Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow #57 Black Stream - review

Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow #57 Black Stream

I'd purchased these in Moon River and Pink Lagoon before I loved them.  So (even though I need another black cream product like I need a hole in my head) I decided I'd try to get the black one, Black Stream, while it was available.

As a reminder, these are Limited Edition, and from Chanel's summer makeup collection, l'Ete Papillon de Chanel.  Likely that there are few of these around, but a handful of concessions I tried last week still had a couple of these in different shades...

I love this formulation - it feels gorgeously cooling on your lids when you apply it, which was especially lovely this summer with all the (fantastic, please please come back next year! please please please!!!!) heat and sun we've had.  Black Stream is the same - it feels wonderfully cooling, applies relatively easily, the colour looks interesting..

Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow #57 Black Stream - swatch

... it's not a dense black, more of a darkened charcoal grey with a lot of silver reflects - quite yummy in fact.

However whereas I loved the Pink Lagoon and Moon River, Black Stream was a disappointment overall - to quote Billy Connelly, it's a "ghastly nightmare" to blend out - it sets in double-time, and resolutely refuses to budge afterwards.  So it really is quite a hard one to work with unless you plan to use it completely on its own (eg all over the lid) and not, say, in just the outer corners as an accent colour.  I must admit, I had noticed that the Chanel SA's I'd seen wearing this one had not-terribly-well-blended-or-graduated looks, but I wrote it off to lack of available time for assembling their face that day at the time.

On the other hand, and similar to the other two I have, despite the fact that it sets-and-doesn't-budget, this also creases badly.  No, I actually don't mind creasing, it's a "look", but usually when something doesn't budge/blend, it doesn't crease much either, so this is a strange result from the black version.  I can't comment on whether the remaining three are similar, as I don't have them (and nor am I interested in them).  These were LE anyhow and as I've mentioned, likely at least difficult to get, but just in case anyone is tempted by Black Stream, in this instance, I wouldn't bother, unless you like creasing and don't mind it's difficult-to-blend nature :-)