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MAC Style Black: Cream Colour Base & Greasepaint Stick Review, Swatches


MAC Black CCB

MAC Style Black: Cream Colour Base & Greasepaint Stick Review, Swatches

MAC Style Black is a deep, dark collection with the rich tones of black as inspiration.  With it, two cream colour bases (kind of like a cream eyeshadow, but it’s really a multi-tasking product), Black and Bat Black; as well as a new product — the greasepaint stick in Black.

Cream Colour Base

  • Black is a solid, creamy black with a slight sheen but no shimmer.
  • Bat Black is a creamy burgundy-black with more burgundy than black and a glossy sheen.

Cream Colour Bases can be difficult to work with.  If you find that a lot of cream-based products crease extremely easily on you, these may require more work than you’d like to do to get these to work on you.  Be sure to read any safety precautions that may come with these, too, for areas that you shouldn’t use these products on.  I like lighter colored CCBs, because I like to use them on cheeks and lips more than I do on eyes.

Greasepaint Stick

  • Black is actually a purple-black with just a little bit of shimmer when you look at it up-close, but the shimmer wasn’t noticeable when I applied it on my eyes.   I found that the greasepaint held up better on my waterline than my lower lash line, as it actually migrated and smudged a bit on the lower lash line but is still on my lash line about two and a half hours later.

  • Product: 8/10
  • Value: 8/10
  • Ease of Use: 7/10
  • Packaging: 7/10

Recommendation: If you like CCBs and need a dark base, try these two.  If you like intense black liners, you may consider the greasepaint stick, but it’s not entirely smudge proof.

Availability: MAC Cosmetics

See more photos and swatches


MAC Bat Black CCB


MAC Black Greasepaint


Swatches: Bat Black CCB, Black CCB, Black Greasepaint

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62 Comments

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Macaddict Avatar

I have a question:
MAC DSquared2 collection will also release a black grease stick (besides a purple and a blue one). I’m curious to know if both black grease sticks are the same or if there is a difference in texture/color/finish.I’m REALLY excited for this collection and the grease sticks. From your swatch, it looks really pigmented and a good waterline liner”

Fresco Phyrra Avatar

I tend to do well with TFSI, then a paint pot or nyx jumbo eye pencil or indelible cream shadow, if I’m going for a base. The nyx pencils in particular are great 🙂
I could never get the creams to work well on the eyes.

Fresco Phyrra Avatar

Yeah I don’t do it every day, but like, today, I put on TFSI, then I put on Cherry nyx jumbo eye pencil on my lid, then I put a red mineral eye shadow on the lid, then a burgundy in the crease, etc. I just wanted the Cherry pencil to intensify the red 🙂
I actually LOVE using MAC’s Blackground by itself, or with other colors like for a smoky eye, or anything really, because it looks good with so many things.

Dani Avatar

I passed on the MES for now. If they sell out before I get to buy them it wasn’t meant to be. I passed on the lipstick too. I’d like to get to a store and see them in person before buying besides the fact that the Pro site charges insane shipping prices!

Rae Avatar

Ooh — the greasepaint looks gorgeous!! I can see why a thinner line of it would just look black, though.

(Btw, you’ve switched the labels for Black and Bat Black in the last photo if I’m not mistaken!)

amy Avatar

I am pretty sure I will pickup the black grease stick, along with the purple and blue on coming out for the D Square collection. I am loving the smudgy smoky eye look! I also like that it has a purple shimmer to it too.

Alexis Avatar

I preordered both grease stick and Bat Black CCB – I guess I’ll have to play with them to make an honest opinion. That said I am praying they do an earlier release like tomorrow =)

Carla Avatar

I’m curious about the grease stick! Is it meant to be a liner, or kind of a primer like the regular paint sticks? I cannot use the CCBs on my eyes, and the name “Grease Paint” makes me think that this is going to crease and stay sort of oily. I think I will wind up getting it anyway, but I don’t have a counter near me, so I’ll be ordering online and won’t be able to test it for myself! How is it’s staying power? And will it NOT smudge out if you don’t really intend it to? I don’t expect it to have the staying power of a Fluidline, but I’d love it if it were similar to regular Paint Sticks or Paint Pots.

Carla Avatar

Thanks, yet again! I’m thinking of getting it anyway and playing around. I suppose I can always find a way to pass it on to someone who will love it if I don’t!

Molly Avatar

I already own sharkskin shade stick, and black ground paint pot and use that as a dark base to apply shadows that I want to pop…is there a real difference between those and the greasepaint stick if I am using them as athe soul purpose of a black base..or is it the same thing?

Cathy Avatar

Christine- I have a ? for you…I got the grease paintstick and the first couple of times i used it, it was very smooth and i used it again the morning and it was very hard to apply and would not spread easily…any suggestions on how to get this to work easier?

Cathy Avatar

umm..it doesnt really feel like it dried out..is that normal for it to do that? I close the lid and know its closed when the lid clicks/snaps…I have never used greasesticks or shade sticks before so I am not familar with them and I thought the greasestick was better than a shadestick in terms of not having to heat it up before applying…is yours getting harder to apply? I have only used it 3 or 4 times..

Cathy Avatar

weird…yeah i just checked mine too and it goes on my hand ok, nice and soft when i swatch it but when i try to smudge/smoke it out on my eyelid its hard to spread.

yael Avatar

i was wondering if i wanted to do a smudgy smoky eye, what do you think would be best? (i’m trying to figure out how they achieved the campaign picture with the girl’s eye makeup, if with these products) i like that the CCB’s are shiny….what do you think?

Kenneth Alan Avatar

I hope they re-release this greasepaint stick. Every where I went was sold out of it by the time I got around to getting one.

Sarah Reding Avatar

Hi I know this collection was about a year ago but I missed getting the bat black ccb and I thought it was a permanant pro product is this true? If so then is it on the product list now to order as of Oct. 2010? I dont wanna have to order off ebay and pay a arm n a leg! Thanks girl love your site!

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