Olive Skin & Color Harmony: What Works, What Doesn't
Tue Nov 18 2025
Today on Midlife Moxie, we're tackling the hottest topic in our inbox: olive skin tone.
Jen and Gail break down what olive skin really is from both an artist's/color expert perspective and a makeup artist's chair: a unique balance of cool and warm (think blue + yellow = green) that creates its own category—not just "neutral."
In this episode, we chat about:
How olive skin shows up in real life: green-gray fair skin, golden-olive medium tones, and deeper olives
Why olives are often told they're "neutral" and why that usually misses the mark
The big "nope" colors for olives (muted beiges, yellow-greens, pale pastels, icy brights)
The power shades that make olives look incredible: saturated teals, blue-greens, royal blue, violets, berries, deep warm reds, and bluer greens like pine and evergreen
How mixing ethnicities has created more complex skin tones that old-school seasonal systems just don't address
Why we created olive-specific digital palettes inside Your Color Style—and how we treat olive as its own lane, not an afterthought
Real-world foundation advice for olives: undertones, brand clues, mixing, and what to ignore on the bottle (looking at you, "ivory" everything)
Makeup tips for eyes, cheeks, and lips so olives can get that rich, dimensional "cut-through" instead of looking flat or washed out
If you've ever felt unseen by traditional color analysis, frustrated by foundation that never quite matches, or stuck in black/gray because color feels "too much," this one is for you. We see you, olives. 💚
Resources & Next Steps:
Explore Your Color Style analyses and digital palettes (including Olive Skin Tone palettes)
Book a Makeup Analysis with Gail for personalized foundation, blush, eye, and lip colors
Join Style Masters to go deeper into dominance, specificity, neutrals, and real-life color education for midlife women
Share this episode with a friend who suspects she might be olive—and help her finally feel seen, understood, and stunning in her colors.
And as always…
Go get your moxie on. 💄✨
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Today on Midlife Moxie, we're tackling the hottest topic in our inbox: olive skin tone. Jen and Gail break down what olive skin really is from both an artist's/color expert perspective and a makeup artist's chair: a unique balance of cool and warm (think blue + yellow = green) that creates its own category—not just "neutral." In this episode, we chat about: How olive skin shows up in real life: green-gray fair skin, golden-olive medium tones, and deeper olives Why olives are often told they're "neutral" and why that usually misses the mark The big "nope" colors for olives (muted beiges, yellow-greens, pale pastels, icy brights) The power shades that make olives look incredible: saturated teals, blue-greens, royal blue, violets, berries, deep warm reds, and bluer greens like pine and evergreen How mixing ethnicities has created more complex skin tones that old-school seasonal systems just don't address Why we created olive-specific digital palettes inside Your Color Style—and how we treat olive as its own lane, not an afterthought Real-world foundation advice for olives: undertones, brand clues, mixing, and what to ignore on the bottle (looking at you, "ivory" everything) Makeup tips for eyes, cheeks, and lips so olives can get that rich, dimensional "cut-through" instead of looking flat or washed out If you've ever felt unseen by traditional color analysis, frustrated by foundation that never quite matches, or stuck in black/gray because color feels "too much," this one is for you. We see you, olives. 💚 Resources & Next Steps: Explore Your Color Style analyses and digital palettes (including Olive Skin Tone palettes) Book a Makeup Analysis with Gail for personalized foundation, blush, eye, and lip colors Join Style Masters to go deeper into dominance, specificity, neutrals, and real-life color education for midlife women Share this episode with a friend who suspects she might be olive—and help her finally feel seen, understood, and stunning in her colors. And as always… Go get your moxie on. 💄✨