Olive skin Olive skin Olive skin is a human skin color spectrum. It is often associated with pigmentation in the Type III to Type IV and Type V ranges of the Fitzpatrick scale. It generally refers to light or moderate brown, brownish, or tannish skin, and it is often described as having yellowish, greenish, or golden undertones. People with olive skin can sometimes become more pale if their sun exposure is limited. Lighter olive skin tans more easily than does fair skin, and generally still retains notable yellow or greenish undertones. Type III pigmentation is frequent among populations from parts of the
Human skin color "Val60Leu" (rs1805005) and "Val92Met" (rs2228479) have been associated with reduced tanning response in European and/or East Asian populations. These alleles show no signs of positive selection and only occur in relatively small numbers, reaching a peak in Europe with around 28% of the population having at least one allele of one of the variations. A study of self-reported tanning ability and skin type in American non-Hispanic Caucasians found that "SLC24A5 Phe374Leu" is significantly associated with reduced tanning ability and also associated "TYR Arg402Gln" (rs1126809), "OCA2 Arg305Trp" (rs1800401) and a 2-SNP haplotype in "ASIP" (rs4911414 and rs1015362) to skin type variation