The collection is hot, and for me evoked a sundrenched Caribbean island. Estee Lauder’s creative director Tom Pecheux says he was inspired by the Arizona desert. Either way, I feel warmer just looking at it. Topaz is a semi-precious gem that I first think of as yellow (though I’ve seen blue topaz as well). If, like me, you enjoy collecting random facts, click here to learn more about the gemstone.

The collection includes a Pure Color eyeshadow quint (possibly my favorite Lauder eyeshadow palette to-date) and their second ever Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee.

Pure Color Five Color Eyeshadow Palette 21 Topaz Mosaic is glorious. Every shade is so smooth and pigmented. The combination of colors is just neutral enough that I feel like I could wear it often, but includes shades I don’t already own (and suddenly need: orange, yellow). It’s versatile but not quirky or one-note. I really think this is the best Estee Lauder quint I can remember swatching.

The palette includes a satin pumpkin, a shimmery tawny golden sand, a satin daffodil yellow, a low-shimmer beige-peach, and a satin red wood-brown. It is $45, limited edition.

Modern Mercury (fall 2011) included Estee Lauder’s first Illuminating Powder Gelee, a shimmery “gel-powder” that could be applied wet or dry. Because it was the first of its kind, that sparkly beige-pink highlighter didn’t have a shade name.

This collection launches the second (also limited edition) Illuminating Powder Gelee, a shimmering, sparkling, warming golden copper highlight that can be used on eye or cheek. It’s 01 Topaz Chameleon, $40, and I swatched it dry (first lightly, then heavily, with a triangle sponge).

This collection introduces Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayons, a chubby pencil eyeliner semi-inspired by the chalk-type kajal eyeliners you can so easily buy in India. The sales associate explained (and it makes sense) that the very sharp point will help you draw a more precise line.

Even though it’s a simple, basic black eyeliner (and maybe a silly thing to lust over), I adore 01 Dramatic Black. I tried it on at the counter and it went on so smoothly and easily. It was actually very easy to apply a thin black line to my inner rim (I tightlined with it, too). Since I applied in the afternoon on a cold day (difficult  to test heat-/humidity-proofing or wear time), I showered and napped in it — no fallout, no smudging.

The new Kajal Eye Crayon is not the same as taller, thinner Intense Kajal Eyeliner that just came out with the Cyber Eyes collection. These chubby crayons have a little less fallout, and they’re a little softer.

Whenever I see the word “kajal” or “kohl” on an eyeliner, I assume it’s meant to be used on the waterline (that it depends on the moisture of your eye to fix it). Kohls are usually smudgy when used on the upper lashline.

The Intense Kajal Crayons are $22 each, available in 01 Dramatic Black and 03 Dramatic Teal. And can you believe they’re limited edition?? Why oh why?

This collection includes three Sensuous Rouge lipsticks ($28, semi-sheer with a moisturizing core and a vanilla scent). 15 Sublime Nectar is new and limited edition, a sheer creme peach-pink. 03 Sensuous Nude and 02 Sultry Caramel are repromotes from the permanent line. (Sensuous Nude: a sheer peach caramel nude that I’m still in love with. Sultry Caramel: shimmery russet red-brown.)

There’s also a new, limited edition Pure Color lipgloss ($22.50). 50 Citron Kiss is sheer yellow with silver sparkles. As I learned with the yellow gloss in Alice + Olivia, yellow glosses settle down into a kind of honey color on the lips. Backstage at fashion week last September, Tom Pecheux explained that yellow gloss is the perfect transitional item to warm up your fall and winter lipsticks, and keep wearing them into spring. Try using it to tone down a too-bright red or pink.

There’s just one limited edition nail polish: 28 Teal Topaz ($19). I found a sales associate wearing it, and she agreed to be my hand model.

Teal Topaz is a teal creme that’s opaque in two coats (indoor lighting makes it look a little more green). I thought it reminded me of Ocean Dip from last summer’s MAC Surf Baby, but it’s deeper, more subdued, not as bright. The color also reminds me of this old Chevy I saw at a stoplight.

This collection is available everywhere Estee Lauder is sold, though NeimanMarcus.com is in gift right now (plus free shipping with code SHIPNM).

Do you love this collection as much as I do?

The collection includes one of Laura’s classic eye-and-cheek palettes (six shadows, two blushes — no lip products mixed in with the powders). The palette is $60, limited edition.

Buff Pearl is a beige-champagne-white satin. Tawny Apricot is a dusty rose satin. Rich Cocoa is a dark wood-/earth-brown matte. Pale Pink is a very whitened, very pale, ballet pink matte. African Violet is a shimmery violet-gold duochrome. Black Plum is a delightfully pigmented, dark, cool, dusty, muted, blackened blue-purple matte. Though these shades all feel really familiar, African Violet and Black Plum are the only two listed among Laura’s regular single eyeshadows.

Rose Desire and Fresh Peach are both new shades. Rose Desire is a blue (cool) rose pink; Fresh Peach is pinked peach with a few tiny sparkles (which give it a slight sheen).

The collection also features two Creme Cheek Colour blushes ($22). Oleander is actually a repromote from the permanent line. It’s a pigmented cool pink. Innocent Peach is a little more sheer. It’s a light peach-pink, and it’s limited edition.

There are three Sheer Lip Color lipsticks ($20). Baby Lips (repromote from the permanent line) is a warm rose. Kissed Lips (new, limited edition) is coral pink. Nude Lips (repromote from the permanent line) is a warm rose-beige-nude.

Naked Apricot and Tempting Coral are both “Lip Shines,” and I’m not exactly sure how to describe them. Potted glosses? Potted gloss-balms? They’re $22 each, both limited edition. Naked Apricot is very, very sheer peach. Tempting Coral is more pigmented, a red-berry-rose with gold sparkles.

The two cake eyeliners and two Eye Basics cream eyeshadow bases are repromotes (follow the links to revisit their original swatch posts).

Cake eyeliner is a dry “puck” of pressed powder, activated by water or a product like Laura’s Tightline Activator. You wet your brush, then muddle it on the cake until you achieve a paste the consistency of shoe polish. Apply your eyeliner and the cake will dry back to its regular state, ready for the next application. As you probably already know, a new cake eyeliner can be used with either water or Activator, but once you’ve used it with Activator, it won’t work with water again.

Mahogany Brown is dark brown.  Charcoal Grey (neither charcoal nor grey, really) is more like an industrial/nautical blue-grey. Cake eyeliners are $22 (and Tightline Activator is $20).

Eye Basics are $24 each. They are water-resistant, crease-proof, semi-matte eyeshadow bases containing vitamins and something called “Eyebright,” all meant to reduce inflammation. Flax is a manila-folder yellow-beige. Wheat is peach.

There were originally three nail polishes in this collection (including the mint green the model is wearing), but production issues resulted in the polishes being cancelled. My local counter put three other polishes in the display (rather than leaving gaps), but I didn’t swatch them since they’re not really part of the collection.

Spring offers two new Color Design Eyeshadow Quints ($49). Tendresse includes a pale, sheer, pistachio green; a mint-chip/Irish Springs green satin; a blue-green teal satin; a high-shimmer white; and a black with very fine, fairy-green sparkles.

Rose Romance features a shimmery pale white-pink; a low-shimmer peach sherbet; a satin candy rose-pink; a shimmery white-pink peony (slightly more pink than the first shade in this quint); and a shimmery satin dark red-purple-brown.

The collection also includes a limited edition embossed powder, La Roseraie ($42). I swatched the two shades individually with sponge-tipped eyeshadow applicators, then blended them with a triangle sponge (light swatch, then heavy). The flower is a warm, light pink; the “background” is a soft white. This product could be a subtle white-pink highlight, or a soft, sheer, light pink blush (depending on your skintone and how much of the “flower” you use).

There are also two Blush Subtil shades ($30), and “Subtil” is the operative word — these aren’t super loud. 361 Cosmopolitan Pink is a medium pink. 134 Tangerine Tint is a soft, pinked peach/tangerine (and I LOVE it. Of course).

There are three spring lipsticks, and the first is a bit of a mystery. It’s a French Touch Absolu, which means it comes in slightly posher, slightly more compact packaging. It’s also a bit more expensive ($35). The display unit, the Lancome website, and Lancome customer service refer to this shade as 316 Cotton Candy. But the packaging (both the tester and the actual product) say 316 Soft Marshmallow. Weird, but the two names refer to the same color. The lipstick is a warm, sheer, pastel pink (cotton-candy-ish, you might say).

The other two lipsticks are L’Absolu Nu (same formula, “regular” lipstick packaging, $29.50). Sweet Marmalade is a sheer peach-pink (#318 according to the display). Rose Candy is a sheer flamingo/strawberry candy pink (#314 according to the display).

There are three Color Fever Glosses ($26), which felt cushiony and not-at-all-sticky on my arm. 386 Green Petal is a very, very sheer mint green (clear, really) with a mint-scent and a medium number of green sparkles. 387 Tangerine Petal is a warm whitened-pink with pink and gold sparkles. 388 Rose Petal is a pale lilac pink with silver sparkles.

Finally, there are two Le Stylo Waterproof eyeliners ($25.50, mechanical). 600 Blanc is matte white; 502 Green Petal is a sheeny, springy, seafoam green.

You can pick up this collection anywhere, but if you’re planning to order from Lancome-USA.com, use code NEWYEARLAN to receive a four-piece gift with your $45 purchase. Valid through the end of the month.

Eyeshadow trio Douce France (named after a 1942 song by French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet) includes a satin/matte pale white pink with very tiny silver sparkles (it would be matte, but the sparkles give it a satin finish), a warm carnation pink, and a very nicely pigmented matte cranberry. It’s $45, limited edition.

Paramaribo eyeshadow duo (named after the capital of the Republic of Suriname, the smallest independent country in South America and a former Dutch colony. Where are you NOW, Carmen Sandiego?) includes a frosty yellow-lime and a shimmery browned golden olive. The duo is $34, also limited edition.

It’s a good thing Lhasa is permanent, because otherwise I’d expect it to cause a riot. It’s a shimmery grey-purple, $24. The shadow is named after the high-altitude Tibetan city, home to several major Buddhist temples.

There’s a new, permanent Soft Touch Shadow Pencil: sheeny cobalt blue Dark Rite. It’s $24, and NARS recommends wearing it as shadow, as base for powder shadow, or as eyeliner.

The collection also repromotes Larger Than Life eyeliner Abbey Road (peacock blue, $23).

Spring offers three lip choices, all new additions to the permanent line. Bilbao lipstick ($24, named after the city in Spain) is a warm brown-rose with a subtle sheen. It’s not a color I would normally swoon over, but it looks great paired with gloss.  Here’s a photo from a recent NARS makeover: Bilbao lipstick with Greek Holiday lipgloss.

Valparaiso Pure Matte Lipstick ($25, named after the city in Chile) is a red-violet-berry.

Mexican Rose Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil ($24, named after the flower) is a bright, warm, watermelon pink, my favorite color so far of this formula. It’s slightly staining, so color carefully.

There are two nail polishes in the spring collection. Diamond Life is limited edition, a shimmery pansy purple. Ecume (white creme) is a repromote. Both are $18.

There’s also a new, permanent addition to NARS’ blush lineup: cool, whitened, frozen-pink-with-super-tiny-silver-shimmers Gaiety. It’s $28, and I wish I owned the discontinued Chanel Narcisse so I could compare the two.

The collection also repromotes Albatross, the lovely, shimmery, permanent, white/gold highlighter. It’s also $28.

What will you be picking up from this collection?

The Naturally collection is a fantasia on neutrals. MAC periodically revists this genre — their most beloved interpretation was probably 2008′s N Collection.

Naturally’s promo picture reminds me of a passage from Wuthering Heights: “bees humming dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up overhead, and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly.” It’s a quiet collection, but worth your attention.

Starting with the lips, there are four lipsticks ($14.50). A Perfect Day (Amplified Creme) is a muted, dusty, mauvey pink. Beach Sand (Cremesheen) is a warm tan, a rose-beige-brown. I think J.Crew might sell a knitted sweater in just this color. Sweet Sunrise (Lustre) is a pale, warm pink. Pillow Talk (Cremesheen, and a repromote from the Overnight Sensation Lip Bag in Nordstrom’s 2011 Anniversary Collection) is a warm, rosy brown.

There are also four Lipglass lipglosses ($14.50). Wee Coquette (originally released as a mini in 2010′s Tartan Tale and repromoted in MAC Me Over) is a very pale white-pink with silver sparkles. Fresh Air is warm, sheer pink with multicolored sparkles. Naked Space (a repromote from Neo Sci-Fi) is a soft orange with gold multicolored sparkles. Hot Spell is a warm, burned caramel with multicolored sparkles. All of the lipsticks and glosses are limited edition.

There are three new mineralize blushes ($22, limited edition). Subtle Breeze is a cool, candied rose. Fresh Honey is sherbet orange. Early Morning (my favorite) is a tropical red papaya, a sunrise color with a slight sheen.

Here are heavy swatches.

In what I think was a brilliant move, MAC also repromoted two Mineralize Skinfinish powders with this collection. Redhead and Blonde were two fabulous products to come out of a fabulous collection called Blonde, Brunette, Redhead. Redhead is peach with gold shimmer (and is the slightly more sparkly/shimmery of the two); Blonde is warm pink with a silvery sheen. These might be sheer blushes or highlighters, depending on your complexion. They are $28 each.

There are a handful of Mineralize Eyeshadows ($20). Daylight is a shimmery violet. In the Sun is a shimmery tomato with pale gold sparkles. Summer Haze is frosty peach-pink. The aptly named Cloudy Afternoon is a soft, cloudy, shimmery silver-grey. Twilight Falls is a gently sparkly, almost bruisey black-plum.

The collection also repromotes two permanent Eye Pencils ($14). I didn’t swatch Ebony because it’s black, but I thought you might not have seen Coffee. It’s a dark cool brown.

And last but not least, there’s a new brush in the collection. The 286 is $30 and it’s like a duo-fibre 224. It’s a ponytail fluffy blending brush. Black-and-white fibers usually mean a more sheer application of color (for example, the 187 or 188 stippling brushes might be good blush brushes if you have a heavy hand). Speaking of the 187, it’s repromoted in this collection, at its regular price of $42.

First, let me introduce the eyeshadow quad ($57, permanent). Eclosion includes a satin peach-pink, a sheer light beige-pink with tiny gold sparkles, a shimmery-satin rose-sand, and a satin red-purple-brown (lighter, brighter, more red than Magic Night).

The two eyeshadow singles are also a permanent addition to the line ($28.50). Tigerlily is a pale orange with a few tiny gold sparkles. Rose de Mai is a warm matte light pink.

Grenat ($29) is a Stylo Yeux waterproof eyeliner pencil. It’s a sheeny plush red-purple, and another permanent addition to the line.

And then there’s Ombre d’Eau Fluid Iridescent Eyeshadow ($32) in 40 Source. It’s a repromoted shade, a pale, shimmery ballet pink.

For me, the most eye-catching item on the display was the stripey, limited edition Blush Horizon de Chanel ($58). I love patterned blushes, but I’m really bad at “color math,” so I can never guess what blended color they’ll produce until I swatch them. Blush Horizon de Chanel is a pink satin (warm, but unquestionably pink, not peach).

Another limited item in this collection is the Poudre Universelle Compacte (Natural Finish Pressed Powder) in Jasmin ($45). Jasmin is a sheer invisible golden peach beige with tiny golden sparkles. It’s much too subtle to use as a highlighter — instead, use it all over the face for a delicately warming golden glow.

Chanel is not always 100% consistent in its lipstick formulas. The Rouge Cocos, the Rouge Allures — they all have some shades that are sheerer and some that provide fuller coverage. There are five Rouge Coco lipsticks in the collection, and it seemed to me that the four new shades (particularly Superstition and Charme) were somewhat more sheer than the repromote.

Superstition is a muted nude beige-pink with tiny gold sparkles. Chalys (repromoted from last fall) is coral. Paradis is a cool flamingo pink with pink sparkles. Charme is a more muted mauve blue-pink. Destinee is a deeper blue-violet-rose.

There are two new shades of Rouge Coco Shine. Candeur is nearly invisible. It’s a very sheer, very pale baby pink with tiny pink and blue sparkles. Flirt (so pretty!) is a soft, warm guava pink. All seven lipsticks (Rouge Coco and Rouge Coco Shine) are $32 each.

There’s also a new Rouge Coco Shine Baume, which I didn’t swatch, because it’s clear. The balm is $32.50.

And there are two Crayon Levres lipliners ($29): Rose Corail is a sheeny, warm, strawberry-candy pink. Bois de Rose is slightly deeper and ruddier (more red) — and it’s more matte.

There are three Glossimers ($28.50). Bagatelle is Barbie-/bubblegum-pink with gold sparkles (and offers more coverage than the other two options). Petillant is clear with tiny pastel pink and purple sparkles. Bonbon is sheer pale pink with gold shimmer/sparkle.

There are also three nail polishes ($25). April is clearly the awesomest (okay, that’s my birth month). It’s a berry wine creme. May is bubblegum pink. June is the only limited edition shade, a pale peach/orange.

Last but certainly not least, the U.S. exclusive: Rose Topaz Rouge Double Intensite ($34). Rouge Double Intensite is a long-wearing, double-ended lipgloss. The colored end is super long-wearing (and kind of drying), so the clear gloss end keeps your lips feeling comfortable. Rose Topaz is a mauve rose.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any deals or gifts with purchase to tell you about, though NeimanMarcus.com and Nordstrom.com are both offering free shipping. (Use code SHOPNM on NeimanMarcus.com; no code required for Nordstrom.)

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.

The Honourable Daphne Suzannah Diana Joan Guinness (born 1967) is perhaps the world’s best known living heiress. She is famously fond of fashion, friend of the late Isabella Blow and the late Alexander McQueen. She is also muse to Francois Nars (she has been the face of several recent campaigns, and Mr. Nars created an eyeshadow that bears her name).

Anyway, Ms. Guinness’s MAC collection includes an eyeshadow palette (Interior Life, $38), which is cool and pretty, but on the chalky side. Stratus (Matte) is a ghostly marshmallow-pastel-pink. Bruised Sky (Satin) is a dusty purple, deeper and more proper-purple than permanent shade Shale. Interior Life (Veluxe) is a smoky, blued, industrial-grey satin with pretty good pigment. Heather Belles (Satin, repromoted from Tartan Tale) is a chalky, sheer, near-black satin.

There are also three loose pigments ($20). Circa Plum is a repromote (from the Nordstrom-exclusive Colour Forms in 2008 and Rose Romance in 2009). It’s a bruisey, red-purple shimmer/frost. Aurora is a shimmer/frost muted silver-rose-brown. Nebula is my favorite, a satin-with-tiny-sparkles cool, earth-brown taupe.

This collection repromotes two permanent Powerpoint eyeliners (water-resistant, non-mechanical pencils, $15). Engraved is black. Grey Utility is blue-grey.

It also repromotes two permanent Brow Pencils (mechanical, $15): ash-golden Fling and java-dark-brown Stud.

One major source of excitement over this collection is the limited reintroduction of two of the Blush Ombres from 2010′s Spring Forecast collection. These “dip-dyed” blushes feature one color at the top of the pan, fading into a second color at the bottom. Since I did top/bottom/mixed swatches for Spring Forecast, I gave you light and heavy swatches this time.

Azalea Blossom is a cool pink with just a very few tiny sparkles (so it’s not completely matte). Vintage Grape is a red-violet. Both blushes are $26.

There are four limited edition Pro Longwear Lipsticks ($17). Seasoned Plum is artificial-grape. Approaching Storm is a rum-raisin, browned, bricky red. Red Dwarf is cool rose. Warp Speed is a sheer white frost.

There are also three limited nail polishes ($15). Endless Night (what a funny name for a light-colored polish. It’s not at all like NARS’ Endless Night) is a greyed beige-pink with pearly pink shimmer. When I swatched it, I thought of Chanel’s recent Rose Cache, but the two colors are not actually very similar. Hyperion is a polar ice blue creme. Blueblood is a very dark red-purple-brown. I’m dying to compare it to Tom Ford’s infamous Bitter Bitch.

Last but not least, there are four limited edition Cremesheen Glass lipglosses ($18.50). Borealis is a very sheer blue-grey with tiny, invisible orange-rainbow shimmers (I didn’t even notice them ’til I got outside). This color instantly made me think of Chillin’ from In The Groove. Japanese Spring is a pale, cool, cotton candy pink. Narcissus is a vibrant royal-orchid pink-purple. Richly Revered (repromoted from Semi Precious) is a rum-raisin red-rose-brown.

Love it? Hate it? Dying to hear what you think.

The collection includes three new eyeshadows — all limited edition. Pink Pearl is a slightly duochromey satin lilac (slight pink reflect). Crystal Beige is a high-shimmer warm rosy bronze. Deep Garnet is a satin/shimmer near-black red-purple-brown (with tiny red-purple shimmers). These are all Luster formula, each $22.

Orchid Shimmer is a new, limited edition cake liner (wet your brush with either water or Tightline Activator, then muddle the brush on the cake of powder. But once you’ve used Tightline Activator on the product, you cannot use it with water). It’s a nearly black purple, $22.

There are three holiday lipsticks and three holiday Lip Glaces. Evening Pink is new and limited edition, a bright, cool hibiscus-pink. Raspberry Sorbet is new but permanent, a deeper cool rose. Rose is a repromoted permanent shade, a light, warm pink.

The Lip Glaces are lipglosses with a doe’s foot wand and a sort of marshmellow scent. Rose is a repromoted permanent shade, a semi-sheer raspberry-pink (red-pink) with tiny sparkles. Bare Beam is a shimmery pink/brown. Nude Lilac is sheer lilac (purple-pink) with gold sparkles. Each of the six lipcolors is $22.

Of course, the piece of this collection that’s got everyone talking is the Rose Rendezvous highlighter. It’s a shimmery rose-gold beige, embossed with a gorgeous flower pattern. It was $42, limited edition (of course), and it sold out almost immediately. The good news is we have one for sale in the BeautyBloggers.org charity auction — and your winning bid goes straight to Doctors Without Borders.

And finally, there’s a new, limited edition nail polish in the collection. (It’s been a while since Laura put polish in a collection.) Twilight is a shimmery black-purple (red-purple), $18.

The Radiance primer isn’t specifically part of the holiday collection, but it is new. This addition to Laura’s primer lineup has a subtle, golden sheen. It’s $30 for 1.7 oz, the same price as all her other primers.

Arabian Nights is (as you might have surmised from the name) a night-series eyeshadow trio. The shadows are black-based with sparkle, and (in my humble opinion) perform better wet. I actually swatched this palette “backwards” from the way it appears in the compact, because the tester pan was in the unit upside down.

Swatched dry, the shades are sheer black with silver sparkle (I built up the dry swatch, and the black is prone to fallout), black with blue-purple sparkle, and sheer grey-black with a red-purple sparkle that tends to blow away. Swatched wet, the first shade is a charcoal-black with multicolored silver sparkle. The second is still black with blue-purple sparkle. And the third is grey-black with dense red-purple shimmer (the sparkle is smaller in this shade, so it translates into shimmer). The trio is $45, limited edition.

I talked to one of my favorite NARS associates about Arabian Nights. He said it’s his favorite piece of the collection, and lamented that swatching doesn’t really do it justice. I asked him to explain his devotion, and he said the shadows look like gemstones on the lid (which sounds quite lovely).

Ponderosa is a cream eyeshadow single. It’s cool, dark brown with gold shimmer (very pretty!) — $23, and limited edition.

Mandchourie is a powder eyeshadow duo ($33, permanent). It is fascinating: a complex green-grey-blue with shimmery gold tones, paired with a muted, faded, dusty, matte, semi-sheer navy-indigo blue.

There is also a happy assortment of holiday lips and nails. Joyous Red lipstick ($24, limited edition) is not exactly red. It’s a muted (slightly browned) coral/red, bricky on my lips. It’s great for the season, and not too dark for my skintone.

Albatross lipgloss ($24) is also limited edition. It’s a shimmering pale gold.

There are two limited edition nail polishes ($17). Space Odyssey (the color created for Fashion’s Night Out) is a cool silver foil (looks shimmery/slightly gritty but feels smooth). Endless Night is a sheer grape in one coat. The color is so dark that it turns black-plum (really black plum) in two.

And the holiday season introduces two new (and permanent) shades of the Larger Than Life eyeliners. These mechanical eyeliners are absolutely fantastic at staying put — they’re one of the few things I’ll trust on my lower lash line. Campo de Fiori is an antique gold shimmer. St. Marks Place is a low-shimmer bright blue-purple. (Check out the other LTL eyeliner shades here and here. They’re $23 each.)

And finally: the cheeks. Sin (powder blush, $27) is a repromote, a berry-wine with gold shimmer/sparkle. In a heavier swatch, you can see it’s actually pretty purple (red-grape, I’d call it).

Miss Liberty is new but permanent. It’s a “highlighting blush” (a.k.a. not a blush but a highlighter), a sheer peach with very fine silver sparkles. It’s also $27.

And finally, there’s a new Multiple stick (these can be used anywhere: lids, cheeks, or lips). And because “Orgasm” and “Deep Throat” weren’t scandalous enough, it’s called G-Spot. Sensibilities are different in Texas than they are in New York, and mostly I’ve heard G-Spot referred to as “the new one.”

G-Spot is blush-wine with a very subtle gold shimmer (my sales associate didn’t even realize it had shimmer ’til she saw it on my arm). It’s more red than Sin, a berry red. It’s a pretty, ruddy flush for cheeks and lips this winter, I definitely approve. Like all Multiples, G-Spot is $39 (and it’s permanent).

This entire collection is actually up for sale in the BeautyBloggers.org charity auction (and it’s currently going for WAY less than retail).

NARScosmetics.com is also offering free two-day shipping through the end of the year (and today only, they’re adding a free sample of Orgasm Illuminator to any cart).