Quest For The Perfect Red Lip: MAC Ruby Woo

.For those of you who know me, and the rest are about to find out, I have forever been on a quest to find the perfect red lipstick. I have used many different brands, many different colors. Some I like, and some I don't. What I've discovered is that I am able to wear pretty much any color, any reds with any undertone, and have it look alright. However, I am looking for certain qualities of a lipstick. What are these qualifiers you ask?
 Must Be Matte.
      I want it to dry to a matte finish (preferred) or I can use translucent powder over it to make it matte. I can't stand the feel of gloss, and I hate how messy non-matte lipsticks are. I get it all over my teeth, straws, food, and my chin, no matter how careful I am.
Easy Application
        I hate waking up unnecessarily early to get ready for work. My every day makeup consists of simple foundation with slight contouring, a somewhat neutral eye with winged liner, and a bold red lip. Minus the red lip, I have this routine down to about 15 minutes, depending how my hands are handling my eyeliner. I want to find a red lipstick that I can apply quickly and have it look like I spent time doing it.
     Seems easy enough right? One would think. If you have seen my YouTube videos, you know I wear red lipstick in just about all of them. Chances are, they are different lipsticks. I buy many different lipsticks all the time, I almost have more lipsticks than eyeshadows (now thats a feat!).

What I want to do is take you on this quest while giving you reviews of different lipsticks I find.

Today I am going to be reviewing MACs Ruby Woo Retro Matte lipstick.

MAC has always been a brand I was scared to try. Why? Because it costs at least sixteen dollars for a lipstick, and depending on the collection and type, could cost more. I also secretly didn't want to give in to MAC, for that I don't really have a legitimate reason. 

But since I have been on this quest for the perfect red lip, Ruby Woo has caught my attention and has been calling my name. I caved in Chistmas Eve. 

                                    

It is a retro matte. This means that it is going to be at matte as it can be. Mattest of the matte. Matte Queen. 

The applications is okay. It's not the easiest, because it is SUPER matte, it's also really chalky upon application. The ONLY thing I don't like about it, is that it dries out my lips and starts just peeling off after a few hours. I do use a NYX lip primer, but one of my friends told me the best way to remedy the peeling is to use the matching lip liner from MAC to fill in your lips before application. I haven't tried that yet, but it has been tolerable. I'm usually home by the time peeling begins. Other than that, it is BEAUTIFUL. It is a true blue toned red, and is very VERY opaque after a few beginning layers are applied. There is zero to little color transfer to food and straws (easy foods like snacks, wouldn't recommend for pastas and soups), and virtually none to other people, making this lipstick 100% kissable. Now I wouldn't recommend making out with the lipstick on, but you get what I'm saying. 

It IS a MAc lipstick, so it also has that delicious vanilla aroma, if that is important to you.

tl;dr

Pros

True blue toned red. Very matte. Smells like vanilla. Kissable. Very little ( simple) food/straw transfer. Very opaque. No feathering. 

Cons. 

Expensive. Chalky. Peels after a few hours. Doesn't survive messy dinners (noodles, burgers, etc). 

Overall, I would give this lipstick an A-.... I know there's perfection out there somewhere. 

I'm sure this lipstick would be an A+ if I tried that lipliner trick though.. 

Do you use this lipstick? Do you have one you want me to try? 

Let me know in the comment section below! 

Our Propsal Story!

Oh how I've told this story a thousand times, but I'll be telling it the rest of my life, so I better get used to it!

But for now, I'm going to write it here, so lovely people of the internet can be in on the story too! What story is that, you ask? Its the story about how my girlfriend proposed to me!

I have a video on my Youtube Channel about the day leading up to the event, so I'm just going tell you about the actual proposal.

We went on a horse drawn carriage ride in St. Augustine, Florida, which if you haven't been, its absolutely beautiful. This time of year they have their Christmas lights up, and it's just breath taking. St. Augustine has a couple of what they call "love trees," which are palm trees that seem to have grown in the middle of another tree, picture below.

Source

 Now, there are three of these trees in Downtown St. Augustine, but only one is deemed "The Love Tree" by society, and Catherine. On the tour, our guide/driver said on the third one, we would be able to get out an take pictures! We go on the tour, he tells us about the city, its rich history, a few jokes, and a bunch of wedding venue details. Now, I just thought he was telling us about wedding venues in St. Augustine because it's a popular place to get married! Little did I know, he's the carriage driver that gets all the couples who are doing marriage proposals, but I digress.

We pull up to the third "love tree" and our driver starts saying how he has done 70 marriage proposals, most in front of the love tree, and he hasn't seen anyone decline yet. We stop in front of the tree, and he says, "the best part about it, is that there is usually one person that has no idea of what is going on..." He then turns around, looks at me, looks at Catherine, looks at me again, and back at her, and then turns back around and continues the tour. Now, I thought it was odd, and it started to feel awkward... but I let it slide. (You see, Catherine missed her cue! But its okay... she improvises later in her state of almost-panic).

The tour continues, he tells us about Flagler College and it's history, and more about wedding venues and such. When the tour was over, he pulled up to the curb, and Catherine ripped the blanket off of us, took the Coke bottle I had out of my hand and ushered me out of the carriage, all in a matter of seconds. She then put the Coke bottle back in the carriage! I was about to get SO upset with her, we are adults... we can throw away our own trash! I turn around to grab the Coke bottle, and turn back around at her to shoot her a nasty look, only to find her on one knee!

I instinctively ask ".... what are you doing...?" which apparently threw her off of whatever she was about to say. After getting through a few "uhs" and "ums," she asked me to marry her!

Of course, I said yes!!

After both of us internally freaking out and fighting back tears of happiness, we apparently took pictures in the carriage. ( I don't really remember doing so, but we did!) 

On our way back to our car, she started telling me her MONTHS of planning, and telling me that literally EVERYONE knew what was happening... and then it all made sense. Looking back, there were MAJOR clues that she was going to propose, and I still giggle to myself about it.



That is the story about how she proposed to me!
What was your proposal story?