Which Nude Lipstick to choose for Olive Skin ?

When it comes to picking a nude lipstick, most people just talk about brown-toned nudes, pinky-nudes, and true nudes. These lipsticks might work for a range of skin tones, but for olive skin, it’s a whole different ball-game.

In case you’re confused, here’s what olive skin is: usually neutral, which means your veins are both green and blue, olive skin is somewhat golden with a greenish-grey tinge. Common in Italy, India, and Latin America, olive skin is a type of undertone which can exist in pretty much every skin colour, from dark to light.

Since it’s a totally different undertone category, the kind of makeup that suits olive skin is also different, and this includes nude lipsticks. So, if your skin is that green-toned kind, it’s time to unlearn everything about nude lipstick science, and figure out which ones work best for you. Here are our tips.

Deepika Padukone is a great example of someone with olive skin, so learn from her

We can learn a lot from the makeup mistakes other people make, and also what they tend to get right. If you’re an olive-skinned girl, you can look to Deepika Padukone for makeup help, because she also has that undertone.

Deepika is often seen in peachy and orange-toned lipsticks, which work beautifully with her skin tone. She avoids pink blushes and purple lipsticks, which wash olive skin out.

True nudes can wash you out

When you’re choosing a nude lipstick, you will encounter a lot of true nudes, which are close to the undertone of your skin tone, or are pretty neutral or brown-toned.

These lipstick shades mimic the colour of your skin instead of the rosier skin on your lips, and on olive skin, make the look seem dull instead of fresh and flushed.

Not only that, true nudes can enhance the ashiness around the mouth, and suck out the pop of colour that a bright and juicy nude lipstick could give. Hence, they don’t look natural, even though they do look neutral.

Pinky-nudes don’t look natural on olive skin

Whether it is pink blush or pinky-nude lipstick, pink just looks artificial on olive skin. A so-called “universally-flattering” pinky-nude lipstick like MAC Mehr doesn’t look neutral and natural on olive skin at all, even though it seems that way on pretty much every other skin tone.

Avoiding this kind of a nude lipstick is the biggest hurdle olive-skinned people face when choosing one, because other than true nudes, these are considered the most important category of my-lips-but-better nudes.

Peaches, corals, warm bricks and orange-undertones work the best
Olive skin tones are among the few who look good in orangey-nudes. Orange, cinnamon, rust, brick, reddish-brown, warm peaches and corals are MADE for olive skin. Since green and orange are complementary colours, these tones work really well together.

So, if you try to look for nudes with these warm and spicy undertones, you will never be disappointed.

Nude lipsticks to try

1. Maybelline New York Shine Compulsion Lipstick – Cinnamon Cookie

A sheer, creamy, and glossy warm nude, this spiced-cinnamon brown lipstick looks amazing on Indian skin, especially yellow and olive undertones, because it is not at all unnaturally cool-toned.

2. Colorbar Deep Matte Lip Crème – Deep Earth-004

A unique warm-toned peachy nude with coral red undertones, this demi-matte crème liquid lipstick is comfortable to wear and really creamy.

3. Maybelline New York Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick – Chilli Nude

As the name suggests, this is a fiery, chilli-red nude with brick red and salmon pink undertones that look beautiful on a variety of warm skin tones, including olive.

4. M.A.C Lustre Lipstick – See Sheer

A warm peachy coral MAC describes as a grapefruit pink, this REALLY shiny and creamy lipstick is a perfect peachy-nude for paler skin tones, but without looking graphic and stark.

5. SUGAR Matte As Hell Crayon Lipstick – 16 Claire Underwood With Free Sharpener

A beautiful rusty-orange brown for dusky skin, this is a completely matte lip pencil which makes for a rich lip colour.