For Lips to Go With a Hip Victoriana Aesthetic: The MAC Ruffian Collection Lipsticks

Wearing MAC Ruffian Gold Lipstick, $14.50

Slowly but surely, one Marshall’s visit at a time, I’m moving away from my natural tendency to dress like a 13-year-old skater boy from The Valley and toward a hopefully more fashionable future as a 30-something-year-old woman with killer shoes and a quirky Cali girl sense of style…

…she wrote, sitting at her desk in an over-sized O’Neil surf tee and a pair of board shorts with cargo pockets.

LOL! Okay, it’s a process. A really, really slow process. 🙂

But one of the best parts of this slow-going effort to take my wardrobe more seriously has been figuring out what makeup to wear with different looks.

Like for my current fashion phase, beachy summer dresses, I’ve been gravitating toward neons and brights.

How long the phase will last, however, is hard to say…especially now that I’ve seen the new MAC Ruffian collection.

Looking for a lipstick to wear with a streetwise Victorian style? Something to go with that tweed jacket and that top with the bell-sleeves and ruffles, perhaps?

If so, it’s MAC Ruffian time.

The six-piece online exclusive is a collaboration between MAC and Ruffian, the NYC-based design duo of Brian Wolk and Claude Morais. Their clothes have an upscale, vintage vibe, with ready-to-wear (but hard to afford) pieces ranging from $800 for a shirt to $1,800 (!) for a jacket, and fans include edgy actresses Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kirsten Dunst.

For the MAC Ruffian collection (available online now in North America, and coming to select international MAC locations this September), Brian and Claude directed their design aesthetic into three Lipsticks ($14.50 US and $17.50 CDN) and three Ruffian Manicure sets ($25 US and $30 CDN) in classic, timeless shades of red, gold, beige and peach.

From the left: Ruffian Gold, Ruffian Red and Ruffian Naked Lipsticks

I took a break from summer brights and neons today to try the three lipsticks, and the first thing that came to mind: Chanel. And then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle… Or something he might have written, had Sherlock Holmes investigated a crime against Chanel (NO!). “It has long been an axiom of mine that Chanel should influence more things.”

True dat. 🙂

The red and gold are reminding me of 2010’s Shanghai-inspired Chanel Noir’ Et Or.

Here are some individual thoughts on the three Lipsticks (Ruffian Manicure review coming soon!)…

Russian Red devotees, there’s another blueish red in town, and this one also has a matte finish. I think Ruffian Red shows a bit more blue than its Russian cousin and seems somewhat more sophisticated as a result. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+

With that gorgeous glossy finish and those flecks of glitter, Ruffian Gold must moonlight as a Chanel Rouge Coco Shine! Oh…I think it could look really pretty paired with bronze eyeshadow and coral blush. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A

Unlike Ruffian Red and Gold, Ruffian Naked, the pale peachy matte, doesn’t light my fire. I like the color, but it reminds me too much of MAC Myth from the Fashion Sets release and Pro Longwear Lipcreme in You’re Perfect Already. It’s also not the smoothest cat in town, and I find it quite drying. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: C+/B-

Clockwise from the red tube on the left: Ruffian Red, Ruffian Naked and Ruffian Gold

Swatches from the left: Ruffian Red, Ruby Woo, Russian Red and MAC Red; Ruffian Naked, You’re Perfect Already and Myth; Ruffian Gold

Ruffian Naked

Ruffian Red

With these colors, it’s as if MAC took existing shades and just tweaked them a little, and I’m okay with that (this time), because there’s something timeless about the colors, and it makes them shades I know I’ll wear.

If you’re thinking about skipping summer and getting an early start on fall, they could also be good colors for something like that.

The entire MAC Ruffian collection includes…

Lipstick in Ruffian Naked ($14.50 US, $17.50 CDN): a pale peachy nude matte

Lipstick in Ruffian Gold ($14.50 US, $17.50 CDN): a gold glittery metallic frost

Lipstick in Ruffian Red ($14.50 US, $17.50 CDN): a classic rich blueish red matte

Ruffian Manicure in Spectator ($25 US, $30 CDN): cream with a black half moon, black French tip and black Ruffian Ensignia

Ruffian Manicure in Demoiselle ($25 US, $30 CDN): Ruffian Red with a white half moon and a black French tip

Ruffian Manicure in Demilune ($25 US, $30 CDN): matte black with chrome gold half moon

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen