A-England Heathcliff

Heathcliff was released in late September this year by UK boutique polish maker A-England as part of the To Emily Bronte collection for winter 2015. This five-polish collection is an homage to Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights, published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Bronte died of tuberculosis the following year at age 30. 

Heathcliff was inspired by and named for the main character in Wuthering Heights, and if you've read the book or are otherwise familiar with the story, it will come as no surprise that this is a black-based polish. It has a black-tinted jelly base bearing abundant silver microglitters as well as tiny metallic hex glitters in blue and red, and is suited to wearing either as a topper over a black creme or alone as a full-coverage glitter. I chose to wear it alone layered over itself to opacity. As such, the base, being translucent, is not pure black as it appears in the bottle but rather a deep graphite or charcoal color. The translucence gives it an illusory sheen, which I quite like, and permits plenty of light to reach and reflect off of the glitters, giving the polish a dynamic scintillating sparkle.

I'm sure I would have found application difficult had I not added several substantial squirts of polish thinner. The consistency of Heathcliff was on the viscous side, dense with components and a bit sticky. Once thinned, it became nicely fluid and easy to work with and I would recommend thinning if you're at all put off by thicker formulas. Pigmentation is quite sheer with the first coat but builds easily to wearably opaque coverage after the second. For full bottle color, you'd need a third coat but I left it at two to avoid the extra bulk. I did my cleanup as I went along while the polish was still wet and had no problems ostensibly, although you will see some rogue glitters roaming free over my nail environs. Heathcliff dries naturally in good time to a textured finish. I used a layer of Pretty Serious Plump Up the Volume Gel Effect topcoat to smooth out the surface and once that had set up and partially dried I added a topcoat of Seche Vite for a glassy finish. 

Photos show two coats of Heathcliff over treatment and basecoat with a layer of Plump Up the Volume followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite. 

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

 

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

A-England Heathcliff

No other A-England polish that I know of has glitters in it, which makes Heathcliff something of a departure for creator Adina and speaks to the singular sort of inspiration the Wuthering Heights character must have been for her. I'm torn about this polish. There's a dichotomy to its nature that is difficult to reconcile, that being its representation of the character of Heathcliff versus its native qualities as a nail lacquer. 

As a nail lacquer, it brings to mind a kind of retro dressiness. The sparkle reminds me very specifically of the glamour of old Hollywood and black pumps covered in glittery fabric. In this sense it has a refined quality that just doesn't mesh with what I know of the character in the novel. Hmm.

The jury's still out on this one, folks.

love,
Liz