i bought the charming garnet set yesterday.. love it! As a fairly recent MAC convert, I think the kit is wonderful. It's the 181se brush that did it for me b/c the regular 181 is actually 30 dollars. I figure if you bought everything in the bag at regular size you'd be pushing close to $100 if not more.
I also bought the brush set (again a newbie)...However, i bought it like 2 months ago in the hard canister. According to the MA, there was a mixup in the shipments. I personally prefer the hard canister b/c I use both ends to store brushes, tools (eyelash curlers, tweezers etc), and makeup essentials.
Both are a goody buy esp. if you're just starting to build a collection.