A-England Incense Burner

Incense Burner was released in May this year by British indie polish maker A-England as part of the Rossetti's Goddess collection, a quartet of polishes inspired by the life and works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Most specifically and importantly for the collection and this polish in particular is the influence of Rossetti's 1874 oil painting, Proserpine. 

Proserpine, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1874)

Creator Adina describes Incense Burner as a "velvety, mysterious and hypnotic dark plum with the chromatic diversity of brown, green, mauve reflections of an antique bronze vessel." This polish has a very deep well-saturated aubergine base bearing superabundant ultrafine multichromatic particulate shimmers with a gold/green/burgundy color shift. The shifting colors of the shimmers imbue the sumptuous plummy base with varying hues of golden brown, olive green and deep claret depending upon the circumstances in which it's viewed, and create a scintillating sparkle across the nail in direct light. It's one of Adina's most complex, exquisitely constructed polishes that I have experienced, and it's fabulous.

Application was equally fabulous. Incense Burner's formula is on par with A-England's consistently high standards. The consistency is fluid, dense and very smooth, with a plush glide over the nail and outstanding self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also outstanding, with wearable opacity in one generous coat or two thinner ones. I used two for this manicure. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with very little pigment travel for such a saturated color and no residual staining. Incense Burner dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, satiny finish. Topcoat enhances the presence and effects of the shimmers. 

Photos show two coats of Incense Burner over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite, fairly free of bubbles today, hooray!

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

A-England Incense Burner

In Rossetti's Proserpine painting, the incense burner is in the lower left corner. Rossetti wrote that it stands beside Proserpine as "the attribute of a goddess." In this polish, Adina has created a metaphorical divine attribute that elusive and ever-changing. Swampy green and blackened berry trade places at will, with a shimmering bronzey brown mediating between them. Misty veils of glistening shimmers rise from the inscrutable aubergine depths like trailing vapors of smoke along the axis of light. Who knows what mysteries lie within, if not you? 

Entirely fitting for a deity of the underworld, I think. And for you as well! You can find it at any of A-England's online distributors worldwide, a list of whom is available here.

love,
Liz