I recently took the plunge and bought my first pair of hand-painted shoes on an Italian last at Lodger. Due to the beautiful, deep patina, I assumed that a neutral polish would be the best choice. To keep the painstaking efforts into painting the shoes visible to the world, right?
Wrong. Luckily I had aired my views to store manager Clement. He explained to me that this is a common misconception and that using neutral polish can actually damage hand painted shoes.
The best way to demonstrate this would be to use the polish on a brand new pair. The effect would be small, but the sylvette would be coloured by the process. Every time you polish hand-painted shoes, a little bit of the paint is removed. Granted, you will get a wonderful shine, but over time the shoes will appear less vibrant in colour.
The shoes I had opted for were rosso diablo whole cuts. So I immediately asked for a dark red or cherry polish to accompany the shoes. Wrong again. Clement helpfully explained that a dark brown would be best to bring out the patina of the shoes. It is easy to forget that the layers of polish are so thin that they very subtly add to the colour of the shoe.
The colour of the slab of polish in the tin doesn’t necessarily have to match the colour of the leather perfectly. I guess I should have re-read my article on colour theory before going into the store…
I have since spoken to friends who swear by neutral polish for their shoes. I get the impression that this was more out of laziness than choice – one tin for all their shoes. One guy gave me an honest critique. He said that neutral polish does seem to “dry out” quicker on some of his shoes and that he has to apply quite a lot of water and extra polish.
He also noted that neutral polish dries white in the small cracks and folds on his shoes. It also collects in the broguing. I am going to buy some to see if this is the case and investigate which leathers neutral polish is more likely to dry out.
But something tells me I will be sticking to multiple tins of coloured polishes and creams regardless. Even if I could use the space they take up in my new apartment. (Yes, it is THAT small…)
Clement recommended me to use blue and black (black for the toe) polish every third time I polish my rosso diablo wholecuts, and neutral polish for the times in between. It has worked perfectly, with the colour becoming deeper and more mature for every time I polish them.