MAC Ruby Woo – Review and Swatches in Different Light Settings

MAC Ruby Woo lipstick is the reason I started experimenting with red lips. Till 2011, I was this anti red lip girl because I thought I could never pull it off. I remember meeting Suma in Mumbai and going to MAC to try it out. She was quite positive that it would look good on me. I had serious doubts. When I did try it, it looked extremely…. jarring.  There is no other word for it. Ruby Woo is a red lipstick that screams “Look at me!” I was visibly uncomfortable because I totally believed that I could not carry off red. I was happy with my MAC Mehr. Speaking of Mehr, I got a second bullet of it but shhh, this post is about Ruby Woo and not Mehr!

Colour

MAC describes Ruby Woo as a very matte vivid blue red (with a Retro Matte finish) and I describe it like Shaadi Waala Red! You know the true deep red north Indian brides wear? Ruby Woo is that red. It is a bold red, undiluted and unapologetic.

Texture

MAC calls is Retro Matte. What essentially means is that Ruby Woo is very very matte. It borders on drying and your lips definitely need prepping before putting it on. No dry, flaky or chapped lips for this one. Despite being a matte shade, it is not tough to apply. It does not tug at your skin during application and compared to some other matte lipsticks (Hello Lotus, am looking at you) it positively glides on!

Longevity

Once applied, it stays on for hours. Red lipsticks always bleed and Ruby Woo is no exception. But it bleeds minimally and will not give you an embarrassing red line below your lip. The best part about Ruby Woo is that it stays on for hours on end. I have worn it on several occasions for a year now and it has survived two full meals, whole days of sightseeing and long evening parties. It fades yes, but fades quite evenly and the dark red colour stays on. The vividness reduces a bit though.

Swatches

Now I do not have hand or lip swatches for you! I have photographs of me wearing this gorgeous red beauty at different occasions and in different lighting. I am sharing those with you so that you can see it for yourself how this lipstick looks in different light settings.

Outdoors Without Flash

You get to see a true blue red in natural sunlight without any flash.

Outdoor With Flash

Flashes accentuate the blue base of this lipstick and it appears darker as you can see in this photo below. This is where the rest of the make up becomes extremely important. If you are wearing a base with SPF, it will add a whitish cast to your face. You can see a bit of white cast on my face here in this picture too.

Indoor

Indoor pics will depend greatly on the light. I have two pictures here. One with white light and flash and one with yellow light and no flash. There is very slight difference in the indoor and outdoor pictures with flash but the one in yellow lighting makes it more of an orangey red.

Low Light

I also have a low light picture courtesy Sid Balachandran from the Tata Motors Zica event. This is a low light pic taken without a flash. The lipstick still looks awesome!

Easy Tips for rocking MAC Ruby Woo

As you can see from most of the pictures above, I wear Ruby Woo almost the same way all the time. Since the colour is bold and vivid, it creates a statement lip. I know people have sported it with heavily done up eyes and pulled it off with ease, but I am not there yet. So here are easy tips for wearing Ruby Woo –

1. Keep a clean base. I can not stress this enough. Do not skip your base and ensure you have an even smooth complexion. Since the lipstick itself is matte, keeping the rest of your face matte too is a good idea. This works especially well for me since I have oily skin.
2. Go easy on the eyes. When I am wearing Ruby Woo, I prefer to keep the eyes very simple. I generally use only one element on the eyes. I would either swipe a light cream shadow like Maybelline Bad to Bronze or MAC paintpot in Indianwood on the eyes or line with a black liner or simply add kajal to the waterline. Anything more has the danger of looking too much
3. Skip the blush. I have never used blush with ruby woo. If I felt the cheeks needed something, I added a bit of highlighter on the cheekbones. This lets the focus stay on the lips and there is no conflict!

So that is it from me people… Hope you liked my style of a lipstick review. Would you like to see such lipstick reviews in the future?