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Full coverage spot concealer for fair olive skin?

I think I drove three assistants in Sephora nuts yesterday trying to help me find something that matches my skin tone.  In MAC SFF I'm an NC12 and/or NC 13 depending on the day, but mixing the 10 and 15 didn't work AT ALL.  In Sephora we tried everything they had in the store, which wasn't everything available as compared to online or even some other stores (every time I go to one Sephora I always end up needing to go to another Sephora for another item on my list for some annoying reason?).  Every concealer we tried that was pale enough was tinted horribly wrong, and every concealer that might have been the right tone was like a contour stick or bronzer or something on me.  Even Rihanna's Fenty line let me down, and I had such high hopes there - I would have needed to somehow make shade 130 as fair as shade 105.  Help?

Full coverage spot concealer for fair olive skin?

Hey @sarcazm. Have you ever checked out reddit OliveMUA? That may be the best spot to ask all things olive. Someone there will probably know. You can try the thread "Foundations/Concealers for pale muted olivey skin" or just search nc12 or nc13. HTH.

Re: Full coverage spot concealer for fair olive skin?

Thanks.  I've been scouring the reddit threads and everywhere else and haven't hit anything close to jackpot yet.  I've seen other options for foundations, but even when I try to check those brands for their matching concealers the concealers don't get into the same undertone until you get into the darker shade ranges (usually medium and up, or light-medium and up, but nothing as pale as me).  I did also find ways to add white foundations to darker tones to lighten them without changing the undertone but that doesn't work the same way for concealers.

@sarcazm No doubt the struggle is real. Olive undertoned...

@sarcazm No doubt the struggle is real. Olive undertoned items seem to mostly get released in the NC35-40 range. So disappointing. I've felt it. -- Have you tried searching Sephora's IQ for concealers that may match? If you have any matching foundations, you should be able to "IQ" from there. -- Other options: Using a full full coverage foundation (Becca UC, UD All Nighter) for spots. Maybe mixed with a blue (or green) adjuster to shift them more to your olive. -- Spot concealing with something "close" underneath your foundation. (This is what I'm having to do.) -- And some brands that skew olive may have something: EX1, Meow Cosmetics, Kett Olive (neutral olive). Have you tried any Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer shades? The lighter shades appear gray olive.

Re: @sarcazm No doubt the struggle is real. Olive undertoned...

I have not!  I will definitely look into those though - especially if you can throw any specific colors at me from the brands that would be super helpful as my brain is fried I think at this point confusing who makes what in what color names or shade numbers.  Grey-Olives are definitely where I lean in the porcelain/fair scale of paleness... like sallow browns.  I told a friend of mine it's like army fatigues trapped in an iceberg or something.  

I had considered also buying a white mixer to add to a concealer that might match in undertone, but that also only works with liquids too.  Another thing I had dreamed up was trying to find maybe a transparent blotting powder and mixing a white skin cream I like with a foundation that matches until i can get it the right consistency to work, but aside from the MAC SFF NC12 (which is less yellow than the NC13) the closest shades i've seen were MUFE Y225, which is too dark and yellow leaning still, closer to the NC13, and I looked at the Tarte in different formulas in fair neutral and it was too dark and the brown was overpowering the green/grey.  

They did my Color IQ at Sephora a number of times at different places and it's not helpful at all really.  I know where I am in regard to the general area of the Pantone/Sephora Color IQ spectrum, but I think my skin doesn't work so well with the limited system available.  Ending in a 01 or 02 makes sense depending on any number of factors, but it only measures yellow vs. red and as you get that high up on the fairness scale there aren't many options - not just for Color IQ but also for makeup in general as far as undertones go.  So even if I can type in a darker shade of makeup with the same undertone but go up from say, a 02 to a 01 for a search for color matches I end up with some crazy results (not that the original results weren't way out there to begin with in the first place - forcing a program to choose a green-ish undertone is not going to happen when it isn't an available choice between yellow or red/pink).

 

In the past I remember nightmarish experiences trying to use yellows and blues and greens to get make adjustments when spot concealing and it looked like Halloween.  I wish I could say it was because I didn't know what I was doing but I have an art background so color mixing and color theory is nothing new to me.  It's like adding an atom of green might be too much so you had to be careful.  Thing is, the shades for mixing of greens and yellows and so on were never right enough; maybe if I had mixed in a toothpick tip of grey greasy stage makeup or something, but that seems like a crazy amount of money and trouble to go through to get a color match.

Sorry for the novel but again, if you could throw some shade name suggestions to correspond w/ the brands you mentioned I would be super duper grateful!  thanks so much!!!

Re: @sarcazm No doubt the struggle is real. Olive undertoned...

@sarcazm Yes, the yellow-red range *is* limited in the 01/02 area of the IQ. It's kind of a grab bag over there. I'm on the other side of medium from you and never had a shade match till recently, but it seems we're both in those often overlooked parts of the spectrum.

 

-- Based on the Fenty 130 & 105 Concealer, I'd guess Sx01 or Sx02 in Kevyn Aucoin. Sx03 looks the grayest of the 3 but might be too deep. (Check out the swatches against MUFE Y225 on reddit r/OliveMUA "Swatches of 50+ olive-friendly Foundation Shades from NC15-42" -- some are lighter than Y225.)

 

-- EX1's Delete Concealer 2.0 looks olive but too deep, while 1.0 doesn't terribly look olive. But URBAN DECAY All Nighter Fair Warm, have you tried that shade? It seems gray olive compared to Tarte FN and UD FN. (Google "EX1 concealer 1.0" - a top image result is a hand with 8 swatches incl. those shades.)

 

-- Also worth a shot:  COVER FX (PowerPlay) - N Fair 1, N Fair 2, and P Light 1 may fit. (CFX also has straight White.) BECCA Ultimate Coverage concealer. If Becca UC Foundation in Shell works for you, they're UC Concealer in Linen or Birch may also. (Becca Golden is next on my list!) Definitely report back if you find a shade. I'm curious what you work out! 🙂

Re: @sarcazm No doubt the struggle is real. Olive undertoned...

Thanks a bunch!

So I tried a bunch of these and I think somehow I'm getting paler?  My Sephoras don't have the KA for me to try, which stinks, as I've heard good things.  Unfortunately I don't have the cash to shell out to try EX1 - just for the shipping alone - only to find it doesn't match.  The Tarte FN was close but a smidge too beige, but the fair was too yellow.  I saw they were coming out with a new foundation that was supposed to have a lighter olive, but it has mushrooms in it and I'm allergic so there went that idea, not that I want foundation anyway.  At both of my Sephoras the Urban Decay was out of stock - both to sell and to try, and hadn't been restocked which was weird.  I tried Ulta and their selection was even thinner.  

I still need to try the Cover FX and the Becca, but I need to check the ingredients before I do.  I know the MUFE 'marble' was too dark, Y225 or 117 or whichever numbering system they're on now.  Unfortunately when I try on the fairest colors, even the obviously non-pink ones, like Nars Chantilly, they look super bright on me - like you said, more grey is needed.  At some point after trying on so many concealers during various trips everything just blends and your eyes stop working.  Everyone else though... they can see just fine.

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