MAC Blackground Paint Pot is an excellent eyeshadow base for doing dark smokey eyes. Usually I will first apply Painterly Paint Pot all over the lid and then I'll apply Blackground just where my Carbon eyeshadow is going to be placed. Sometimes I'll apply Blackground with a small angled brush and simply use it as a gel eyeliner. Works great!

I use this as a cream eyeliner. Works really well. It's a beautiful graphic black color with some silver sparkles. Very smooth and blendable. I use an eyeliner brush draw the line on my top lash. Doesn't work well on the bottom line though because its smudges. The pot is huge and will probably last forever.

LOOOOVE this! I wanted to get a Sharkskin Shadestick, and of course Macy's no longer has them, so I got this instead. Bought it with trepidation, as cream shadows do NOT go "cream to powder" on my seriously oily eyelids, but this one truly DOES dry to a beautiful long-lasting, smudge-free base. I use it either alone for a nice smoky look (and bonus - when I use it alone, I don't need eyeliner, which is unheard of, as I have eyes that can be described as "space alien who looks like they haven't slept for a week" eyes) or under another color to give it depth and pop. I find the application to be VERY easy if I use a concealer brush (I use the Sonia Kashiuk brush), it dries quickly but not so quickly it's hard to work with. I also find you can build the intensity easily. Definitely HG item.

OMG!! I cant belive i lived with out this!!
This is amazing , i use this all the time , it helps make my purple , pink , greys and even blues pop , and it makes a great very very sexy smokey eye . Its buildable in color and so far has not creased on me at all!

I will always have this in my makeup stash

I'm generally a big fan of MAC Paint Pots - I find that they have great staying power and are not prone to creasing. That said, I'm a little disappointed with Blackground. While I love the colour (grey to black depending on how many layers you build up, with a touch of shimmer), this is the Paint Pot with the least staying power.

So far I own Indianwood, Groundwork and Blackground. With Indianwood and Groundwork, I find the colour stays bold and in place all day, but for some reason Blackground tends to go sort of oily and turns sheer. It also creases much more than the other colours I've tried.

It's a real shame, because a neutral grey/black is very flattering to my colouring - I just wish I could get it to stay on more successfully!

I picked this up when a lady at my MAC counter suggested it to go with the beauty marked eye shadow I was getting. I’m so glad she suggested it to me! I love this product. While I will agree with others that it is a bit hard to put on and blend out, it’s worth the time and effort! It really makes the color in my eye shadows pop. Also helps my eye shadow stay in place and doesn’t crease. Lately I have also been using it as an eye liner which has been working out great. I defiantly think this is a must have for anyone who loves a smoky eye!

Oh my gosh this stuff is AWESOME! I swapped for this on a whim and so far it's been my favorite swap yet. I've worn it every since day since I got it. I love the color- not brown, not quite black but very dark. It is the perfect base to add depth to dark shadows. I love that it dries completely. It does NOT smudge! Not even a bit! My only complaint is I wish it were easier to blend. I've tried 2 diff brushes, and my finger, so far the finger application method is winning. It going to take some practice but it's still well worth it. Definitely HG worthy here!

I used this paint pot for my darker eyeshadows as a base. Blackground is black in color with speckles of silver in it. It is a nice creamy base and it helped my eyeshadows look more vibrant and not crease. I used this as a base for Silver Ring and Print and it made my eyeshadow pop.

So I really wanted to love this product...and I like it on my clients and using it on other people. But on myself frankly I think it looks horrendous. I can blend it out well and it can look really good, but in my normal day routine it just takes too much damn time.

I now use this as an eyeliner mainly, and its great when you have the time...but I think using a shadestick is 100% easier and faster

I originally purchase this when paint pots were first introduced, along with four others, which I no longer have because they all dried up. I bought them because I thought they were cream eyeshadows that did not need much effort (for quick mornings). I did not know much about makeup yet, so I never used them properly and hated the texture of all of them except Indianwood. After watching YouTube and reading make up blogs, I discovered how others used them and decided to give them another try. I purchased Painterly, Blackground and Rubenesque. I wanted Blackground because I am always wearing dark shadows (necessary for my type lids). When I tried it on I wanted to cry, I hated it because it did not blend well, had a weird shimmer to it and did not apply evenly. I thought I made a mistake trying it again, but I kept it. I gave it a few more tries and now I use it daily (crazy I know). I found a brush that picks it up well and applies it nicely. I use a tiny shader brush (a mini version of the 242 brush, from Ulta). It is still not apply as smoothly as Painterly, but its black, so you can notice flaws on it more, but once you apply a well pigmented shadow over it, it is beautiful. I apply dark matte colors over it and it works well, but it definitely is best with duochrome colors like MAC Club and satiny colors like Mulch or Satin Taupe.

Bottom line: I use it daily and need it for how I like my monolids to look. Formula and possibly even the color can be improved but I love it.