What color are these shoes?

[drew2]

I picked up these pair of longwings off of eBay and would like to use some colored polish/creme on them. I asked AE what they would suggest, and maybe because they aren't AE shoes, they recommended neutral instead of advising a particular brown color.





Here is AE's premium polish choices: Brown-tone polish colors ranked from light to dark: Cognac, Chestnut, Walnut, Chili, Saddle, Mocha, Dark Brown. Having seen some of those colors in person, I can tell you that it's not: Walnut, Chili, or Dark Brown.


I'm not married to using AE polish either, so here's the Meltonian cream chart: http://www.meltonian.com/meltonian-cream-color-chart.html


I'm new to the shoe polishing game, so I don't know how much it will darken if I use a darker color, nor what effect it would have if I used a lighter polish than the actual color, or if neutral polish is the way to go.


Thanks.

[jason_carreira]

I'd say chili in the AE, but I doubt it will change the color much at all with that kind of leather

[drew2]

@Jason: Woops, I edited my post, I meant to say:

<blockquote>I can tell you it's not: Walnut, Chili, or Dark Brown.</blockquote>


I accidentally wrote Chestnut.


Over time, does pebble grain leather react to colored polish differently than non-pebbled leather?

[alan]

Judging by how dark the broguing is, it looks like there's a lot of dark polish stuck in it. This makes me wonder if the color we're looking at is the actual color or if the real color is hidden underneath some darker polish. I think the first step should be cleaning it to be sure.


BTW, how very conscientious of you to white balance the picture before posting it. :-)

[alan]

EDIT: double post

[Acousticfoodie]

It's walnut pebble grain. It's a little darker than normal because the previous owner was more liberal with his polish. Here's a picture of my Allen Edmonds from black, brown, chill and walnut: It looks like walnut the most.

[drew2]

Here are the pictures that were used in the listing:





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@Alan: In my photo, I've already cleaned and conditioned the shoes with Lexol cleaner and conditioner. I toothbrushed the brogueing as best as I could, but being the first time I've done it, I don't know if I'm just not doing a good enough of a job. It's tough getting those little holes clean. I'll admit that maybe I over-conditioned it and hence it's darker because of it? I did three light applications of Lexol massaged in by hand around 8 hours apart to dry. This was all last week but the I took the picture last night.


The shoes were old, reported to be from the 80s and they smelled like they had been sitting unused in a closet for years. I had no idea when the last time they had been cared for and I had a huge 16oz spray bottle of Lexol conditioner so I thought what the heck, maybe it's thirsty so I'll be liberal with it. It's definitely more soft and supple than when I first got it .


Regarding the grey card, I was bouncing light off of a tan colored wall so I wanted to make sure an incorrect white balance wouldn't warm up the color more than it really is.

[OnlyShawn]

Green! No, blue?

[alan]

It's like wearing footballs on your feet. I love it!

[jicarv]

Those look like Walnut MacNeils.

[JEH]

@Acoustic - Incredibly jealous of your collection, there. I recently picked up the Strand in Walnut... amazing the quality on these things.

[MaxMan]

ITS walnut pebble grain, i have a pair of longwings that look very similiar...i have a few pics in the WIWT thread