Intensifying mascara is a tubing formula (comes off in warm water), that’s supposed to deliver flake-proof, smudge-proof, 16-hour wear. It has a fairly small brush, and (I’ve heard) gives very defined lashes. I haven’t had a chance to try this one myself yet. It’s $24.

The Long Wear Eye Pencils are supposed to be Bobbi’s gel liners in pencil form (faster, more convenient than a pot and a brush). These are super soft, super creamy, a pleasure to apply… but twice now I’ve tested Jet on a swatching day (applying only as tightline and liner on the top lashline), and it not only transferred to my lower waterline, it left ghosts under my eyes. I had better results when I lined the top lashline only — I guess these aren’t meant for tightlining.

Still, I love how blackened all these colors are, and you may have better results than I did. Jet is black. Smoke is dark, industrial, slightly blue, deep grey. Mahogany is a very dark cool brown (love). Black Navy is a very dark nautical blue (love). Black Plum is a dark, shimmery… black plum (I feel so uncreative for saying that, but it’s true). Hunter is deep, dark green. The pencils are also $24 each.

Then there are five new shades of Bobbi’s Long Wear Cream Eyeshadows. Cool Lilac is shimmery peony pink. Black Violet is shimmery black violet. Berry Noir is shimmery rusty, purpled red. Velvet Plum is metallic golden/bronzey-purple. Smoky Topaz is grey-silver-purple. These are — you guessed it! $24 each. You can see swatches of the rest of the permanent Cream Eyeshadows here… actually, don’t look. I did and I ended up putting four of them on my wishlist. (Shore, Sand Dollar, Cement, and Ash, I love youuuu.)

If you’re shopping online, get free shipping at Nordstrom.com (plus: free sample of Hydrating Eye Cream and mini bottle of Instant Long-Wear Makeup Remover with $75 purchase) and NeimanMarcus.com (free shipping with code SPRINGFS. Also, double points! And with your $125 purchase, free mini lip palette, plus mini Lash Glamour mascara).

Or shop BobbiBrown.com and use code BBTOGO2 on your order of $100 or more (through April 13) to get a free mini eye palette (containing White eyeshadow, Pink Pearl metallic eyeshadow, Velvet Plum metallic eyeshadow, Steel eyeshadow, and Charcoal eyeshadow), plus a sample of Hydrating Eye Cream.

When I first saw this display on counter, I joked to a sales associate, “those look like my favorite eyeshadows.” “Actually,” he said, and he turned the kits over — oh, they ARE some of my favorite eyeshadows.

The brow kits are $45 each; each contains two shadows, a tiny brush, a mirror, and a pair of mini tweezers. The tweezers were made exclusively for Bobbi by the very posh Swiss company Rubis. I’ve heard these tweezers cannot be sharpened, but these kits are a permanent addition to the line, so you’ll get a new pair when you repurchase.

I asked another sales associate how best to use the kits. She said that you could simply choose the single shade that provided your best match. But the true brow artist may prefer to use the deeper shade to define (the bottom edge of your brow) and the lighter shade to fill. She confessed to being something of a brow-maniac herself.

The Natural Brow Shaper (a gel/cream product with a mascara-wand applicator) is $20. It comes in five colors: clear, which I didn’t swatch, plus four tints according to hair color. My sales associate said that if you have unruly brows that need taming, you may prefer the gel. If you have sparse brows, brows with not a lot of color, or greys that you want to cover, you may also prefer the gel. My lovely sales associate (as a brow-maniac), likes to use the gel to set her powder.

Here are the swatches. (I love a neutral rainbow.)

The Light Brow Kit contains eyeshadows Cement and Birch. The Dark Brow Kit contains Saddle and Mahogany.

Get free shipping at any price at Neiman Marcus (code SPRINGFS), Nordstrom, or BobbiBrownCosmetics.com (code MDAY312).

And if you’re spending $65 or more, you can get a full-sized freebie at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com: PLUM11 for a Treatment Lip Shine in Plumberry or GLOSS12 for a lipgloss in Nougat.

FACE
Corrector in Light Bisque
Creamy Concealer Kit in Beige
Foundation Stick in Beige
Sheer Pressed Powder in Soft Sand
Bronzing Powder in Medium

EYES
Mica and Silver Moon Sparkle eyeshadows (Silver Moon on top of Mica)
Mascara (I’ve heard conflicting reports about which formula was used)

CHEEKS
Desert Pink Blush
Brightening Nudes Brightening Finishing Powder (cheekbones)

LIPS
Pink Opal Brightening Lipgloss

I don’t see the sparkle I’d expect from Silver Moon and Mica eyeshadows. If I were creating this look, I’d probably use a satin-finish lid-brightening shade, like Navajo or Shell or Champagne Shimmerwash.

Don’t you like how Nordstrom positioned a spotlight to fall exactly on the powder?

The powder is the centerpiece of the collection. It’s a Brightening Finishing Powder, and the shade is Brightening Nudes. (Asia gets an additional/alternate powder called Porcelain Pearl.) The six shades blend into a glowy, subtle, pale, dusty beige-lilac-blue-pink with a satin finish (there are a very few tiny sparkles).

Brightening Nudes is $50, and comes in a silver compact with a magnetic closure. The biggest surprise? It’s not limited edition. It’s the only piece of this collection that isn’t.

There are four limited edition Sparkle eyeshadows — and Sparkle isn’t a formula Bobbi pulls out very often. I went looking for past Sparkle shadows, and found: Crushed Granite (holiday 2011), Gold Bar and Gold Nugget (Tortoiseshell, 2011), Star (holiday 2010), Pink Granite and Denim (Denim Rose, 2010), Orchid, Lightning, and Cafe Cream (Color Strips palettes, 2010), and Storm Cloud and Moonlight (holiday 2009). The point of my reminiscing is to observe that the Sparkle formula is not as clearly defined as some of Bobbi’s other formulas (eyeshadow, shimmerwash, etc.).

These four shadows are glitter in a clear base. Apply them lightly and you get a glittery accent, a sparkly topcoat. Apply them heavily and you achieve a finish like lamé fabric, like sunlight rippling off a running stream. Silver Moon is a pale, cool, white-silver (with a suggestion of purple?). Mica is darker charcoal-grey at an oblique angle, but reflects bright silver head-on. It also has a few pink sparkles. Ballet is silver and pink with a few gold sparkles. Sunlight is pale yellow with a few silver sparkles. These shadows are $28 each.

There are three new, limited edition Brightening lipglosses in this collection, but since Nordstrom displayed them with the rest of the Brightening glosses, I thought this was as good a time as any to swatch the whole family.

The three shades in this collection are Pink Opal, Pink Lilac, and Lilac Pearl. Feel like you’ve seen Pink Lilac before? You have.

Pink Opal is a milky lilac-pink gloss with deepset pink shimmer. Pink Lilac is an opalescent pale pink with dense silver iridescent shimmer. Lilac Pearl is a milky lilac gloss with purple-pink shimmer. Pink is a pearlescent white-pink with silvery shimmer. Popsicle is a cool rose with shimmer (not to be confused with Popsicle Sheer Color gloss). Nectar is a warm pink with shimmer. Peach is a beige peach with dense shimmer. White is a sheer white with no shimmer. These are $23 each.

There’s one more gloss in this collection. You know Bobbi’s Crystal gloss? The clear gloss in the squeeze tube? Well, for a limited time you can buy Crystal Glitter Lipgloss. It’s a clear gloss with a medium number of round, iridescent, holographic sparkles. It’s $18.

The Brightening Nudes collection is available everywhere. Nordstrom.com offers free shipping at any price, plus if you spend $150, you’ll get the Heather Neutrals mini eight-shade eyeshadow palette, mini Extreme Party Mascara, and a sample of Extra Eye Repair Cream (no code required — this is the same gift from Neiman Marcus’s recent Beauty Week).

Neiman Marcus also offers free shipping at any price with code FSMAR. Plus you’ll get a free mini Extreme Party Mascara with any Bobbi Brown purchase, no code required.

And BobbiBrownCosmetics.com has a whole bunch of code options. Get free shipping on any order (plus a free mini Lash Glamour mascara and a free mini original Crystal gloss) with code PRETTY12 (expires March 9). Or, if you’re ordering at least $65, use code PLUM11 for a free full-size Treatment Lip Shine SPF 15 in Plumberry. Or code GLOSS12 for a free full-size lipgloss in Nougat (these two expire April 13, but can only be used once per account).

Happy shopping!

Here’s what the model is wearing:

FACE

• Corrector, Light-Medium Bisque
• Creamy Concealer Kit, Natural
• Foundation Stick, Natural

EYES

• Navajo eyeshadow, all over the lid, up to the brow
• Rose Gold shimmerwash eyeshadow, all over the lid
• the second shade from the Rose Gold Shimmerbrick (the beige/pink duochrome), at the inner corner of the eye
• Caviar Ink gel eyeliner on the top lashline
• Espresso eyeshadow on the bottom lashline
• Everything Mascara in black

CHEEKS

• Desert Pink blush
• Wild Rose Shimmerbrick

LIPS

• Beige Lipliner
• Pink Peony Rich Lip Color SPF 15
• Pink Cocoa Rich Color Gloss

The stars of this release are two limited edition Shimmer Bricks (five-shade compacts which can be worn as eyeshadow, or blended together as highlighter). They are $39 each.

Swatched individually, the shades of Rose Gold are a shimmery peony pink, a beige shimmer with super-strong, pale, iridescent pink duochrome (you can see the beige in the photo, but the swatch looked almost totally pink in person), a shimmery rose-pink/rose-gold pink, a frosty rose-bronze, and a red-rose-copper frost.

Blended together, Rose Gold makes a very shimmery cheek color/highlighter. It builds to a surprisingly peachy/beigey sparkly pink. Here’s the light swatch of the blended shade:

And here’s a heavy swatch:

Wild Rose Shimmerbrick is more pink. The individual shades are shimmery lilac-mauve (with silver shimmer), warm (peachy) shimmery pink, a sparkly rose-violet pink, a shimmery violet-pink, and a shimmery cotton-candy-pink. They combine to create a surprisingly warm pink. Here’s the light swatch of the blended color:

And here’s a heavy swatch:

This collection also brings Rich Lip Color SPF 12 back into the spotlight. This “soft matte” lipstick formula debuted in spring 2011 and I’ve been loving it ever since. Of the six shades shown here, all are new except Lilac (which made a limited appearance a year ago), and all are permanent except Miami Coral (you know how Bobbi feels about corals). They are $23 each.

29 Beige Gold is a sheer beige pink. 30 Miami Coral is a light peach-pink. 28 Pink Peony is rose-pink. 27 Nude Rose is brown-pink. 26 Wild Rose is a cool violet-pink. 17 Lilac is a mauve pink.

The lipglosses are all the Rich Color Gloss formula ($23). Rose Gold is a repromote; the rest are new and permanent.

16 Pink Gold is a chewing-gum pink with gold shimmer. 9 Pink Sorbet is a slightly mauvey, blue pink with deep/subtle silver shimmer/sparkles. 10 Angel Pink is brighter and warmer, without shimmer or sparkle. 11 Rose Gold is a shimmery golden caramel. 12 Pink Cocoa is a brown/rose-purple duochrome with a subtle shimmer.

This collection repromotes Rose Gold shimmer wash eyeshadow and Caviar gel eyeliner (example 2), and though I’ve swatched them before, I thought I might as well swatch them again.

Rose Gold is a metallic rose shimmer. I may have previously described Caviar Ink liner as a very dark brown-black, but I think it’s almost more accurate to call it a “soft black.” It goes on dark, so if you don’t usually wear black eyeliner, this one may take you by surprise.

Bobbi eyeshadows are $24, her gel eyeliners are $22.

Bobbi’s Rose Gold collection is available everywhere, but BobbiBrown.com has a pretty nice GWP with $100 purchase: a little eyeshadow palette containing Navajo, Slate, Heather Mauve shimmerwash, Steel, and Caviar, plus a deluxe bottle of Instant Long-Wear Makeup Remover (valid Feb. 28 – Mar. 2) with code BBTOGO1.

Neiman Marcus is also in gift, and you can get the department gift with $100 purchase; the Bobbi gift with $150 purchase. Free shipping can be had at Neiman Marcus (at any price) with code SHIPNM.

The Ultra Nude Eye Palette felt perfectly within Bobbi’s comfort zone.  (And we already know I have an infinite tolerance for neutral eyeshadow palettes.)

The palette is $45 and includes six shadows (plus a double-ended brush). Chino eyeshadow is a matte, soft fawn-taupe, a light sandpiper brown. Praline shimmerwash eyeshadow is a softly shimmery golden caramel brown. Pink Chandelier metallic eyeshadow is a shimmery/sparkly peach-pink-gold. Stone eyeshadow is a matte wood-brown-taupe, the darker, warmer complement to Chino. Champagne Truffle shimmerwash eyeshadow is a shimmery peach-gold, slightly deeper than Pink Chandelier. And Cocoa Berry shimmerwash is a very dark black-brown satin.

If I had one (trivial) complaint of this palette, it would be that many of the shades are quite similar in tone. I guess Pink Chandelier and Champagne Truffle are my lid options; Chino, Praline, and Stone are my crease colors; Cocoa Berry is my liner.

There are also two eyeshadow singles ($21). Bluebell eyeshadow (0F) is a sheer periwinkle/hyacinth (dreamy purple) blue. Ultra Violet shimmerwash eyeshadow (49) is a sheer heliotrope pink-purple with a medium number of tiny purple sparkles.

Though bright lips or bold eyes shouldn’t compete with your blush, you don’t have to go without it. Bobbi has two new shades to tempt you: Nude Peach (28) and Nude Pink (29).

I loooooove Nude Peach. It’s a warm guava-ish rosy peach with tiny silver sparkles for an allover satin finish. Nude Pink is a matte cool pink. The blushes are $24 each.

There are three Lip Color lipsticks in this collection ($23). Atomic Orange (0T) is aptly named. It’s blinding. I tried it on, and I both loved it and was scared of it. It struck me as a very “New York” color choice. It was also a little bit drying, so you may want to pair it with a gloss. Neon Pink (0R) is a bright, cool, electric-flamingo pink. Uber Beige (52) is actually a limited edition repromote, a peachy, rosy warm nude.

The three lipglosses ($23) are extremely sheer.

This collection also includes a limited edition felt-tipped eyeliner pen, the Ink Liner ($24). It seems absolutely identical to MAC’s Penultimate liner.

And there’s a Neons & Nudes satin makeup bag (6″ x 4″ x 2.5″). It’s $30.

That’s the collection, but I also have a few shopping tips:

• NeimanMarcus.com is offering free shipping at any price with code SHOPNM, plus you’ll get a free sample tube of Bobbi’s Protective Face Lotion SPF 15 with any $50 purchase (no code required for the freebie)
• Nordstrom.com (always free shipping) is offering a free deluxe size Everything Mascara and Crystal lipgloss with any $75 purchase (online only, one per person, no code necessary).
• BobbiBrownCosmetics.com (free shipping at $65) is offering a free “Bobbi to Go” set (4-color mini lip palette plus mini Crystal lipgloss) with your order of $100 or more. The code is NEON12, and it’s valid through January 6th. Or use code PLUM11 to get a free Treatment Lip Shine SPF 15 in Plumberry with your order of $65. Or use code GLOSS12 for a free lipgloss in Nougat with your order of $65 or more. The Plum and Gloss codes are valid until April 13. All codes can be used once per customer.

Makeup remover is, to some extent, a matter of preference. What are you used to, what format do you prefer, how much makeup do you wear? When I’m swatching, my goal is to get my arm completely clean of often-stubborn products (like heavy-duty foundation, bright lipsticks, and long-wear eyeliners) as quickly as possible, with a minimum of scrubbing, no residue, and without drying my skin. Hands-down, the most effective category is oil cleansers. I prefer them to foams, lotions, cold creams, other liquids, and soaps.

You apply oil cleanser to dry skin, massage it around, add water (to emulsify), massage again, and rinse clean.

Cleansing oil doesn’t leave your skin feeling oily, and it won’t clog your pores or cause acne (the molecules are too large to penetrate). I’m probably going to horrify some aestheticians by saying this, but I don’t use a second product after washing my face with oil cleanser. Once the makeup/sunscreen is off, I’m done.

Anyway, having tried a number of oil cleansers, I wanted to share with you my personal rank list, from best to worst.

1. Shiseido Ultimate Cleansing Oil ($25, 5 oz)
This is, unequivocally, the best cleanser on the market. Designed to remove Shiseido’s notoriously protective sunscreens, it’s the most effective, gentlest, least obtrusive, no-residue, non-drying, best-thing-I’ve-tried. It’s my #1 choice at home and “in the field.” I never need a second product to get my arm “all the way clean.”

Oil cleansers turn cloudy/white when you get them wet (somehow this makes me feel that they’re working), and Shiseido’s does this best.  If you plunge an oiled hand into a bowl of water, it makes a satisfying “poof” of white as the oil dissipates into the water.

2. Bobbi Brown Cleansing Oil ($39, 6.7 oz)
If Shiseido’s Cleansing Oil is, for some reason, unavailable, my second choice is Bobbi Brown’s. It gets almost everything off (though if I’m swatching something particularly tenacious, I might have to follow it with a chaser of Chanel Gentle Biphase Eye Makeup Remover).

With repeated use, I feel like it builds up a bit of residue. But you’re probably not going to feel that in a single face-washing.

3. Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O Advanced Formula ($75, 15 oz)
Shu Uemura Cleansing Oils come in several “flavors” — Pore Clarifying (pink) for oily/acne-prone skin, White Recovery Brightening (purple), Classic (yellow), Premium for dry/sensitive skin (this used to be called “Rich” and it was orange… they’ve reformulated and now the bottle is yellow).

Anyway, my favorite is “Green,” which is supposed to address aging concerns, yet still feels light. I think it has the best scent, and it seemed to me to be the most effective of Shu’s oils. (Green is also their #1 seller.)

Shu has a sterling reputation for cleanse off oils (and many people feel they basically invented the category), but in a head-to-head (or should I say arm-to-arm?) test, Shu would sometimes leave behind “ghosts” that another cleanser (Shiseido, Laura Mercier’s old Light formula) would remove completely.

Honestly, Bobbi Brown’s Cleanse Off Oil and Shu Uemura’s Premium A/O are probably a tie for me, but since Shu no longer has a physical presence in the U.S., it’s a little harder to get. (You have to order from their website. Though, on the plus side, free shipping and no tax.)

4. Laura Mercier Purifying Cleansing Oil ($40, 6.8 oz)
Laura Mercier used to make two formulas of cleansing oil (Light and Rich) — and Light formerly held my #2-favorite spot.

“Rich” oils, oils intended for dry or mature skin, often don’t rinse clean. They seem like leave-in conditioner for the skin… they feel sort of oily even after you’ve washed them away.

Maybe a year ago, Laura Mercier reformulated their oil cleanser, and the new edition feels like a combination of the old Light and Rich. I’m not a fan.

5. MAC Cleanse Off Oil ($26, 5 oz)
MAC’s Cleanse Off Oil just isn’t my favorite. It simply doesn’t seem as effective as the others when it comes to removing makeup.

6. Lumene Lift Touch Revitalizing Cleansing Oil ($10, 6.8 oz)
Lumene is just about the cheapest cleanse off oil you can buy, and a while ago I bought some for home use (both face and arm). It was even on sale at CVS when I bought it, so I only paid $5 a bottle.

Now this sounds absolutely crazy, but I stopped using Lumene on my face because it was drying my skin. How can a cleanse off oil (which even mentions dry/mature skin on the bottle) be drying? Well, the bottle also mentions “toning,” so maybe that ingredient is the culprit. Has anyone else had this experience? I did buy this about a year ago, so it’s possible the product has been reformulated since then.

What’s your favorite makeup remover, readers? Are you on the oil bandwagon? Do you have a favorite that I haven’t tried yet?

I NEED to tell you about the Ultimate Party Palette, though. The combination of shadows is one of Bobbi’s best: not a dud among them.

Navajo (Metallic) is a frosty silver-pink white. Chrome Patina (new shade, Shimmer Wash) is a shimmery warm gunmetal. Pewter (Chrome) is a repromote from The Chrome Collection, Holiday 2009. It’s a shimmery mix of silver and gold — one of makeup’s prettiest colors. This swatch does seem less golden than the 2009 edition.

Plum Steel (new shade, Metallic) is a shimmery blue-purple. Plum Navy (new shade, regular eyeshadow formula) is a matte, muted blue-purple plum — not as blue as Plum Steel, obviously. Crushed Granite (new shade, Sparkle) is a shimmery, sparkly pale, faded freesia with silver sparkles. Antique Gold (Metallic) is a shimmery dulled copper-gold. Black Topaz (new shade, Metallic) is a shimmery near-black with dense tiny orange, green, and gold shimmers.

Honestly, I could do without the potted glitter lipglosses in the slide-out drawer. (If only they were Pot Rouge lip-and-cheek cremes!) Rave is a sheer wine-red-plum with gold sparkles. Soiree Pink is a very sheer pale pink with pink and blue sparkles. Iced Lilac is a very sheer grey/silver-purple with really tiny silver sparkles. Tinsel (a new shade) is sheer pink with gold and silver sparkles.

There was a brief kerfuffle over the Ultimate Party Palette — some counters temporarily took it down. The root of the issue was the inclusion of “Navajo” eyeshadow. In the wake of the Urban Outfitters/Forever 21 scandal, it was unclear whether the eyeshadow was in violation of the trademarks held by the Navajo Nation. Once the brand’s legal team confirmed that it was not, the palette (and eyeshadow singles) were restored to their counters.

The Ultimate Party Palette is $65, and if you use code SUEDE9 at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com, you can get a free Long-Wear Cream Shadow in Suede, too. GLACIER9 gets you a free shimmer lipgloss in Glacier. (Both valid through January 3rd of next year.) Bobbi’s website offers free shipping at $65.

What we do know:

The model is wearing Desert Lily Rich Color Eyeshadow, Violet Ink Long Wear Gel Liner, and Lash Glamour Mascara (my favorite!) in black.

She also has on Sheer Pink Sheer Color Cheek Tint, and Desert Rose Rich Lip Color (SPF 12).

Will you be trying this at home?

*THIS JUST IN: I’ve heard that the model is wearing Bobbi’s Foundation Stick in Beige (3).