Leighton Denny Vamp

Described as "rouge-noir, deepest red cream", Leighton Denny Vamp is a recent addition to my lacquer stash. I picked this up for a song as a freebie with Red magazine in London. Leighton Denny polishes usually retail for £11 for 12ml and are made in the UK.

On the first coat, Vamp looked more like a reddish berry but with the second and third coats, it becomes more darkened like how it appears in the bottle. I needed three coats to achieve the desired intense finish evenly but at least the formula does apply quite smoothly. I sealed it with Dior Top Coat.

Vamp plays quite well against my skin tone but the magpie in me decided to experiment by layering other shades.


Max Factor Fantasy Fire adds an even layer of micro-fine shimmer.

Nicole by OPI Top of My World shows up as a sprinkling of fine blue glitter.

City That Never Sleeps from Essence Colour 3 Nail Polish 01 Midnight Date adds irregularly shaped green flakes and micro-shimmer.

Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper 08 Night In Vegas contains irregularly shaped holographic flakies that shift from red to orange to green.

The yellow side of Essence Colour 3 Nail Polish 01 It's Two Bright (from the Season of Extremes collection) gives it a rich, shimmery finish and greater depth with larger shimmer particles than Fantasy Fire.