MAC RiRi ♥ MAC Summer: Lipsticks

Last Tuesday, MAC released a new collection in collaboration with Rihanna called RiRi ♥ MAC Summer. It is an online-exclusive collection that was created by Rihanna for MAC, and is one of three colour collaboration collections (the other two collections will be launched in the fall and for holiday, both in-store). RiRi ♥ MAC Summer consists of five products, and sees the release of three new and limited edition lipstick shades. All of the lipsticks in this collection have Rihanna's signature etched on the actual bullets. Each lipstick comes in regular black packaging, contains 3 grams of product, and retails for $18.
RiRi Woo, RiRi Boy, and Heaux
Okay, so this collection was launched online last Tuesday at noon, and the surge of traffic on MAC's website was so intense that it took a full minute for the order page to actually show up and then over three hours for my order to process. I don't have a particular interest in Rihanna herself, but when I saw the initial photos and swatches of the products, I ended up loving the colours quite a lot so I thought I would attempt to get my hands on them (when her lipstick, RiRi Woo, was initially launched in May — also as an online-exclusive — it sold out in a couple hours so my expectations of actually getting these products were quite low). I actually didn't think my order would go through at all until, three hours later, the page finally showed my shopping cart with the items ready for check-out. Sadly, as this post goes up, the majority of the collection is sold out. I thought I would post it, anyway, just for those who were curious as to what the shades look like. As of today, however, RiRi Woo is still available for purchase.

RiRi Woo, RiRi Boy, and Heaux

RiRi Woo is a medium-dark vibrant blue-toned red in a Retro Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is on the drier, stiffer side, so there will be some tugging or pulling upon application, though it goes on evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. As this is a play on Ruby Woo, they are incredibly similar, though RiRi Woo is very slightly darker and cooler in swatches — on the lips, the difference is incredibly minute. It is cooler than Russian Red, and darker and less pink than MAC Red.

RiRi Boy is a medium brightened pinked purple in a Retro Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is on the drier, stiffer side, so there will be some tugging or pulling upon application, though it goes on evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. As this is a play on Up the Amp, they are quite similar in colour, but due to the Retro Matte finish of RiRi Boy, it looks slightly darker and more intense. There is nothing else that is similar in MAC's permanent range.

Heaux is a medium-dark brightened berry red in a Retro Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is on the drier, stiffer side, so there will be some tugging or pulling upon application, though it goes on evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is more red than Rebel,  lighter and less brown than Diva, and darker and much more matte than Lush Life Mineralize Rich Lipstick.

Within MAC's permanent lipstick range, Ruby Woo is currently the only lipstick left in the Retro Matte finish. MAC used to have a whole range of Retro Matte lipsticks, but due to the popularity of lip gloss back in the early 2000s, mattes became more and more obsolete and MAC discontinued the range except Ruby Woo (which is still a top-selling shade to this day). Of course, in the last couple years, matte lipstick has made a huge comeback. Since Ruby Woo is Rihanna's favourite MAC lipstick, she wanted to make all the lipsticks in this collection in the Retro Matte finish. If you're wondering what the difference between Retro Matte and the regular Matte finish is, it's that the Retro Mattes are drier and stiffer and somehow more matte. The regular Matte finish lipsticks go on smoother and creamier. But the Retro Matte finish wears like a champ — you can eat, drink, smoke, whatever, and it'll still look immaculate even hours later. I'm talking like, eight to ten hours. So, while they are kind of a pain in the ass to apply (a lip brush is totally recommended here, as the stiffness of the finish will result in a somewhat jagged application due to tugging), they wear longer than any of MAC's other lipstick finishes without fading.

In my opinion, RiRi Boy is the undisputed must-have from this collection, despite its colour similarity to Up the Amp. Because Up the Amp is an Amplified finish, it has a much glossier, and therefore less intense, look. Whereas Up the Amp can alter with one's natural lip colour (for example, it turns slightly pinker on my lips because I have naturally reddened lips), RiRi Boy has full-coverage, opaque colour pay-off and ends up looking much more true-to-tube than Up the Amp. And there is not another shade within MAC's permanent range that looks remotely similar. I'm on the fence with Heaux, because while it is a beautiful colour, MAC also makes a ton of similar shades — nothing exact, but in the same family. However, MAC doesn't have anything similar in a matte finish, so this will appeal to many. I've been told that it looks very similar to Rubine, which was discontinued over a decade ago. Surprisingly, the only lipstick from this collection that is skippable is RiRi Woo (this shade will be made available in all of her collaboration collections). While someone who is trained to see colour variance will see a very slight difference between RiRi Woo and Ruby Woo, they are just too similar for me to say that it's worth getting over Ruby Woo. Someone who cares more so for the collaboration aspect of the lipstick (e.g. a die-hard Rihanna fan) will probably still want RiRi Woo, though. Which is fine, since it is the only shade that is still available from this collection.