The Rice University Neologisms Database

like a vampire, with a sexy connotation The magazine used the word because they wanted to say the nails and lips were blood red and therefore, inspired by vampires. They clipped the word because they wanted to make it clear that this sense is sexy and therefore distinct from the connotations of pale undead men sleeping in coffins. Vampy is also shorter and therefore more modern and modern-sounding for a modern magazine. The word works especially well in this article, because the article is about how to dress to be a bold flirt. The word is a metaphorical shift. In this article the "victims" are not really victims but objects of desire and all the work is also going on at night.