Polishing Brown Brogues With Black Polish?

[Beardogg]

How do I get the darker toe cap effect on a pair of brown shoes?

like this

[William Colman]

build it up with dark brown polish, or as you say in the title, do it with black, just build it up slowly, don't go throwing loads on it all at once.

[Beardogg]

do I polish the whole shoe? but layer the toe cap? would a dark brown look better?

these are the shoes in question... would they even work polished?

[William Colman]

hmmmm, They're obviously well used shoes; I'm not entirely sure how much of a difference it would make; you will probably find a serious polish drastically changes the whole look of the shoes, even if it's just a dark brown polish up.

I would suggest you give them a good polish up with dark brown to see how they look first. The examples you have shown work because they are high shine shoes and the contrast is quite bold, the shine brings out the contrast. In your case, using a black would be the best option as it will create the much darker contrast, it just won't be quite as bold as the examples. It could still work though; it would create an interesting colour blend.

Give the whole shoe a polish with dark brown to create the shine then layer the black onto the toe cap, but do it in very thin layers and build it up gradually, let the polish absorb into the leather after each layer (preferably about 24 hours), then you know exactly how much the polish has darkened it.

[Beardogg]

Thanks, you say we'll worn but Ive worn them no more than 10 times lol. they were from next in the summer... But I don't think they do them anymore

[William Colman]

my mistake, don't worry about the shine too much then, that will just make them look odd, just stick to layering up the black slowly.

[Beardogg]

Well, here's the finished article, i'm very pleased with the results

[Alex]

That's quite a transformation! Nice one!

[William Colman]

They're looking good! how much black polish have you used so far?

[Pin Money]

No way, they look so much better for that

Fair play