The collection begins with a pair of eyeshadow palettes ($42): Majesty and Monarch. Each palette has three eyeshadow pans, with a shimmery shade on the outer ring, and a less shimmery shade (but not always matte) inside. You’d never know it by looking, but these shadows are baked — and can be used wet or dry.

The collection also offers a Jet Set Palette ($48), with four shades of their waterproof cream liner: matte black, matte dark brown, metallic gold, and metallic brown. I also appreciate that each pair of liners in the palette has a snap-top lid to protect against drying out. However, I didn’t swatch these because the testers I found were a little too well-loved.

If you’ve never tried Jet Set before, it’s a really nice cream liner with great staying power. Its consistency is a little firmer than Clinique’s Brush-On Liner or Bobbi Brown’s Long-wear Gel Liner. Jet Set Liners are $22 individually.
Reign includes a totally tempting Fusion Blush called Regal ($32). The peachy powder contains both matte and shimmer sections, and though I would have thought matte + shimmer = shimmer, I didn’t notice much shimmer as I was swatching.

There are two new, limited edition shades of Smashbox’s Doubletake Lip Color ($22) — a double ended pencil with lip liner on one end, and a ridiculously soft, creamy lip color on the other end (I was reminded of Bobbi Brown’s Ivy League Lip Crayons). Currant is sexy and vampy; Amaretto is a peachy nude.

There’s also a new lipgloss ($18), a pretty peach called Crowned.

One more thing worth mentioning: there’s a new shade of Lash DNA Mascara ($19): Plum. Lash DNA supposedly contains a proteins and amino acids to condition, lengthen, and strengthen lashes. It also has a “double helix” brush.

I confess, I’m intrigued. Has anyone tried Lash DNA? Care to report?

• Muse Artist Eye Palette, $48 – Ten eyeshadow shades as luxuriously soft and smooth as Smashbox’s eyeshadow singles
• Muse Cream Eyeliner Pencils, $36 – A set of four pencils (lapis, imperial, slate, and antique gold). No mention is made of these being smudgeproof or waterproof.
• Muse Lip Paints, $21 each – Tube lipglosses with doe’s foot wand applicators (Artiste – creamy berry, Virtuoso – creamy pink, and Luminary – creamy nude)
• Muse Blush in Masterpiece, $24 – A peachy shade in a “splatter” mirrored compact (cardboard)
• Bionic Mascara in Black Violet, $19
• Hybrid 2-in-1 Luminizing Primer, $34

Sephora also offers the Beauty Guru Palette ($47), a three-tiered compact with blush and bronzer in the top level, shadow/liner quad, and lip quad. Here it is on Sephora’s website, but their photo of it is really inaccurate.

I definitely need to go swatch more of this collection, but the eyeshadow palette was just calling to me. Remember, shipping is always free on Smashbox.com (and though they always give samples with their orders, you can get an extra item if you order during “Let’s Do Lunch” Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., PST).
If you wanted to buy these as singles, I’m 90% confident you’re looking at Honey, Platinum, new shade, Spellbound, new shade, Minx, Zoom, new shade, new shade, new shade. Click here to see for yourself.

There’s more to Rapture than meets the eye. You’ve probably seen the brush set, the lipgloss set (still to-be-swatched), and the eyeshadow set — all in pretty pink packaging — but other holiday sets include:

• Flawless Finish Primer Set ($39 for full size + travel size Photo Finish primer)
• Best of Smashbox Kit ($19 for mini Bionic mascara, mini Soft Lights in Dusk, and a mini lipgloss in Aura)
• Gift of Glow ($49 for Waterproof Shadow Liner in Hollywood [bronze with gold shimmer], lipgloss in Gilded, Flash Powder, Brush #30 [waterproof shadow liner brush], baby Kabuki brush, and a quilted travel pouch — Sephora only)
• Ultimate Beauty Palette ($59 total makeup insanity in a box — Ulta only)
• Enchantress Beauty Kit ($45 for a Cream Liner Duo in Caviar/Midnight Brown, Soft Lights Quad in Aglow, Lip Enhancing Gloss in Protege, That’s a Wrap Mascara, makeup bag, silver necklace from Canadian designer Foxy Originals — only at Smashbox.com)

As you know, I’m a fan of Smashbox’s eyeshadow singles (and I’ve got swatches to prove it) — and Smashbox brushes have quite a following — so I was most interested in the Rapture eyeshadow set. $59 gets you 8 eyeshadow duos and two brushes: #15 and #32 (crease and blending brushes).

Swatching started out well — I liked Desire and Grace. By the time I got to Splendid, I was wondering if this set might be the answer to my custom-Dior-quint prayers, or a way to approximate the now-unavailable Dior Iridescent Leather.

By the time I got to the end of my arm, though, I started feeling that the duos contained less-good versions of some lovely singles. I swatched Twilight between Ink and Oyster — neither shade seemed as pigmented or smooth as the original.

It does feel like this set has a lot of similar highlight shades, and I think the overlap comes from the decision to make duo pots rather than a one-piece palette. If each one of these is a self-contained look, it might be easier for me to choose a pot or two to throw in my weekend makeup bag than to pack a really comprehensive palette. Different strokes for different folks.

Anyway, Smashbox eyeshadow singles are $16 each. The #15 brush is regularly $28, and the #32 brush is not generally sold separately. The Rapture eyeshadow set is sold out on Smashbox.com, but still available on Sephora’s website.

Smashbox Rapture eyeshadows: Desire, Grace, Splendid, Dreamscape, Enchanting, Delightful, Twilight, Gala

I never knew very much about these pressed powders, but it seems they are a family of blushes, highlighters, and bronzers, containing varying amounts of shimmer. Solid colors (Soft Lights) are $28, and the multicolored pots of various patterns (Fusion Soft Lights) are $30.

• Wicked Lovely Cream Liner and Loose Shimmer (an item Nordstrom’s website calls Wicked Lady): three cream liners (metallic taupe, metallic bronze, metallic charcoal) in a mirrored fliptop pot, whose base unscrews to reveal sparkling pewter loose eyeshadow — $32
• Three lipglosses: Coy, a sheer nude; Sweet, a sheer apricot; and Sultry, a black cherry — $18 each, with a brush applicator
• A non-mechanical lip pencil in Tempt, a deep black cherry — $16 (not swatched)
• Doubletake lip color, a double ended pencil with lip liner on one end and lip color on the other. Only Gossamer seems to be part of the collection, but for some reason Nordstrom also had Praline out on display — $22
• A fliptop blush (with a mirror that swivels out at the base) in Charm — $24
• Two eyeshadow duos, Sexy/Demure and Sinful/Pure — $24 each

Sexy is a gorgeous, sparkly brown (akin to the excitement of Bobbi’s Black Mauve liner, perhaps?), but the frosty peach of Demure did nothing for me. Sinful is a less sparkly black and Pure is a frosty, cool gold. Not for me. I think the second picture is more color-accurate, but the third one showed the sparkle nicely, so I included both.

Of those swatched here, Vanilla, Sand, Nude, Java, Walnut, and Blackout are matte shadows. (Shell and Rapture were missing from the display).

The differences between Obsidian, Envy, and Blackout are shown best by the last picture: Obsidian is bluish-black, Envy has very subtle dark blue sparkles, and Blackout is matte (and the darkest).

If you’re planning on buying any of these, remember that Tuesday and Thursdays are “Let’s Do Lunch” at Smashbox’s website (meaning you get a free item with any purchase — and shipping is always free), and Ulta offers a Smashbox gift with purchase, both online and in-store.

Smashbox eyeshadow singles: SBox, Vanilla, Sand, Champagne, Fizz, Bliss, Oyster, Flirt, Nude, Platinum, Cinnamon Toast, Flamingo, Zoom, Java, Lagoon, Ink, Ambient, Minx, Walnut, Spellbound, Safari, Serpent, Sienna, 24K, Envy, Blackout, Cabernet, Torch, Brazilian Bronze, Honey, Obsidian

Smashbox eyeshadow: Zoom, Serpent, Safari
MAC eyeshadow: Greensmoke, Green Smoke, Sumptuous Olive, Swimming, Juxt

Sheer Focus Tinted Moisturizer: TM, Luminous, Fair, Light, Medium, Dark