanna or beyonce to Tyra banks or maybe Katerina Graham and Jessica Szohr, then dark brown is like lil Wayne to jay z or Nikki minaj to Oprah or maybe some south Indians , and lastly black is like a very dark brown to black like Akon or some parts of India! And the reason why some olive skins can seem tan is because in hot weather, the skin turns tan which is a true olivian! People with medium might seem olive due to the climate but that's not a true olive, olives look pretty tan in hot climates. Now for me, I don't look at this as an opinion I think what I just said is a fact. I am an "olivian" and I have pretty good knowledge on skin tones and I've also heard people call me tan but those are people who don't know the difference. I think it's because they're judging based on ethnicity and I hate that, people who are stereotypical or just dumb do that.

 

[novellastar]

I have an extremely green cast to my skin tone and I have always been put under the "olive category" my mother is indian and my dad middle eastern/indian.
I never know what to buy in foundation as nothing neutralizes the greenish cast?

 

[Sojourner]

I know I hate it too! But I don't agree with all the replies. African Americans no matter how light there skin is don't have an olive skin tone because just the shad of the color is different. Skin tones like Rihanna have their own category and it falls under brown, specifically caramel brown. Caramel and chocolate are under the brown category. A perfect example of an olive skin tone is Nina dobrev's. That is a true olive color. And olive can range from a little lighter to a little darker it all doesn't have to be one shade but what I hate is when big top magazines confuse fair or medium skin tones with olive, that's not olive! Example, Megan fox! She is NOT olive she is way too light for olive! I think native olive skin tones are of people from the middle east, central Asia, and eastern Europe like Turkey or Bulgaria, and maybe even Hispanics. Darker people falling into the olive category doesn't bother me, but lighter skin tones falling into the olive category bothers the HELL out of me! People who are fair or pale are like yeah I have olive skin it's like uh no you don't! You are not olive so shut up! One day, people who are obviously white are gonna start calling themselves olive and then us olives are going to be categorized as browns! Here are the skin shades, light/pale, fair, medium, olive, tan, brown, dark, and black. Light or pale is just pale like snow or pinkish like Anne Hathaway or Kate Winslet, fair is like leighton meester or maybe Miley Cyrus who have generally white skin, medium is like a beige or golden brown like Blake lively or Megan fox, OLIVE is like a golden BROWN/light brown to moderate brown from Nina Dobrev to Jessica Alba or Aishwarya Rai (known as "prettiest woman in the world), tan is like a moderate brown to a general brown like Freida Pinto and I'm a little hesitant on Eva Longoria because she could fall under the olive category too, brown is just your general brown from as light as Rihanna or beyonce to Tyra banks or maybe Katerina Graham and Jessica Szohr, then dark brown is like lil Wayne to jay z or Nikki minaj to Oprah or maybe some south Indians , and lastly black is like a very dark brown to black like Akon or some parts of India! And the reason why some olive skins can seem tan is because in hot weather, the skin turns tan which is a true olivian! People with medium might seem olive due to the climate but that's not a true olive, olives look pretty tan in hot climates. Now for me, I don't look at this as an opinion I think what I just said is a fact. I am an "olivian" and I have pretty good knowledge on skin tones and I've also heard people call me tan but those are people who don't know the difference. I think it's because they're judging based on ethnicity and I hate that, people who are stereotypical or just dumb do that.

I would not classify Megan Fox as medium. When she was in Transformers yes, but she had to tan for that role. Nowadays she is very pale and pink toned.

The true definition of olive is that your skin has a green cast, otherwise what would be the point of the word 'olive'?

 

[califabulous]

omg... this is waaaay confusing. I believe that I have olive undertones because yellow based foundations look ashy, pink/red tones change my coloring and never match. Neutral shades make me look absolutely flat and dull. So, all that's left is olive. At times when I look at my chest and face I do see a green cast but only after I learned I could possibly have olive coloring. when searching on google, I put in dark olive and pictures of jada pinkett and zoe saldana appear. I don't really "see" undertones as in my eyes can't seem to capture the colors so I just memorize the skin tone of those that are said to be olive but also have deeper skin color. I find out what foundations they use and start my matching around that shade. I really hope this thread sheds more light on this topic because I have noooooo idea! as listed in my siggy, my foundation matches are all over the place so I have a hard time determining what shade range to try.

 

[fredesco]

I fully agree. I have medium deep olive skin as a black woman. I'm not dark but I'm not very light. I have so much gold and actually olive green in my skin it's noticeable. I have definitely noticed tan or golden or just slightly dark women have been referred to as olive. Olive skin actually has olive green tones in it which are obvious. The golden toned makeup with green in it are the best matches for olive skin people. As well as grayish green makeup.

 

[Mabelle]

I am not a woman of color, but I have read this in magazines and beauty articles too. It drives me nuts! How deep your skin tone is and it;s undertone are not the same thing friends! If you can't figure that out step away from the keyboard!

 

[Jeana Marie]

I know I hate it too! But I don't agree with all the replies. African Americans no matter how light there skin is don't have an olive skin tone because just the shad of the color is different. Skin tones like Rihanna have their own category and it falls under brown, specifically caramel brown. Caramel and chocolate are under the brown category. A perfect example of an olive skin tone is Nina dobrev's. That is a true olive color. And olive can range from a little lighter to a little darker it all doesn't have to be one shade but what I hate is when big top magazines confuse fair or medium skin tones with olive, that's not olive! Example, Megan fox! She is NOT olive she is way too light for olive! I think native olive skin tones are of people from the middle east, central Asia, and eastern Europe like Turkey or Bulgaria, and maybe even Hispanics. Darker people falling into the olive category doesn't bother me, but lighter skin tones falling into the olive category bothers the HELL out of me! People who are fair or pale are like yeah I have olive skin it's like uh no you don't! You are not olive so shut up! One day, people who are obviously white are gonna start calling themselves olive and then us olives are going to be categorized as browns! Here are the skin shades, light/pale, fair, medium, olive, tan, brown, dark, and black. Light or pale is just pale like snow or pinkish like Anne Hathaway or Kate Winslet, fair is like leighton meester or maybe Miley Cyrus who have generally white skin, medium is like a beige or golden brown like Blake lively or Megan fox, OLIVE is like a golden BROWN/light brown to moderate brown from Nina Dobrev to Jessica Alba or Aishwarya Rai (known as "prettiest woman in the world), tan is like a moderate brown to a general brown like Freida Pinto and I'm a little hesitant on Eva Longoria because she could fall under the olive category too, brown is just your general brown from as light as Rihanna or beyonce to Tyra banks or maybe Katerina Graham and Jessica Szohr, then dark brown is like lil Wayne to jay z or Nikki minaj to Oprah or maybe some south Indians , and lastly black is like a very dark brown to black like Akon or some parts of India! And the reason why some olive skins can seem tan is because in hot weather, the skin turns tan which is a true olivian! People with medium might seem olive due to the climate but that's not a true olive, olives look pretty tan in hot climates. Now for me, I don't look at this as an opinion I think what I just said is a fact. I am an "olivian" and I have pretty good knowledge on skin tones and I've also heard people call me tan but those are people who don't know the difference. I think it's because they're judging based on ethnicity and I hate that, people who are stereotypical or just dumb do that.

Sorry, hun, but as a Caucasian female with olive green undertones, I fully disagree with this statement. How fair or dark your skin is, is completely irrelevant to one's undertones. That being said, one CAN be just as fair as Anne Hathaway and Khloe Kardashian (perhaps even lighter), and still have an olive/green undertone to their skin. Just like a deeply tan person can have the rosy pink undertones, most people think of as fair skin. A cooler, fairer olive complexion tends to look "pale" or "fair" but with a more subtle hint of green, that shows more in the summer.

That being said here is a long list of FAIR SKINNED women that have OLIVE UNDERTONES just like myself:
Selena Gomez
Demi Lovato
Kris Jenner
Mila Kunis
Lucy Hale
Alyssa Milano
Angelina from the Jersey Shore
Elaine from Seinfeld
Lea Michele
Victoria Beckham
Jenni "JWOWW" Farley
Adriana Lima
Penelope Cruz
Catherine Zeta Jones
Sophia Bush

 

[Sojourner]

I don't think most people would see those women as fair though. Lucy Hale (and she seems pink-toned from candid pictures) and Sophia Bush (she does seem to be olive) are fair yes but the rest are more medium I think, I wonder what everyone else thinks?

I agree that it is possible to be very pale and olive but it's quite rare and often people just say they are olive when they are not because 'olive' is generally seen as a positive thing. I think the presence of that green tone is the definition, and you can't have any pinkness to your skin (not including cheeks/nose/eyes which are naturally prone to redness).

Also, I don't think Caucasian has much to do with it. If you believe in those classifications, Caucasian covers anyone starting at western Europe all the way across to India and from the Arctic down to North Africa.

 

[Jeana Marie]

I agree with the term "olive" fully. You're right. I do think a fair toned olive person, like myself, appears to blend in with the other fair folks, especially when they leave their hair dark brown or black, but in the natural daylight, or when wearing certain colors (bright green, true red, purples), or when we highlight our hair or color it red, that's when the olive comes out. When I dye my hair red, people often think I went tanning, or my skin looks like it has more color. I guess it's the subtle hints of green.

I will admit I've been classed as "fair warm" or "golden" because of the yellow/green in my fair skin, and again, the fact that most people class olive as a medium/tan color, and have been told to wear foundations that are too yellow and earth toned makeup. My mom would tell me all the time how it made my skin look dirty.

And she was right.

 

[Jeana Marie]

^^^
And I absloutly think Selena is just as light as Miley Cyrus, just with that olive green hue. I must be missing something then, what is the difference between being fair or pale, and just having light skin?

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'm not super ghostly, like I said, I'm positive I have that green undertone, because I've compared the forearms to darker olives and it literally looks like a paint swatch. It's the same undertone, different shades. Foundation is a pain and I've found them to either be too pink, too warm, or too yellow. I think I might just be more medium/light than fair.

 

[elektra513]

I know I hate it too! But I don't agree with all the replies. African Americans no matter how light there skin is don't have an olive skin tone because just the shad of the color is different. Skin tones like Rihanna have their own category and it falls under brown, specifically caramel brown. Caramel and chocolate are under the brown category. A perfect example of an olive skin tone is Nina dobrev's. That is a true olive color. And olive can range from a little lighter to a little darker it all doesn't have to be one shade but what I hate is when big top magazines confuse fair or medium skin tones with olive, that's not olive! Example, Megan fox! She is NOT olive she is way too light for olive! I think native olive skin tones are of people from the middle east, central Asia, and eastern Europe like Turkey or Bulgaria, and maybe even Hispanics. Darker people falling into the olive category doesn't bother me, but lighter skin tones falling into the olive category bothers the HELL out of me! People who are fair or pale are like yeah I have olive skin it's like uh no you don't! You are not olive so shut up! One day, people who are obviously white are gonna start calling themselves olive and then us olives are going to be categorized as browns! Here are the skin shades, light/pale, fair, medium, olive, tan, brown, dark, and black. Light or pale is just pale like snow or pinkish like Anne Hathaway or Kate Winslet, fair is like leighton meester or maybe Miley Cyrus who have generally white skin, medium is like a beige or golden brown like Blake lively or Megan fox, OLIVE is like a golden BROWN/light brown to moderate brown from Nina Dobrev to Jessica Alba or Aishwarya Rai (known as "prettiest woman in the world), tan is like a moderate brown to a general brown like Freida Pinto and I'm a little hesitant on Eva Longoria because she could fall under the olive category too, brown is just your general brown from as light as Rihanna or beyonce to Tyra banks or maybe Katerina Graham and Jessica Szohr, then dark brown is like lil Wayne to jay z or Nikki minaj to Oprah or maybe some south Indians , and lastly black is like a very dark brown to black like Akon or some parts of India! And the reason why some olive skins can seem tan is because in hot weather, the skin turns tan which is a true olivian! People with medium might seem olive due to the climate but that's not a true olive, olives look pretty tan in hot climates. Now for me, I don't look at this as an opinion I think what I just said is a fact. I am an "olivian" and I have pretty good knowledge on skin tones and I've also heard people call me tan but those are people who don't know the difference. I think it's because they're judging based on ethnicity and I hate that, people who are stereotypical or just dumb do that.

I truly disagree with the bold. I am classified as African-American in the US, but I do not fit into the golden brown/caramel (NC45) category whatsoever, my skin is golden but it also very clearly holds olive undertones and that's why finding foundations that match me has been a long journey (C7 has been good for me, but NC anything is a disaster that's how I can tell the difference). Considering Africa is so close to the Mediterranean it simply doesn't make sense that someone of African descent cannot be olive skinned. Living in the US, seeing them might be more rare, but it is not impossible by any means. Saying skin colors of African descent are 'just brown' really bothers me because imo that is wear the most variance in skin tones exist. Especially in the medium to dark part of the spectrum. Just because you are darker doesn't mean your undertones just disappear completely. You can be dark and warm or dark and cool, why couldn't someone be dark and olive? Smh. A bunch of women named here are golden tan/brown or shades of caramel, I agree with that but Zoe Saldana would not be considered golden brown or caramel. She (esp being Latina) would be considered olive and you can see a difference between her skin vs someone like Beyonce' or Rihanna who are both yellow brown, not gold or gold/olive. That would be due to a mixing of specific ethnic backgrounds--ex. Beyonce' has creole ancestry (French). A quick Google search on the difference between yellow and gold and you will see that green has a big hand in what our eyes see or do not see...

I think a lot of women who are considered olive who look "golden" to us are just using their makeup to warm up their skin and hide the sallow. If I am wearing colors that match me, in the winter I look sickly (w/o bronzer), in the summer I turn an antique bronze color naturally (which most MA's mistakenly read as red).

 

[josiers]

I really think 'olive skin' is the most ambiguous term ever. To me as a caucasian, saying you have olive skin refers to the lack of pink pigmentation that appears to the naked eye. Personally, I've always found that people who fall under the olive category are actually able to look a lot paler than people you most definitely can't classify as olive skinned (people with red hair, for example, usually appear to have quite a lot of pink pigmentation so I wouldn't say they were 'olive'). And your ability to tan seems to get lumped in with having olive skin tone too.

I think essentially, for caucasians anyway, it has to do with ancestry. So people who are olive skin toned probably have Italian or Spanish roots, as opposed to those who don't have ties to the British or Germanic peoples.

I'd never even realised that it was an even more ambiguous term for people who don't identify as 'white.' Though I have to say, whenever I go into a makeup store I always wonder how people more than five shades above the 'ivory' foundations and such manage to find decent makeup. It must make it a lot harder when magazines use terms that mean so many different things to different people too.

 

[BBBB]

I don't understand any of this. Fair is an Anglo-Saxon/ Red-head and Olive skinned and dark are dark Spaniards and Italians. Most Latinos are native American mixed with Spaniards so they're brown and black people are black. It's as simple as that ...

 

[Prettypackages]

I truly disagree with the bold. I am classified as African-American in the US, but I do not fit into the golden brown/caramel (NC45) category whatsoever, my skin is golden but it also very clearly holds olive undertones and that's why finding foundations that match me has been a long journey (C7 has been good for me, but NC anything is a disaster that's how I can tell the difference). Considering Africa is so close to the Mediterranean it simply doesn't make sense that someone of African descent cannot be olive skinned. Living in the US, seeing them might be more rare, but it is not impossible by any means. Saying skin colors of African descent are 'just brown' really bothers me because imo that is wear the most variance in skin tones exist. Especially in the medium to dark part of the spectrum. Just because you are darker doesn't mean your undertones just disappear completely. You can be dark and warm or dark and cool, why couldn't someone be dark and olive? Smh. A bunch of women named here are golden tan/brown or shades of caramel, I agree with that but Zoe Saldana would not be considered golden brown or caramel. She (esp being Latina) would be considered olive and you can see a difference between her skin vs someone like Beyonce' or Rihanna who are both yellow brown, not gold or gold/olive. That would be due to a mixing of specific ethnic backgrounds--ex. Beyonce' has creole ancestry (French). A quick Google search on the difference between yellow and gold and you will see that green has a big hand in what our eyes see or do not see...

I think a lot of women who are considered olive who look "golden" to us are just using their makeup to warm up their skin and hide the sallow. If I am wearing colors that match me, in the winter I look sickly (w/o bronzer), in the summer I turn an antique bronze color naturally (which most MA's mistakenly read as red).

i think you are right. when you start comparing dark skin tones of different ethnicities, you can really see the different undertones.

 

[Jeana Marie]

I don't understand any of this. Fair is an Anglo-Saxon/ Red-head and Olive skinned and dark are dark Spaniards and Italians. Most Latinos are native American mixed with Spaniards so they're brown and black people are black. It's as simple as that ...

No, fair and dark skin describe the depth of one's skin, and are skin tones. Olive is a green undertone. Otherwise it wouldn't be called "olive." So that means one can be very fair and can still be olive skinned.

I, myself, am olive skinned, but pretty fair. I look just as pale as everyone else, but I have a greenish cast to my skin. And it's really not a nice undertone. I photoshopped one of my instagram pics, to get rid of the green cast, but then I failed and it made it worse.

EDIT: That being said, I am 1/4 Italian and 1/4 Irish. Dad is half-Italian and has more medium skin but with that olive green undertone. Mom is half-Irish and is fair, pink toned and prone to freckles. So I pretty much inherited my mom's fair complexion, but instead of being pink toned and freckled, I have dad's olive skin. Also, anyone who's truly olive skinned, will have a difficult, hard time with drugstore foundations. Even the deeper olive tones. I avoid cover girl foundations because of this. I think Cover Girl foundations are too pink and too orange for me. Even their Ivory shades don't set well on my skin. It's not as bad if I put on a too dark foundation, but there's something wrong with it, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's like looking at a really small stain on your t-shirt that no one else really sees, but you see it and it bugs you. That and I can't stand the fragrence.

EDIT 2: Speaking of magazines and makeup reccomendations for your skin tone, US Weekly's example of olive skin was Sofia Vererga. I don't think she's olive at all. I think she's actually pink toned, and very fair. She admits to using self tanner and dying her hair brunette to look more Latina.

 

[Jeana Marie]

i think you are right. when you start comparing dark skin tones of different ethnicities, you can really see the different undertones.

Sorry to double post, again, but what about fair-light skin tones as well? Magazines (Glamor, Cosmo, Allure) will usually recemond very pink, cool makeup for the general fair population, and will say "this color will warm up the pink undertones in your complexion..." But not every fair skinned woman is pink or cool. There are plenty of fair skinned women with golden, warm, and even olive undertones. Some fair women actually do better with warmer colors in hair and makeup. Look at Lucy Hale and Zooey Dechenel. Both have dark hair light eyes and are equally fair, but Zooey Dechenel is pink toned while Lucy Hale is olive. Even two equally fair women can have different undertones.

 

[Pikahime]

The idea of undertones period have always confused me, but I think with Olive skin I'm the most confused. My best friend is half Italian and half Puerto Rican and her and her sister are the only people with Olive skin that I can actually tell have olive skin. She doesn't wear makeup, so her face always looks lighter than the rest of her, plus she has blue eyes and brown hair, but when she gets tanner in the summer, I can clearly see the green-brown undertones in her skin. It's funny because she noticed one day that when she puts the underside of her tan arm next to mine, she looks darker than me, but in the wintertime you can clearly see who's lighter in complexion. Her sister does wear makeup and we both sort of struggle with finding foundations, her because she's Olive skinned, and me because I have no idea what undertone I am. But you're right, when I see magazines and people falling under the "olive" category, they don't look Olive to me at all, I take a good look at their face and neck and I usually see pink undertones to their skin.Or even more golden undertones. I rarely see women in magazines that truly have that green undertone, and then I think to myself, they don't show celebrities bare faced, so who knows what makeup they put on their face to make themselves look warmer or cooler in undertone.

 

[Jeana Marie]

The idea of undertones period have always confused me, but I think with Olive skin I'm the most confused. My best friend is half Italian and half Puerto Rican and her and her sister are the only people with Olive skin that I can actually tell have olive skin. She doesn't wear makeup, so her face always looks lighter than the rest of her, plus she has blue eyes and brown hair, but when she gets tanner in the summer, I can clearly see the green-brown undertones in her skin. It's funny because she noticed one day that when she puts the underside of her tan arm next to mine, she looks darker than me, but in the wintertime you can clearly see who's lighter in complexion. Her sister does wear makeup and we both sort of struggle with finding foundations, her because she's Olive skinned, and me because I have no idea what undertone I am. But you're right, when I see magazines and people falling under the "olive" category, they don't look Olive to me at all, I take a good look at their face and neck and I usually see pink undertones to their skin.Or even more golden undertones. I rarely see women in magazines that truly have that green undertone, and then I think to myself, they don't show celebrities bare faced, so who knows what makeup they put on their face to make themselves look warmer or cooler in undertone.

See, I think olive is a cool green undertone. Magazine examples of "olive" on their terms are really annoying! Either the person is tanned, or simply golden/warm. Example: Jessica Alba! Jessica Alba is NOT olive skinned at all. She's tanned yes, but she's much too warm to be olive. No true olive skinned person looks good in warm, earth tones, like orange, peach, brown, etc. It actually makes olive skin look dirty. And I mentioned US Weekly catergorizing Sofia Vergera as "olive" yet in the picture of her taken in the natural daylight, wearing a strapless dress, and she has VERY obvious pink undertones to her skin. Your friend sounds like me. I am 1/4 Italian 1/4 Irish 1/4 German 1/4 French-Canadian and my skin tone looks as light as the next persons, but in the summertime when I tan, or if I color my hair certian colors, it brings out the olive/green undertones in my skin. Foundation is extra difficult when you are light olive, because no one, not even Sephora or ULTA prestige makeup brands cater to fair-light olive skin. It's always olive medium or olive dark. I think more appropriate celeb examples of olive are Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Demi Lovato, Katie Holmes, and Penelope Cruz. Snooki is olive too, I think, under all that fake bronze. Self tanner tends to bring on a fake color to your skin, sometimes more red or more yellow. Once she laid off the bronzer/tanner after having her baby, you can really see olive/green through her skin.

 

[Pikahime]

See, I think olive is a cool green undertone. Magazine examples of "olive" on their terms are really annoying! Either the person is tanned, or simply golden/warm. Example: Jessica Alba! Jessica Alba is NOT olive skinned at all. She's tanned yes, but she's much too warm to be olive. No true olive skinned person looks good in warm, earth tones, like orange, peach, brown, etc. It actually makes olive skin look dirty. And I mentioned US Weekly catergorizing Sofia Vergera as "olive" yet in the picture of her taken in the natural daylight, wearing a strapless dress, and she has VERY obvious pink undertones to her skin. Your friend sounds like me. I am 1/4 Italian 1/4 Irish 1/4 German 1/4 French-Canadian and my skin tone looks as light as the next persons, but in the summertime when I tan, or if I color my hair certian colors, it brings out the olive/green undertones in my skin. Foundation is extra difficult when you are light olive, because no one, not even Sephora or ULTA prestige makeup brands cater to fair-light olive skin. It's always olive medium or olive dark. I think more appropriate celeb examples of olive are Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Demi Lovato, Katie Holmes, and Penelope Cruz. Snooki is olive too, I think, under all that fake bronze. Self tanner tends to bring on a fake color to your skin, sometimes more red or more yellow. Once she laid off the bronzer/tanner after having her baby, you can really see olive/green through her skin.

For a while I thought that I was some sort of olive shade but I had nobody to really compare myself to, because most of the people I see that are olive are lighter in skin tone than me (like my best friend). I know that people with olive skin tones look odd in earthy tones because of the green-brown undertone to their skin. Because the same earthy tones looked odd on me as well, in the beginning of my makeup journey I assumed the same thing, that I was olive toned despite looking very golden. Eventually I just discovered that I have a very... odd undertone situation going on. I can't wear warm foundations because they make me look orange, cool foundations are too pink (despite my looking better in cooler colored clothes), and neutral shades just.. They look off. I only look warmer in undertone when I tan naturally just by being in the sun (I'm about... an NC 42 then, but in the winter I'm anywhere between an NC 35-NC40). Going to a Sephora doesn't help for me or my friend, because they always try to match her up to a pink foundation, and for me they either match me too dark or they match me to a foundation that is too red or too orange in undertone. It looks fine in the store but when we step out in natural sunlight I look like an oompa loompa and she just looks like she's wearing a mask. Undertones are SO confusing and to this DAY I haven't found a foundation that matches me perfectly, I can only imagine what it must be like for olive undertoned people.

 

[Jeana Marie]

For a while I thought that I was some sort of olive shade but I had nobody to really compare myself to, because most of the people I see that are olive are lighter in skin tone than me (like my best friend). I know that people with olive skin tones look odd in earthy tones because of the green-brown undertone to their skin. Because the same earthy tones looked odd on me as well, in the beginning of my makeup journey I assumed the same thing, that I was olive toned despite looking very golden. Eventually I just discovered that I have a very... odd undertone situation going on. I can't wear warm foundations because they make me look orange, cool foundations are too pink (despite my looking better in cooler colored clothes), and neutral shades just.. They look off. I only look warmer in undertone when I tan naturally just by being in the sun (I'm about... an NC 42 then, but in the winter I'm anywhere between an NC 35-NC40). Going to a Sephora doesn't help for me or my friend, because they always try to match her up to a pink foundation, and for me they either match me too dark or they match me to a foundation that is too red or too orange in undertone. It looks fine in the store but when we step out in natural sunlight I look like an oompa loompa and she just looks like she's wearing a mask. Undertones are SO confusing and to this DAY I haven't found a foundation that matches me perfectly, I can only imagine what it must be like for olive undertoned people.

I'm pretty sure Sephora employees have no proper formal training on color theory. They must have some sort of commission out of their paychecks, and are simply trying to get a sale out of you. I went one time, looking for foundation, and the person trying to sell me's example of "olive" was orange based. Orange based skin is not even a real thing. It's an artificial color you get from applying tanning lotion. I, as well as many fair olives have been mistaken for "golden" because of the dull yellowness in my skin, and have been told terra-cotta and coppers look good on me. I know for a FACT that I'm not golden or warm and those colors look dirty against my green undertones. My mom has said to me herself she doesn't think those colors look good on me.

EDIT: I found I look best in purples, plums, and other rich jewel tones. C2 from MAC is a good match for me. But it's expensive.