Mike,
are you talking about trying to 'filter' the figure with the oils? I've recently discovered vallejo's Panzer aces line, where they make a 'skin tone' set, it's a shade, a mid and a highlight, all in acryl. That's what I've been using for a fleshtone, and then an oil sepia wash for the skin, and a slight oil umber wash for the details (eyes and so on) but then again, I'm working in a 48th, so I'm not really so tight with the detail, though the figures do come off nicely. I find picking carefully the wash colors works nicely (not just black), but I guess it depends which scale you're working in and how much detail you're trying to put in (actual eyeballs or just dark spots to represent the difference).
If you're trying to 'filter' I would assume you're working in a much larger scale. Personally, when I'm filtering, I gloss with acryl, apply 'dots' of the filter color with a toothpick tip, and smear that out slowly with a paintbrush. The gloss (or at least semi gloss) helps keep the 'filter' color from covering the whole piece.
Hope that helps at all.