Olives

 Ruby Agua – has a nice ring, no? With a handle like that I’d, naturally, have long, rippling locks – black with strips and glints of a deep, resonant Sangiovese sitting in the noonday Tuscan sun. Mebbe with a side plate of  Theo Chocolate–Coconut Organic Dark Chocolate. Ya know, fer instance and shit.

My skin would be smooth, blemish-free (hey, a babe can dream, right?) and would be described as being an olive tone. As a kid, I envied my cousins mightily. They all looked like they’d just stepped in from a warm, bucolic Southern Italian village. Me? My skin tone? Peasant white with undertones of oatmeal – for texture, of course.

I’ve always wondered where the term “olive” in referring to skin tone comes from. On Googling, I found precious little.

WiseGeek defines what it is but doesn’t give derivation.

Olive skin is a relatively neutral type of complexion characterized by undertones of green or yellow.
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When people say "olive skin," they generally are talking about a slightly darker complexion, usually in the light brown range, that has a naturally-tanned look.
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Some individuals call it a Mediterranean coloring, because many people from that area of the world have it, but it also is common to people from Mid-Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

best place to find an olive

Yeah, dudes/dudettes, that’s NOT what I asked. Also too, undertones of green or yellow? Rilly? Very imaginative and yech.

One person, at some random forum, threw out that, folks who sport this glorious hue, come from areas where, historically, olive oil was used as a moisturizer. Their complexions were then referred to as such by the touristas of the time and it stuck. OK. Fine.

The actress Penelope Cruz is olive skinned as is Monica Bellucci. They have mystery, exoticism, beauty and they come off as gentle yet molto strong, real, solid, UNetheral, NON-doormats. None of this airy-fairy Dakota/Elle Fanning, alabaster skinned, oh-so-vulnerable, insubstantial stuff for me!
I had more luck coming up with where the term alabaster skin comes from. From the stone:

Alabaster
Noun:  a hard calcite or aragonite that is white and translucent

Adjective: resembling alabaster; smooth and white:
her alabaster throat. (source)

I'd seen that description in books and always wondered could someone actually have skin so white, pellucid, nearly vaporous that it'd appear to be transluscent? Yup. Years back, I was on ferry off the left coast of Ireland – headed to Inishmore. I spied a woman nearby who looked as though she'd just stepped out of a Thomas Hardy novel. Her coat was off and I was certain that, in the strong early spring sun, she'd be burnt to crispy critterhoodedness by the time we docked. From across the deck I could see the veins in her forearms standing out blue and green-ish. Poor thing.

But, but BUT, getting back to my point which was…..um….I think it had something to do with a fine Italian wine and a bar of dark chocolate.

Yup. that was it! I guess I need to hit the store now. Mebbe I'll pick up a lovely wedge of Pecorino too.