Olive skin has a green-gray undertone, so pink or very yellow foundations rarely match: look for shades labeled olive or neutral with a slight green or golden base, and check them on the jaw in daylight. Terracotta, warm rose, brick and berry blush; terracotta, brick, rose-brown and berry lips; gold or champagne highlight; and gold, bronze, plum and warm brown eyeshadow usually flatter olive skin.
Olive skin can be light, medium or deep. It often looks a little green or gray next to pink or yellow foundations, and standard undertone checks can read as neutral. Signs include foundations that look either too pink or too orange, and skin that looks slightly gray in pale or pastel clothes. The skin tone guide explains the undertone checks.
These are starting points, not rules; the lipstick guide goes deeper on lip shades.
The Lookslate quiz asks your skin tone depth, not your undertone, so your result tips suggest shade families by depth; use the olive notes above alongside them. Bronze Goddess uses warm bronzer and bronze eyeshadow, which suit many olive complexions.
Foundations often look too pink or too orange on you, standard undertone checks read as neutral, and your skin can look slightly gray in pale or pastel colors. Olive skin can be light, medium or deep.
Shades labeled olive, or neutral shades with a slight green or golden base. Avoid pink bases, which look ashy, and very yellow ones, which can turn orange. Test on the jaw in daylight.
Terracotta, warm rose, brick and berry usually flatter olive skin; very cool pastel pinks can sit on top of it.
Terracotta, brick, rose-brown and berry, and for a nude, a rose-brown or caramel shade close to your natural lip color.
The bronze goddess look gives the face warmth as if from the sun: bronzer on the high points of the face, warm bronze eyeshadow with a deeper outer corner, golden highlight, peach blush and a glossy warm-nude lip.
How to do Bronze Goddess makeupSoft glam is a polished but gentle look: an even, luminous base, warm-brown and rose eyeshadow blended until no edge shows, fluttery lashes, diffused rosy blush and a satin pink-nude lip.
How to do Soft Glam makeupEvening glam is a fuller, more defined look built for low, warm evening light and flash photography: shimmer-lit eyes with a deeper outer corner, liner and sculpted lashes, highlighted cheekbones and a rich rose lip.
How to do Evening Glam makeupAll faces shown are AI-generated fictional models, not real people.
