Red Lipstick Face-Off: MAC Ruby Woo vs MUA Lip Boom Bring It.

It’s Face-Off time once again at Indian Shringar and today and we’re talking red lipsticks. Which ones you ask? Well, none other than the iconic MAC Ruby Woo vs MUA Lip Boom in Bring It. I had briefly spoken about MAC Ruby Woo in a post last year, when I showed you my small collection of red lipsticks. (read the post here). The MUA Lip Boom Bring It was part of my November Vellvette Bag this year (full post here). The minute I saw the colour of the Lip Boom, I went “Eureka…here’s a dupe for Ruby Woo!” And that was when I decided that I would do a face off between these two red lipsticks.

Red Lipsticks: MAC Ruby Woo and MUA Lip Boom Bring It.

Lineage

MAC – Makeup Artist Cosmetics – is a brand that was started in Canada in 1984. It was taken over by Estee Lauder Companies in 1996.

MUA – MakeUp Academy – is a British brand that promises good quality makeup at affordable prices. I tried to find information on when the brand was started etc, but couldn’t find anything.

Packaging

Do I need to say anything about MAC lipstick packaging? Who doesn’t know the black packaging that looks like a bullet? The people who designed the packaging must have thought that a lipstick is a woman’s weapon (in a manner of speaking) so why not make it look like bullet.

MUA Lip Boom comes in a cylindrical tube with lipstick on one end and gloss on the other. The lipstick end also has a little detachable pot of lipstick which I forgot to photograph. Because of the attached gloss, the entire tube is much longer than a regular tube of lipstick.

Colour and Texture

Swatches of MAC Ruby Woo and dupe MUA Bring It

MUA Lip Boom Bring It on the Left and MAC Ruby Woo on the Right.

MAC Ruby Woo is a Retro Matte lipstick which in MAC’s parlance means “drier than the Sahara” kind of dry texture that gives a totally matte look. Of course, it is also famous as being a true red colour with blue undertones. Red as in the red crayon that is the favourite of most children, not vermilion, just pure red. If your lips aren’t prepped and hydrated, Ruby Woo is going to make them look really dehydrated as well as feel very uncomfortable.

MUA Lip Boom Bring It is an almost identical dupe of Ruby Woo. It is a tinge deeper but that is probably because of it’s texture, which, though matte, isn’t a powder matte like Ruby Woo. It gives a satin-matte finish that is more comfortable than Ms. Woo. This lipstick can be unforgiving too if your lips are dry, so make sure to prime your lips first.

Swatches of MAC Ruby Woo and dupe MUA Bring It with gloss

Left: MUA Lip Boom Bring It lipstick, Center: MUA Lip Boom Bring It Gloss, Right: MAC Ruby Woo

I have swatched the MUA Lip Boom gloss in the center and have also applied it on the lower half of both the lipstick swatches. Don’t they look IDENTICAL??? Initially, when I saw the gloss, I felt that the glitter particles were too big and chunky and would feel gritty and look garish. Boy, was I wrong! Once layered lightly over the lipstick, the glitter doesn’t look big and chunky at all. It makes the lipstick look shimmery and three dimensional and also makes the lips appear fuller. The glitter doesn’t feel gritty either but does transfer onto glasses etc.

Lip Swatches with Lipstick

Can you guess which one is MUA Lip Boom and which one is MAC Ruby Woo?

Lip Swatches of red lipstick, MAC Ruby Woo and dupe MUA Lip Boom.

MAC Ruby Woo on upper lip and MUA Lip Boom on lower lip. Picture taken in white light without flash.

Lip swatch of MAC Ruby Woo and its dupe MUA lip boom Bring It

MAC Ruby Woo on upper lip and MUA Lip Boom on lower lip. Picture taken in yellow light without flash.

Lip Swatches with Lipstick + Lipgloss

Red lipstick and gloss lip swatch MAC Ruby Woo and dupe MUA Lip Boom Bring It.

MAC Ruby Woo on upper lip, MUA Lip Boom on lower lip. MUA Lip Boom gloss layered over both. Picture taken in white light without flash.

Upper Lip, MAC Ruby Woo, Lower Lip, MUA Lip Boom Bring It. Lip Boom gloss layered over both. Picture taken in soft yellow light without flash.

MAC Ruby Woo and dupe MUA Lip Boom Bring It, red lipstick worn with gloss.

Upper Lip, MAC Ruby Woo, Lower Lip, MUA Lip Boom Bring It. Lip Boom gloss layered over both. Picture taken in yellow light without flash

These pics however, don’t do justice to the beauty of the lipstick+gloss combination. In person, it looks superfantabulous and attention grabbing. I wish I could have taken the pics in daylight like I did with the hand swatches because you can see the brightness of the colours in day light. But by the time I managed to do lip swatches, it was already quite dark so I had to take pics in artificial light.

Longevity

Both these red lipsticks, MAC Ruby Woo and MUA Bring It are realllllly long lasting. They easily last through a whole evening of dinner and clubbing with minimal fading (we’re taking 6+ hours here). Both of them stain the lips and need a good makeup remover to properly remove them.

However, applying the gloss does cut down into the wear time of both lipsticks by an hour or so and also makes them more vulnerable to transfer.

Price

MAC Ruby Woo and dupe MUA Lip Boom Bring It

MAC Ruby Woo is priced at ₹990 for 3 gms. (Price in USA is $15 which is approx ₹920)

MUA Bring It is priced at ₹1050 for 2.5gms of lipstick + 3.5ml gloss. (Price in UK is £3 which is just ₹300! And it is currently on sale at £2 which makes it just ₹200. Why has the Delhi based Kanwar Corporation priced it at ₹1050? Surely customs duty isn’t that high!)

So….I really can’t make up my mind as to which red lipstick is the winner in this face off. I think I would declare it a tie. If you are MAC-obsessed, then you can go for Ruby Woo. But if, like me, you aren’t that crazy about all things MAC, I would suggest that you buy the MUA Lip Boom in Bring It. It’s just Rs. 60 more than MAC (in India, though far, far cheaper if you buy it abroad) and comes with a gloss that makes this red lipstick even more beautiful. And the lipstick texture is more comfortable than MAC’s Retro Matte.

Have you used either of these red lipsticks? Which one is your favourite? What other products would you like to see featured in the “Face-Off” series?

43 Replies to “Red Lipstick Face-Off: MAC Ruby Woo vs MUA Lip Boom Bring It.”

Aditi Y says: Reply

15/12/2013 at 10:39 AM

Absolutely love such post! 😀