Brown polish on black shoes OK?

April 26, 2012 6:03 AM

OK to use brown cream shoe polish on black shoes?

It's an emergency, I need polished shoes and don't have time to buy black polish. I have this brown polish. It's slightly lighter in real life than in the photo. Will it be OK to use once? My black shoes are low quality and I don't care about maintaining them long-term. I just want them to be shiny now.

posted by scose to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

I dunno. But you can polish your shoes with a banana peel, if you have a banana hanging around.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:20 AM on April 26, 2012

I was just about to say what Admiral Haddock said. I used banana peels on my black bullhide boots for years and got compliments on 'em.
posted by notsnot at 6:22 AM on April 26, 2012

No, because it will look like you polished your shoes with the wrong color polish.

Next time you get the chance, get some black polish *and* some neutral polish, and a brush each.
posted by tel3path at 6:58 AM on April 26, 2012

You can also use Chapstick or any other lip balm that has carnauba wax in its ingredients if you need a quick shoe polish solution.
posted by cazoo at 7:07 AM on April 26, 2012

Please do the banana peel and report back, with photos! Seems like a neat trick! Remember to rub down your shoes beforehand to remove any dust, stray dirt.
posted by amanda at 7:32 AM on April 26, 2012

Brown polish appears as red highlights. Don't do this.
posted by scruss at 9:44 AM on April 26, 2012

Banana peel.

The opposite approach -- black polish on brown shoes -- can sometimes work well for decent brown shoes where you want that kind of patina.
posted by holgate at 12:38 PM on April 26, 2012