I used to wear red lipstick almost every day and i had always wanted to buy russian red , because of all these people raving for it . The product itself is a very beautiful red . Unfortunately , this lipstick does not suit me ... i feel rather uncomfortable wearing it , although i have tried more intense colours . I think that its matte finish looks rather unflattering on me . I like more hydrating lipsticks better . For that reason , i wear it only as a base for another red lipstisk , because stays forever on the lips !
As for the price , i bought on sales for 11 euros - not too pricey for mac products .

Like every other blue based "red", this turned fuschia on me.

This could be the best red I could ever have. It's not so expensive like the others but still it does its best. It stays long for about 4-6 hours, without eating much. It's very pigmented that I can just apply on my lower lip and it would cover even my upper lip. I've been using it for a year now and there's still much left on the tube!

I have literally been using this lipstick on an almost daily basis for about 16 years. It is by far the best red lipstick I have found. I've tried others that are more creamy or glossy, but they bleed and don't stay on. This stuff is pretty amazing and I get compliments all the time and people asking what color red I am wearing. I am a loyal consumer of this for sure and have no plans of changing. Love it!

Russian red is my go to lippie.. It has long staying power but it does stain so you have to be careful when applying not to get it anywhere else besides your lips it's a bit drying but If you moisturize before Hand you should be fine I specially love it this time a year and its very versatile I think it'll look great on any skin tone

HG product!

This lipstick is miraculous! It never ceases to amaze me that this looks good on most skin colors - warm, cool, or in between. When I had strawberry blonde hair, I was looking for a flattering red lipstick that would not make me look sickly or washed out. I went to the MAC counter and talked to one of the girls there. I inquired about Ruby Woo. She took one look at me and said that Russian Red would actually be a much better fit for my reddish hair. I tried it on and was astonished at how great it looked. I then tried on Ruby Woo, and noticed that it didn't do a thing for me with my strawberry blonde hair. The Ruby Woo is too blue based so it made my complexion look ruddy and sallow. But the Russian Red (even though it looks similar to Ruby Woo) was absolutely beautiful on me!

I can't think of a skin tone this red would not work on. I love it!

The downside is the formula. It's good but not great. a nice finish, but since it's slightly moisturizing, it tends to slip a bit. Nothing terrible, but keep a mirror handy for checks.

The story behind the colour is more interesting than the colour itself. In 1990, Madonna commissioned a red lipstick for her Truth or Dare tour, and throughout the shows, the film, any picture you see of her from that era, Russian Red is what she's wearing...in some cases, it's pretty much all she's wearing. This is, in fact, where MAC really started to take off: in just a few short years, you were hard-pressed to find a celebrity who wasn’t representing at least one product, and the colour shorthand for their foundation became a universal code for skin tones (me = somewhere between NW15 and NW20). All well and good, but it doesn’t change the fact that I just don’t care for their pivotal lipstick. I bought it when I was living in Massachusetts--in the limited edition Wonder Woman tube, no less--and tried really hard to be impressed, but I never could get there. The texture was no more or less off-putting than any other matte formula, and I didn't absolutely detest the colour; it just wasn’t the intense, dark, smile-brightening blue red the hype machine promised. But I have seen it look stellar on other people, even other palefolk like me, so I guess I either got a bad tube or it’s just not “my” red. Oh, well. I'd rate it a "Judge for Yourself" on a scale of "Run--Don't Walk--to the Counter" and "Keep Back 100ft."

Lovely true red color, that really suits my fair yellow-undertone complexion. I also love non-drying effect of this lipstick. The main cause I don't use lipsticks so much is that some (even HE) can be pretty drying and I don't feel comfortable with it on the lips, that's why in general I prefer glosses. But this is different. It stays on for a long time and with small touch ups you can make it stay on all through the day.