Leighton Denny High Performance Nail Colour in Message in a Bottle
Product Review

Leighton Denny — Message In a Bottle (High Performance Nail Colour) Swatch & Review

fivezero23 Comments

Brand: Leighton Denny

Leighton Denny is a brand which I, being in North America, only vaguely recognized. When I recently spotted some of the brand’s polishes at Winners, I somehow recollected that it was a British brand, although I suppose with a name like Leighton Denny, that’s not much of a leap to make!

According to his website, he’s a nail tech to the stars who has worked with celebrities like Kate Moss, Penélope Cruz, and Adele. He’s also an MBE, which is pretty impressive considering he started his career as a humble forklift operator! (OMG, maybe he knows what the Queen wears?!)

Now, the colors available at Winners were not many, and I ended up selecting a taupe shimmer, which seemed to be one of the more unique colors available. I’m guessing that it’s named Message In a Bottle for the Police song, though I suppose that is a common enough phrase that it might not be! (The other shades aren’t all named for songs, à la Deborah Lippmann.)

Message In a Bottle is a warm taupe shimmer that goes on semi-sheer. Against my warm skintone, it reads more light beige-taupe than medium taupe-grey, partly due to the polish’s fine, peachy-pink-gold shimmer. I am actually surprised at how much I like this one, even though I don’t think it’s the most flattering shade on me. The shimmer’s more lively and accentuated in the sunlight, too. I think the polish is named quite well, as it does bring to mind an aged glass bottle nestled in wet sand.

Leighton Denny High Performance Nail Colour in Message in a Bottle, swatch

Application was nice and smooth: no complaints about the formula. Two coats gives semi-sheer coverage, with just a hint of VNL (visible nail line). I feel that the polish is even enough that I could try using one coat as a topper, as well.

The bottle is quite nice, with a good heft and solid construction. The brush is slender, similar to an Essie brush. Overall, this seems like a nice product line, and I’m tempted to head back to Winners to pick up an opaque shade!

Leighton Denny High Performance Nail Colour is 12 mL and retails for £11 (I found mine for CA$4.99). It is free of toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). The label states, perhaps a bit vaguely, that it is made in the EU. The brand is cruelty-free.

23 thoughts on “Leighton Denny — Message In a Bottle (High Performance Nail Colour) Swatch & Review”

    • The formula’s pretty sheer, so I think you’d need about 4 coats to get it fully opaque and closer to the bottle color! It’d probably look really good that way, but I kind of liked it semi-sheer 🙂 Maybe I’ll do a 4-coat swatch, later!

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  2. Ha, I saw these at Winners and thought, hmm I wonder if fivezero bought any of these? 😉
    I like the bottle design a lot – very modern and nice attention to detail with the cap.
    I REALLY like this colour applied, although it looks NOTHING like what it looks in the bottle!
    Did you pick up any other colours?

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    • LOL I am predictable! I haven’t gotten any more yet (I don’t think my nearest Winners has them, so I have to venture farther) but I am kind of keen to. The other color options weren’t phenomenal, though. I guess there was one purple shimmer that might have been interesting.

      Yeah, the bottle and its cap are nice!

      I actually think it looks pretty close to the bottle color, just a lot lighter since it’s sheer. As I mentioned above to Lifestylebites3, I should probably do a second, 4-coat swatch with this at full opacity. 🙂 See if it gets to the bottle shade at all.

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    • Winners is the Canadian version of TJ Maxx – it’s owned by the same company! So if we have it at Winners, chances are you can find it at TJ Maxx/Marshalls in the US, or TK Maxx in the UK/Ireland. 😀 Good luck if you do look for these! I think Leighton Denny is sold at several online stores, too, but they might be UK only.

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  6. Now that song is stuck in my head! Ugh! Only hope can keep me togeether…

    This is a gorgeous colour though, although I certainly wasn’t expecting it to look like that! Seems like an excellent line. ❤

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