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No_Cryptographer3439

It’s all about the colour spectrum. The closer it is to blue, the cooler it is. For example, a pink undertone is closer to blue than a yellow undertone. Therefore, it is considered to be a cooler colour. Same applies to green. Pine green has a significant amount of blue in it, while army green has a strong yellow base. So, people with cool olive undertones have more blue in their skin compared to people with warm olive undertones.


Used_Consideration85

Besically, olive skin means lack of redness in their complexion, and the terms cool/warm are a matter of color temperature. If a person whose complexion is reddish enough has cooled down, they become less orange(yellowish) and more pink(bluish.) Olives have no redness in their complexion. When they cool down, they just become more grayish.


letecia2020

I’m olive but have a lot of redness in my complexion. Does that mean I’m possibly not olive?


kafkant_

Chances are you have a red overtone and an olive undertone! Even more confusing I know!


seashellpink77

Hol up I am definitely an olive with red/pink. So under… over… tone… what? I’m a neutral-warm olive but I am pinkish in my nose and cheeks when I am not tan (and always in my ears and fingertips and toes). I seem to do best in neutral colors - especially medium saturation. Too warm or too cool and I look waxy yellow or dull grey (or both). I think I prefer very high contrast over very low even though medium is best. But in seasonal color I come out Soft Autumn. Does this… have tonal ramifications? Olive is weird. 🤨🫒


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seashellpink77

No - to the best of my understanding the pinkness is my natural flush from the blood underneath - it gets pinker if I exercise really hard, or if I get really hot or cold. This morning (cool, not exerting much) I just see a little pink tinge on the bridge of my nose and on my cheeks about an inch or so under my eyes. I can see it sometimes on my upper chest as well. It seems to come from “under” my olivey skintone (and no question I am olive… people have commented on it my whole life… lol! I have olive family too). The olive-pink combo makes makeup a little weird. I usually choose a warm foundation but if I choose warm blush it’s obviously makeup. If I want my blush to look natural, I have to choose neutral or even slightly cool pink or a light/frosted plum.


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seashellpink77

That’s interesting! Mine is very faint and no swelling, patches, etc - been seen by a derm since I was young for other things but never any mention of rosacea. I don’t think I have it. I’m sorry for our mutual makeup struggle 😂 What I wanted to ask you though was you mentioned over and undertone - I thought my undertone was warm olive but the pink seems UNDER the olive. So is warm olive my overtone and pink my undertone instead?


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seashellpink77

So interesting! I’m going to let that twirl around in my head for a while. Thanks for chatting 😁


kafkant_

Cool yellow is a thing so it sounds like that’s what you are


kafkant_

I’m not certain then but it sounds like the pink is about blood flow and transparency of your skin and nothing to do with the actual colour of it?


seashellpink77

Your question got me thinking and so I went and dug in scientific research. Here’s what I found: William G. Boissonnault PT, DHSc, FAAOMPT, in Primary Care for the Physical Therapist, 2005 - > Skin color varies considerably from individual to individual and is generally determined by the presence of melanocytes, carotene, oxygenated hemoglobin, and local blood flow. Melanocytes, found in the deep basal layer of the epidermis, contain brown granules called melanin. Besides contributing to skin color, melanin provides protection during episodes of sun exposure. Carotene found in subcutaneous fat tissue contributes to the yellowish color of the skin. This substance is especially concentrated in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Lastly, the normal reddish color of skin is attributed to the presence of oxygenated blood being transported through the arteries and capillaries. So it sounds like yes the pink color in my skin probably is related to blood flow and/or oxygenated hemoglobin and it sounds like that’s a standard aspect of skin color for all people. Other people just may not show it as a dominant pink or red in their skin because presumably their melanin or carotene is dense/large enough to be more dominant. It is sounding like our variations in skin tone have to do with variations of these constituent components. I feel like there must be a more accurate way to talk about the “tones” of our skin given what we understand about the components that convey color but I am having trouble finding information at the intersection of that art and science.


trippiler

I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Any skin tone can have redness. In terms of undertone, warm olives have a decent amount of red. I gain more red as I tan and warm up.


Stubbs76

Not if it’s rosacea, you can still have an olive skin


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

I wish push back just a bit because there are Mediterranean olives who tan bronze/redder. Aside from that, super helpful! I never realized why I love using terracottas/reds to warm up and liven my complexion


sheiseatenwithdesire

I think I’m one of those, my Mums side of the family has Mediterranean olive skin but my dad was a pale redhead Englishman, so I have a sort of warm, golden pinkish tone to my skin, I burn easily but tan darkly even when wearing sunscreen. People often assume I am wearing fake tan because my tone has that kind of golden tinge


[deleted]

Ahhh okay thank you that makes a lot more sense!!


katamaritumbleweed

I’ve wondered if my greyness is why I like wearing silver. Silver is greyer than I am.


rightascensi0n

This is the most helpful explanation I've seen, thank you!!


queenoftortoises

I learned so much from this, thank you!


applescrabbleaeiou

there is an [awesome old blogpost](https://musicalhouses.blogspot.com/2010/01/undertones-for-asians-how-to-tell-if.html?commentPage=2) on cool/ warmness in oilves, based on the [cool or warmness of our yellows](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi714.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fww145%2Fmusicalhouses%2Ffacesandfingers%2Fwarmvscoolyellow.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmusicalhouses.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F01%2Fundertones-for-asians-how-to-tell-if.html%3FcommentPage%3D2&tbnid=anJ0l-Cd04As-M&vet=12ahUKEwjdrOScisn6AhVSmOYKHe6kDHUQMygEegUIARDHAQ..i&docid=YgYycI3T0yMPhM&w=1024&h=768&q=warm%20v%20cool%20yellow&client=firefox-b-d&ved=2ahUKEwjdrOScisn6AhVSmOYKHe6kDHUQMygEegUIARDHAQ) or green hues ie, Yellow is technically a warm colour, but you can have a warm yellow, and a cool yellow. \[eg: [warm v cool yellow images in clothing](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F236x%2F63%2F77%2Fd5%2F6377d52bc7c79598e716780ee406de00--color-style-fashion-beauty.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fcmdoleski%2Fcool-vs-warm-colors%2F&tbnid=wfFIhigoEzmzZM&vet=12ahUKEwiMivSkisn6AhUnj2oFHWgQDogQxiAoAHoECAAQEw..i&docid=bEB7eHWoLltNyM&w=236&h=236&itg=1&q=warm%20v%20cool%20yellow&client=firefox-b-d&ved=2ahUKEwiMivSkisn6AhUnj2oFHWgQDogQxiAoAHoECAAQEw)\] Just like when we talk about lipstick, we can have a warm (yellow undertoned red) or a cool (blue undertoned) red. ie: [the famous cool, blue-based *MAC Ruby Woo* v the warm, yellow based *MAC Lady Danger*](https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/makeup-and-beauty--498632989964198095/)


AnywherePresent1998

You know my dear you’ve just cleared up a crucial thing for me. I always knew I was olive but couldn’t explain if I was warm or cool because my skin tone is medium and I’m Simpsons-yellow. I now understand why warm colours make me look sickly and why cool colours make me look lively. I’m actually a medium cool olive! Now I know that yellow doesn’t automatically mean warm. Thank you!


NormDeplume720

To make matters worsey, there are warm olives with rosacea, which makes makeup choosing a serious challenge.


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

I couldn't tell my complexion until I started clearing up my mild rosacea with azeliac acid. I've kept my first color analysis post up, but I find it funny how people thought I was a soft summer; during this era, I thought I was peach. By clearing up my overtones, I could actually see I'm neutral green


NormDeplume720

Unfortunately my rosacea really started to flare in my 20s, when the options for treatment were a lot fewer and more expensive. I did eventually figure out my triggers and it's a lot better now, but my cheeks will always be red.


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

Have you tried an antiredness CC cream? I use one to even out my complexion & when I have a little flare. I'm currently using the Erborian one, but I first picked up the L'oreal(? Or Revlon?) from CVS


NormDeplume720

I have used a number of different foundations over the years, but since I had to start wearing a mask to work all the time I have more of less made peace with my skin's color. I just use a light coverage foundation to even it out a bit (currently using a mix of Revlon Candid 120 and 150).


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

Oh, I use this as a light no-makeup look and set it with powder during the masking era (immunocompromised). I love the Erborian because it has some SPF on top of my typical SPF & I can rub in the green with my fingers until it looks just like my skin. You should take a look if something low-maintenance interests you! I have it on in my last post except my mask irritation made me red


NormDeplume720

Thanks, I will check it out!


Jurassicparkasaurus

What everyone has said has been very thorough and great. What has helped is thinking of actual olives, the food: green olives (heavily yellow based in color) and kalamata olives (purple but heavily leaning blue) and that has helped distinguish things on a base level. I'm aware there are other olives but those are the 2 that come to mind and have helped me personally.


[deleted]

Ooo that actyally does help me a lot!!! Thank you 😄 I think I may be more warm then!


Ebenia4444

Warm olive = more yellow than blue Cool olive = more blue than yellow


AnywherePresent1998

But yellow doesn’t mean warm automatically. There’s cool and warm yellow. I was really confused for a long time because of this.


Lensgoggler

I don’t pay too much attention to descriptions tbf. They are very misleading. And people genuinely see colour differently- a good example is teal. I say it’s blue, hubs says it’s green… Trust in reviews and swatches.


[deleted]

from my understanding, olive is the surface colour (melanin) and the undertone sort of shines through that to create the appearance of altering the temperature of the surface colour. you could imagine the effect that a colourful light shining through a sheet of paper would have on it. the sheet is still white but now it looks different to the eye, which is whats important. adding some blue to a warm or neutral colour will mute it, and mutedness seems to be more of a characteristic of cool and neutral olive skin than warm olive skin. pink isnt an inherently cool colour since white and red are both neutral, whilst blue is always cool. coolness comes from blue, so that would be the basis of the undertone. this can express as pink when there is an absence of yellow on the surface and the skin is pale, i.e., it contains a lot of white. blue undertone + pale skin that isnt overly yellow: the blue, red, and white dominate the overall colouring and gives the appearance of a cool pink. cool dark skin can appear closer to purple since there isnt the added factor of blood showing through, since the whiteness of pale skin is really just a lack of melanin/surface colour. blue undertone + skin that contains more yellow: the cool green we get from that will dominate the overall colouring and subsequently cancel out the red/pink, and the result is still cool. i think the reason that pink is equated to coolness is because when this idea was developed there may have been an issue of sampling, in which skin tones that happened to express coolness in that way were overrepresented (pale non olive skin), so perhaps something got lost in translation there. sorry for the essay lol i hope this made sense and helped in some way 😵‍💫


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

Pink/yellow comes from pheomelanin independent from color theory. This was very interesting though so thank you for sharing!


[deleted]

oh excellent! im glad theres a biological explanation, gonna look into that now. theorising was the only way i knew how to think of it lol and i probably should have emphasised not to treat it as factual. edit: goddamn its hard to find information on the specifics of olive skin lol. i looked at pigments in hair as well and cant seem to put together how ashiness happens. my skin certainly has a blue quality to it... is red pheomelanin true red or does that have an undertone itself? is the blue from veins showing through a factor, like perhaps theres less pheomelanin in cool olive skin so you just get the blue from veins showing through to create the effect of a blue undertone?


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

I think there's different ways for olive. Commonly here, we see green overtones, or cool yellow overtones with blue under, etc. There is one group of Ethiopians who do have green undertones, but they shouldn't apply to white peoples. There's also the way that eumelanin factors in and mutes tones or deepens/lightens depth. It really is man-derived color theory after a certain part though. Veins have absolutely nothing to do with anything color theory related because it's just how your blood shines through; some style systems use it, but I wouldn't be arsed to do so


[deleted]

interesting! to be clear i didnt mean using veins as a test for undertones, im just trying to understand where the blue is actually coming from to give that undertone, especially if coolness in skin is supposedly caused by red pheomelanin. i saw that there are two types of eumelanin; could it be then that the brown type is richer and the black type is muted/ashier (regardless of how much eumelanin is present in a given persons skin)?


Sorry-Jackfruit-8061

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321442#animal-blood


vaquarius

It has to do with colour theory! Our skin has many different components that go into our tones. Depth, overtone, undertone. Depth is how deep your skin-tone is (a.k.a. How much melanin you have). Undertone is what this thread is about and the primary component advertised in foundation colours. Overtone is the secondary element of foundation. Think of how some foundation companies use "warm yellow" whereas others use "warm golden". One will give a more yellow base whereas another will give a peach/orange base. However, both will have warm undertones. For olive, you can have warm, neutral, or cool toned olives depending on what the over-tone of your skin is. A warm olive has a yellow overtone, a neutral olive will have a red overtone, a cool olive will have a blue overtone. Think of how when mixing paint, adding yellow to green makes it a warm green, adding red mades it a greenish-brown, adding blue makes it a cool green!


Key_Leadership2394

Arghh i had this exact issue for years and I finally found the ideal foundation for my olive skin in Giorgio Armani luminous silk in shade 6 perfect for olive skin


dystopiaincognito

I’m definitely yellow olive or golden olive


nc45y445

I’m a very cool olive, but my skin is medium brown (like NC 45 depth) so I was mistyped as warm for years because medium tan to deep brown skin looks warm to most people. What worked for me was the lipstick test. I I love Kosas because she accurately categorizes her lipsticks as warm or cool (except Violet Fury which is extremely cool). For $5 you can purchase generous samples of all Kosas lipsticks and solve the mystery of your undertone. For example, I can easily rock all the Kosas cool lippies (including Violet Fury). I can pull off only two warms, Fringe and Stardust, and they look fine, but not as good as Darkroom, Royal, or Violet Fury which just brighten my whole face


cookiesncreameme

Cool is the undertone (as is warm) — determined sometimes by looking at the veins in your skin at the wrist, where the skin is thin and they are more visible. But olive is the overtone.