For someone who has experimented with beauty products for as long as I have, mornings are more like a treasure hunt than the neat, polished videos that flood TikTok’s “For You” page; that is, a makeup fanatic digging through an overstuffed bathroom cupboard for yet another misplaced product. The other day, my foundation was flawless, my eyes were lined with my favorite dark kohl eyeliner, and my lashes fanned with a rediscovered mascara tucked between a pile of hot tools under my vanity. That morning, I had a sudden thought: step out of my comfort zone and forgo my usual dark brown lip liner, nude lip, and gloss combo. Instead, I was driven by nostalgia and decided to go back to an old favorite. I nearly cried when I realized that my MAC Ruby Woo lip, a product I’d been using for decades, was nowhere to be found.
This was the first lipstick I was ever given (or, rather, stole from my mom). I remember the sound of the black cap snapping open from the lipstick container, the faint crackle of the lipstick rotating upwards to reveal the red-blue hues, and the best part – the satisfying sound of it smacking against my lips as it all seals in. Everyone remembers the first red lipstick they ever got, and for many of us, that journey began with Ruby Woo.
Ruby Woo, a jewel-toned shade, barely existed. To trace the birth of one of the greatest lipsticks of all time, one must look to another icon in MAC’s portfolio: Russian Red. “It was a real red, maybe a little warm,” explains Keri Blair, a senior artist at MAC who joined the company in 1996. “At the time, in the late ’90s, MAC was looking for a way to celebrate the matte lipstick tradition. For an ’80s brand, it was a big shift to go from shiny, frosty, metallic colors to something very flat and matte. It was original and fresh.” Celebrity endorsements have long been a cornerstone of MAC’s global success. Madonna called, and MAC heeded.[Russian Red] “Madonna wore it throughout her Blond Ambition tour, so it got a lot of attention,” Blair added.
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Ahead of the concert dates, Madonna contacted MAC founders “Mr. and Mrs. Frank” (photographer Frank Toskan and salon owner Frank Angelo) and requested a bold red lip that would stand up to her hours-long performance, during which she would sing and dance under lights and change outfits frequently. According to tour makeup artist Joanna Greier, Madonna also used MAC’s Cherry Liner to accentuate her lips. The Blond Ambition tour was a commercial success, grossing more than $62 million, and Russian red became its own signature. But what’s better than one iconic red? Two, of course.
Following the success of the Madonna-approved Russian Red, MAC tweaked the formula with kaolin clay to create a new, less matte shade. The result was Ruby Woo, a vibrant red with a bluish undertone. It was launched in 1999 as part of the Retro Matte collection along with five other shades (Veruschka, Santiago, Bronx, So Be Deep and Moxie). All but Ruby Woo have since been discontinued.
MAC Retro Matte Lipstick
“What’s great about Ruby Woo is that it has just a hint of blue in it, and it really stands out on the lips,” says Blair. Not only that, but it’s a shade that’s great for any skin tone and really makes your teeth look white. And for anyone who loves makeup, there’s something inherently sexy and alluring about lipstick. The shape, the array of colors, the texture, and Ruby Woo was no exception.” The product also has plenty of celebrity fans: Rihanna partnered with the brand to create her own take on the classic shade (RiRi Woo, anyone?), and Tracee Ellis Ross, a vocal supporter of the lipstick since her college days, collaborated with her brand Pattern Beauty in 2021 with MAC to create a Holy Grail Kit that included Ruby Woo lipsticks.
Courtesy of MAC Cosmetics
Ruby Woo is a very popular color and any beauty lover can tell at a glance that it is on someone else’s lips. This beautiful bluish-red shade on darker skin tones is a sign of confidence and a middle finger to those who are so bold as to think that black women in red lipstick are not as beautiful as lighter-skinned women. It’s a misconception, but one so ingrained that I myself hesitate to reach for Ruby Woo and always end up putting it back in my lipstick drawer. This product stands out among the crowd of nude lipsticks I’ve collected over the years and is a safe color that makes me feel the most like myself. A nude lipstick with a brown liner will free you from insecurities and self-doubt.
“There are many shades of red: tomato red, fire engine red, blue red, purple red, warm red. Red is such a mystical color; it’s so inviting and powerful,” says Blair. “When you first buy or try on a red lipstick, it’s like putting on a wedding dress. It’s transformative, it puts you in a different state of mind. At MAC, we were looking for something a little different, something that resonates in a different way, something that looks different on the skin. People were looking for a more universal shade of red that they would feel comfortable wearing. Ruby Woo was the answer.”
Sometimes, the monochromatic reds in my lipstick collection scream out to me to take a risk, to be noticed, to make some noise. For many black women, Ruby Woo strikes the perfect balance between being bold and assertive while remaining comfortable. With this product launch, MAC has given us tools we can use to step out into a world as vibrant and loud as the beauty giant’s medley of lipstick shades. Permission is not something a MAC girl can ask for. With every snap, twirl, and smack, it gives us the power to refuse to be invisible, whether it’s a metallic, glitter-encrusted gloss, a flattering red lipstick, or a deep purple.
Depending on who you ask, the mark of a good lipstick isn’t just its opacity or drying time, but how easily the color is recognizable on the lips, or how quickly women can recite its name. Earlier this month, during a visit to The Estée Lauder Companies, the building that neatly houses MAC relics from decades past, I immediately began talking to the other women in the room about the only appropriate topic: lipstick. We shared our first MAC purchases: one Velvet Teddy, one Taupe. But whatever a woman’s preferred color palette, many a lipstick journey ended with another memorable color: Heroine.
MAC Maximal Silky Matte Lipstick
“At MAC, we’re always surprising you with a quick change,” Blair continues. “Nudes are great; we’ve mastered them. Reds are cool; we have other beautiful reds, like Ruby Woo. Then, take a sharp right turn and you have Heroines. 2013 was an opportunity for us to explore something different from red, a way to make a strong statement and create your own style. Heroines were something people were really asking for.” For those tired of the nude-red rotation, there was a chance to pivot into new, uncharted violet territory.
The lipstick was released alongside the Reel Sexy collection starring Kristen McMenamy, which paid tribute to the film industry with vibrant, experimental shades of eye-catching corals, teals, and violets. Heroine was such a clear standout in the collection that the shade was further boosted by another famous fan, Lorde, who released a darker, moodier version, which she named Pure Heroine to fit the theme of her chart-topping album of the same name. Like Ruby Wu, Heroine is a hit with all skin tones, as evidenced by the legions of bloggers uploading product reviews during YouTube’s heyday. Heroine was the catalyst for me to start experimenting with makeup during my college years, a time when many of us try to blend in the most. It’s the color I wore to my 8am classes, the lipstick I accented when I wore an all-black outfit for my junior year dance recital. I lost Heroine many times and repurchased it just as often. That was the end of my color curiosity, but the sense of playfulness that the shade exuded spread to other parts of my makeup and eventually into other MAC categories.
Courtesy of MAC Cosmetics
“For Heroine, we created nail polish, lip liner and blush,” says Blair. “For women of color and darker skin, MAC has shades that Black women can just pull out and apply, which is so amazing and so celebrated. We strive to make sure we’re inclusive in that way, which is so important in this day and age.”
A few weeks later, I finally found my Ruby Woo lipstick at the back of my dressing table. The dark dots are lightly worn and the distinctive sloping edges are smoothed out from years of regretfully (read: terrified) smearing and wiping. I now wear it with pride. Thankfully, it’s still available, and my past obsession with heroine also exists in a new formula called Everyone’s Heroine.
MAC’s iconic lipsticks are not only timeless, timeless staples, they’ve become symbols of empowerment, confidence, and unashamed self-expression. As makeup brands launch lipstick and gloss after lipstick, MAC is the brand people always come back to. Why? To quote Blair, “We weren’t afraid to break beauty barriers. MAC was a place where women of all races, ages, and genders could feel inviting and celebrated.” It’s this enduring connection with consumers that has kept MAC a staple in makeup bags for 40 years, clear evidence that this beauty maverick is more than just a brand; it’s a lifestyle.
Nerisha is the Beauty Commerce Editor at ELLE.com, covering all things beauty. She loves sneakers, nude lip gloss, and spends a lot of time re-watching ’90s sitcoms.
