MAC Retro Matte Lipsticks

So every brand of make up has their 'elite' products which pretty much become celebrities in the make up world. NARS has its naughtily named Orgasm blush, Too Faced has its Shadow Insurance , OCC have their Lip Tars and MAC, among many of their celebrity products, have their Ruby Woo lipstick.

Ruby Woo is a lipstick shade much loved by many MAC fans because it's a gorgeous red shade that suits pretty much every skin tone. The website describes it as a 'very matte vivid blue-red' and I think they're spot on with the 'vivid' part. There is no way you wouldn't turn heads wearing this lipstick! I love how matte this shade is, it looks so classy and retro (duh, it's a retro matte!) and I feel like I could be in a 1950s gangster movie (channelling my inner Emma Stone in Gangster Squad) whenever I wear it. It never fails to get compliments!

You may have guessed that I'm a huge fan of this lipstick but I'm not the only one, Rihanna has also confessed her love of the lipstick through the medium of social media. She loved it so much in fact, that she brought out her own version of it called RiRi Woo which is very similar to the original Ruby Woo but with fancier packaging. I don't own RiRi Woo because I couldn't justify paying for two nearly identical lipsticks so unfortunately you'll have to make do with one of MAC's photographs of this product underneath my own Ruby Woo.

They look quite different here but when swatched they look very similar, I promise!

Okay, I know the title of this post is not 'Ruby Woo Appreciation' but so far I'm just giving you a lengthy introduction to what I'm really going to be talking about.

Obviously, I've raved enough about how much I love the retro matte finish so I think you can understand how excited I was when I found out that MAC was giving Ruby Woo  some new retro matte friends! I HAD to get my hands on some and luckily my mum was going to Florida so she kindly brought me back four of the new shades which I had asked for.

Left to right: Ruby Woo, Dangerous, Relentlessly Red, All Fired Up and Flat Out Fabulous

My goodness, don't they look gorgeous?

Top to bottom, left to right: All Fired Up, Relentlessly Red, Dangerous, Ruby Woo and Flat Out Fabulous

Dangerous

This is a orange-toned bright red matte which looks amazing on tanned skin tones. Orange toned reds are my favourite to wear because they really stand out and look stunning on darker skin. The texture, as with all of these, are very similar to Ruby Woo in that they are very thick and matte but they have a great staying power. The colour is bright and made bolder by being matte so this is probably one for the brave although it could be sheered out if applied over a lip balm.

Relentlessly Red

Despite the name Relentlessly Red I feel like this lipstick has a definite pink tone. To me it looks like a true red lipstick and hot pink lipstick hybrid and MAC kind of agrees with me on this because they describe it as a 'bright pinkish coral matte' which I can totally see. Now this colour does look a bit scary and I must admit even I'm a bit concerned if I can pull it off or not but I'll definitely have a good go! I think it will look especially good on lighter skin tones.

All Fired Up

I'm very into the raspberry shades at the moment and so when I saw the retro matte one, I almost fell in love. Raspberry + Matte = a happy happy Kira. MAC calls it a 'bright fuchsia matte' which is pretty much the same thing, it's just that when I see this colour I automatically thing 'raspberry'. I honestly LOVE this colour right now, I cannot get enough! I just like how it's a bit different from the usual pink or red so people are more likely to take notice. I may do a post all about berry shade lipsticks soon so look out for that. But back to the lipstick: it's gorgeous, enough said. (p.s. I apologise for the crappy picture, it isn't this dark in person. The swatch gives a much more accurate representation of the colour.)

Flat Out Fabulous

This is such a fun colour! MAC describes it as a 'bright plum matte' and since I have no idea how to describe it, we'll go with that! It certainly is bright and purple but I always associate plum with being very dark so I probably wouldn't say that. I think I'd say it was a darker lilac colour instead (if that makes any sense) but again the swatch gives a better idea of the colour than this picture so you can decide for yourselves what colour it is. I know this shade would frighten a lot of people but actually for me I'd find this more wearable than the Relentlessly Red but that's purely because of my skin tone and what I'm used to wearing (I don't tend to wear bright pink lipsticks). I think this colour could work for a lot of skin tones and like all the lipsticks could be sheered out to make it more wearable for those who want a more conservative colour.

These lipsticks, like all MAC lipsticks, are priced at £15.

So what do you think about retro matte lipsticks? Let me know what shades were your favourite in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kira xx