If you’ve ever tried finding your true shade match, you know it’s a literal hellscape. This product looks a little too pink while the other looks a little too orange, then it turns into a weird greyish cast by the end of the day and it makes you wonder whether the purchase you made was worth the penny. Let’s go back to the basics.
We’ve learned about undertones: cool, neutral, warm. Sounds easy enough, right? Except, it’s not as straightforward as that. As Southeast Asian, specifically Indonesian, we’ve grown up hearing terms like kuning langsat and sawo matang to describe the tone of our skin, yet somehow these terms fall ambiguously under the undertone categories—and no, they don’t automatically fall under the warm spectrum! If you still feel like you don’t belong to any of those categories, there’s a huge chance you might have olive skin.
Wait, so there’s a new undertone?
No! Olive is not an undertone. There’s another thing called “overtone” and before you make the wrong assumptions, there’s a few things you need to understand:
- You can have olive skin and still have warm, cool, or neutral undertone
- Olive refers to the tint on the surface of your skin—a greenish tint—not the tone beneath
- It often gives the skin a subtle ashy cast, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find a shade that matches your skin!
There’s a sudden surge on the internet of people discovering that they’re olive because it hasn’t been talked about in the past. The good news: conversations about olive skin have significantly grown louder now than in the last few years that it triggers brands to notice the lack of options for us olives. However, the bad news is most shade ranges are still trying to catch up and the understanding of olive skin is still limited. Some brands resort to just making us look straight up yellow, which is not what we are, and call it a day. Fret not, we have a list of complexion products worth trying that are olive friendly!
- Kaila Beauté Cushion in Biscotti
https://www.instagram.com/p/DP6Gy34Ewl_/?img_index=1
- Somethinc in Coco
- Studio Tropik in O03, O04, W04
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQgutkBj7Fw/?img_index=1
- Guele in Sunne
https://guele.id/products/guelebarecushion?Shade=Shade+06-Sunn%C3%A8
Still unsure? Then it’s best to consult the closest beauty store and try out the shades yourself!
There’s nothing better than trying out how the shades play out on your skin with your own eyes and if you still don’t trust your own judgment, then you can bring a friend to judge it for you! Our beauty industry is slowly improving, growing, trying to cater to the complex range of skin tone that us Southeast Asians struggle with. Especially for you, we hope you’ll find your true match soon!
Get
Connect