When you’ve tested beauty products for as long as I have, your mornings look less like the prim, refined videos populating your TikTok “For You Page” and more like a treasure hunt: a makeup obsessive searching an overstuffed bathroom cabinet for yet another misplaced product. The other day, my foundation was flawless, my eyes defined with the thick kohl of my favorite eyeliner, and my lashes were fanned by a rediscovered mascara wedged between a stack of hot tools under my vanity. That particular morning, on a whim, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and skip my usual deep brown lip liner, nude lipstick, and gloss combo. Instead, in the name of nostalgia, I opted to return to an old favorite. Tears were almost shed when I discovered that my decades-old MAC Ruby Woo lipstick was nowhere to be found.
It’s the first lipstick I ever received (or rather, stole from my mother). I vividly recall the snap of the black cap lifting from its lipstick bullet, the faint crackle as the product swivels upward to reveal its red-blue hue, and—the best part—the satisfying pop that emits from the lip smack that seals it all in. Everyone remembers their first red lipstick, and for many, that journey began with Ruby Woo.
Jewel-toned like the stone of the same name, Ruby Woo almost didn’t exist at all. To chart the creation of one of the best lipsticks ever made, we have to look at another icon in the MAC portfolio: Russian Red. “It was a true red, maybe a bit warmer,” explains MAC senior artist Keri Blair, who joined the company in 1996. “At the time, in the late ’90s, MAC was looking for a way to celebrate the heritage of matte lipsticks, which, for a brand from the ’80s, was quite a departure to go from shiny and frosty and metallic to these very flat, matte colors. It was inventive and fresh.” Celebrity endorsements have long been the cornerstone of MAC’s global success, and when Madonna called, MAC listened. “[Russian Red] was brought into focus because Madonna wore it through her entire Blond Ambition Tour,” Blair adds.
Ahead of her concert dates, Madonna contacted MAC’s founders, “the Franks” (photographer Frank Toskan and salon owner Frank Angelo), and requested a bold red lip to outlast her hours-long performance, where she’d sing and dance under a string of lights and undergo constant costume changes. The singer even used MAC’s Cherry liner to define her lips, according to her tour makeup artist Joanna Grair. The Blond Ambition Tour was a commercial success, grossing over $62 million, helping Russian Red become a signature in its own right. But what’s better than one iconic red? Two, of course.
Following the success of the Madonna-approved Russian Red, MAC attempted to tweak the formula, which had kaolin clay in it, to create an updated shade that was slightly less matte. The result was Ruby Woo, a vibrant red with a hint of blue undertone, launched in 1999 along with five other shades—Verushka, Santiago, Bronx, So Be Deep, and Moxie—as part of the Retro Matte collection. All but Ruby Woo have been discontinued.
“What’s so beautiful about Ruby Woo is that it has just the quietest little bit of blue in it, which makes it pop on the lips,” Blair says. Not only that, but it’s an extremely flattering shade for every single skin tone—it makes your teeth look really white. And for anyone who loves makeup, there is just something innately sexy and attractive about lipstick—the shape of it, the array of colors, the textures, and Ruby Woo was no exception.” And the product has a legion of famous fans, too: Rihanna partnered with the brand to create her own take on the classic shade (RiRi Woo, anyone?) and Tracee Ellis Ross, who’s been a supporter of the lipstick since college, had her brand Pattern Beauty collaborate with MAC in 2021 on a Holy Grail Kit that included a Ruby Woo lipstick.
Ruby Woo is a shade so popular that any beauty lover can detect it on another person’s lips with merely a quick glance. I can always clock its gorgeous blue-red hue on deeper complexions, a marker of assured confidence and a middle finger to those who have the audacity to think that a Black woman wearing red lipstick isn’t as beautiful as her lighter counterparts. It’s a false notion, but one so deeply rooted that even I find myself hesitating when I reach for Ruby Woo—always ultimately placing it back in my lipstick drawer. The product stands out among the crowd of nude lipsticks I’ve collected over the years, a safe color territory where I feel most like myself. With nude lipsticks and a brown liner, I feel unencumbered by insecurities and self-doubt.
“Reds come in tomato Reds, fire engine reds, blue reds, purple reds, warm reds—red is such a mysterious color, and it’s very alluring and very powerful,” Blair opines. “There’s something about the first time you buy or try a red lipstick that’s almost like putting on a wedding dress. It’s transformative; it puts you into a different head space. At MAC, we were looking for something that was just a little different, that resonated in a different way, that played on the skin in a different way. People were looking for a more universal shade to feel comfortable in red. Ruby Woo was our answer to that.”
Every so often, the standalone red in my lipstick collection cries out for me to take the risk, draw attention, and make noise. For many Black women, Ruby Woo strikes the right balance of being boldly assertive and comfortable. By introducing the product, MAC gave us a tool, one we could use to step out into a world as vibrant and loud as the melange of lipstick shades the beauty behemoth offered. Asking for permission isn’t something the MAC girl does—each bullet snap, swivel, and smack empowers you to refuse to be invisible, be it with a metallic, glitter-flecked gloss, a universally flattering red lipstick, or even a deep purple shade.
Depending on who you ask, the hallmark of a good lipstick isn’t solely its opacity or dry-down, but how easily recognizable the color is on a lip, or how quickly a chorus of women can recite its name. When I visited the Estée Lauder Companies earlier this month, the building where MAC’s relics from the past few decades are neatly housed, I quickly started talking to the other women in the room about the only appropriate topic: lipstick. We shared our first MAC purchases. Velvet Teddy was one, Taupe was another. Yet, no matter a woman’s preferred color palette, many lipstick journeys stopped at yet another striking hue: Heroine.
“At MAC, we are full of swift changes all the time to keep you on your toes,” Blair continues. “Nudes are great, we mastered that. Reds are cool; we’ve got Ruby Woo among other beautiful reds. Then, here comes this sharp right turn into Heroine. In 2013, it was an opportunity for us to explore something different than red, a way to make a powerful statement, and own your look. Heroine was what people were truly hungry for.” Those bored by the nudes and reds in their rotation had a chance to veer into new, unchartered violet waters.
The lipstick launched in tandem with the Reel Sexy collection starring Kristen McMenamy, which paid homage to the film industry with its vivid, experimental shades in eye-catching corals, teals, and violets. In the set, Heroine was the clear standout, so much so that the shade received an extra boost from another famous fan, Lorde, who introduced a darker, moodier version and dubbed it Pure Heroine to fit the theme of her chart-topping album of the same name. Like Ruby Woo, Heroine was a hit for all skin tones, evidenced by the phalanx of YouTube bloggers uploading product reviews during the platform’s heyday. Heroine marked my entry into experimental makeup in college, when many seek to blend in the most. It’s the shade I wore to my 8 A.M. classes and the lipstick that punctuated my all-black costume for a junior year dance recital. I’ve lost Heroine several times and repurchased it just as often. My color curiosity stopped with it, but the playfulness the shade imbued transcended to other parts of my makeup—and ultimately, other MAC categories.
“For Heroine, we did a nail polish, a lip liner, and a blush,” Blair offers. “For a woman of color or a deeper skin tone, MAC has all these shades that a Black woman can pull out and just put on—that’s pretty remarkable and worth celebrating. We strive to ensure that we are inclusive in that way. In today’s age, that is extremely important.”
Weeks later, I eventually uncovered my Ruby Woo lipstick in the recesses of my vanity, its black bullet lightly scuffed and signature slope now a flat top after years of applying and wiping it off in regret (read: fear). Now, I put it on and wear it proudly. Thankfully, it’s still available for purchase, and the Heroine I had an unhealthy attachment to in the past also exists via a new formula called Everyone’s Heroine.
MAC’s iconic lipsticks have transcended trends to become more than timeless classics, but rather symbols of empowerment, confidence, and unabashed self-expression. Even with a flurry of makeup brands launching lipsticks and glosses by the minute, MAC is the one people always return to. Why? To quote Blair: “We weren’t afraid to break down beauty barriers. For women of all races, ages, and genders, MAC was a magnet, a place to feel celebrated.” It’s this enduring connection with consumers that has kept MAC a staple in cosmetics bags for 40 years, a clear indicator the 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 has a penchant for sneakers and nude lip glosses, and spends way too much time re-watching ’90s sitcoms.