A simile is a good thing if it isn't overcrowded.

For instance, Mr.Swinburne's similes are laid on too thick sometimes.
There is a verse of his, which, with all my admiration for him, I never could quite fathom.

It is where he earnestly desires to be as 'Any leaf of any tree;' or, failing that, he wouldn't mind becoming 'As bones under the deep, sharp sea.' I tried hard to see the point of that, but couldn't fix it." We all laughed.

Zara, I thought, was especially merry, and looked her loveliest.

She made an excellent hostess, and exerted herself to the utmost to charm--an effort in which she easily succeeded.
The shadow on the face of her brother had not disappeared, and once or twice I noticed that Father Paul looked at him with a certain kindly anxiety.
The dinner approached its end.