A-England Let Me In
Let Me In was released in late September this year by British
bijoux polish maker A-England as part of the To Emily Bronte collection,
a series of polishes inspired by Bronte's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. This polish recalls one of the most gothic and famous scenes in the novel, where a visitor is obliged by inclimate weather to stay the night at Wuthering Heights and is given Catherine's former room as his bedchamber. After browsing through Catherine's childhood diaries, he dozes off but is later wakened by what he believes to be the branch of a tree scratching a windowpane. Intent upon stopping the sound, he struggles with the window...
I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an
arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers
closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of
nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung
to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, 'Let me in—let me in!' 'Who
are you?' I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself.
'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of Linton? I had read Earnshaw
twenty times for Linton) 'I'm come home: I'd lost my way on the moor!'
As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the
window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking
the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed
it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still
it wailed, 'Let me in!' and maintained its tenacious grip, almost
maddening me with fear. 'How can I!' I said at length. 'Let me
go, if you want me to let you in!' The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine
through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it,
and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep
them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened
again, there was the doleful cry moaning on! 'Begone!' I shouted. 'I'll
never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.' 'It is twenty
years,' mourned the voice: 'twenty years. I've been a waif for twenty
years!' Thereat began a feeble scratching outside,
and the pile of books moved as if thrust forward. I tried to jump up; but
could not stir a limb; and so yelled aloud, in a frenzy of fright.
Fun times, bring a date... NOT.
Creator Adina describes Let Me In as a "dark berry red holo, full of depth and passion." It's a deep creamy wine-color, dark red with undertones of purple. It bears abundant medium-sized holographic particles, which give the polish that analogously-colored Pointillist speckling I love so much in scattered holos as well as a warm dimensional glow where the light strikes it, which intensifies in direct sun.
Application was very A-England, which is to say: fantastic. The consistency of Let Me In is fluid, creamy and full-bodied with a lush, self-leveling glide over the nail. It goes right where you put it and stays there with no inclination to flood or pool. Pigmentation is outstanding, with opaque coverage in one coat, although I used two. With any holo, scattered or linear, I think that two coats maximizes holographic effects and gives the polish more dimensionality and depth, even if it's evenly opaque in one. Cleanup should be done with care, as it can produce significant pigment travel that is difficult to remove completely. Let Me In dries naturally in very good time to a smooth shiny finish.
Photos show two coats of Let Me In over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. We had mostly overcast skies here today with rare moments of weak sun, which prevented me from capturing the full holographic properties of this polish, but I think you can still get an idea of their potential.
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With its buttery formula, rich velvety color and subtle but breathtakingly beautiful holographic effects, Let Me In is fully of the caliber that has won A-England its loyal, enthusiastic following over the years. The exquisite bloom of dimensionality is all the more dramatic for being understated, and will delight you again and again as you catch sight of it on your nails. From the reviews I've read of it, I believe that Let Me In is the popular favorite of this collection. I think you can see why.
love,
Liz
That is so gorgeous! I can see why it is a big favorite.
ReplyDeleteYikes, that novel! I could never get into enjoying it. To me, it was/is unrelentingly grim. I remember thinking what stupid, weak people the characters were, with their bitternesses, hatreds, greed, and cruelty. I have never understood the persistent popularity of this book, which had next to no redeeming value (in my opinion). Novels with such a motherlode of narcissistic characters portrayed usually end up tipped into the dustbin here!
Like many Victorian novels I love, I think the beauty of Wuthering Heights is the author's ability to articulate the workings of the human mind (which can also be unrelentingly grim). The story is steeped in the gothic tradition, but its overarching themes of revenge and unrequited love over time and even space are amazing, as are her descriptions of the natural beauty of the moors. Keep in mind that Bronte wrote this book in her twenties.
DeleteBut you're right, of course. It's a dark, twisted tale.
I was in my teens when I read this book and, at the time, my life was pretty grim. To try to make sense of things, I was studying logic and reason. LOL, well, I WAS in my teens! I eventually switched over to reading about the various mental illnesses manifested in an irrational mind. As a relief from the grimness, I would have liked my fictional reading to be more light-hearted, but there did not seem to be too many carefree novels. All of them, especially the 'book report' books, seemed to have tremendous suffering, pain, cruelty, and death in them. I guess there was a lesson to be learned in them but I came away from them mostly depressed, even when the ending was positive. Hahah, I still get very aggravated with books that have plots of misunderstandings between characters that could have been done away with a little courage and straight-forwardness.
DeleteBeing a Plus60, I tend to forget how a teenage-to-twenties mind makes everything seem so important and life shattering. I do know that it's just that stage of the brain's growth. At my brain's current state of being , heheheh, it is Way too easy to slip into being a Grumpy Ol' Woman!
Lara, have you every read any of Lee Smith's novels? For a brief time in my thirties, I collected modern Southern fiction and regardless of the ultimate outcome of the story it always seemed to be surrounded by humorous observations of how people go about their business that to me is closer to the way real life truly unfolds. Lee Smith is one of my favorite Southern story tellers -- I savored every one of her books and her writing is a delight!
DeleteI totally agree with you about the "book report" kind of book. I vividly remember reading Ellison's The Invisible Man and Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front in high school. Brrrr!
Here's to the wisdom of Grumpy Ol' Women, salud!
Outside of a few authors such as John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany is still one of my top 5 favorite books), I mainly read mystery novels, Agatha Christie still being a fav. I used to enjoy science fiction but it has mainly devolved into fantasy - lol, I do miss Isaac Asimov!
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