Famaco Motuiti Pink Leather Beauty Cream 385 – 50ml Pale Lilac Cream

Description

Famaco Motuiti Pink Leather Beauty Cream 385 – 50ml Pale Lilac Cream, a pale mauve lilac, fifty millilitres sealed in French glass, gentle pigment for delicate pastel uppers that have gone chalky and grey right at the toe

Second hand shoes arrive in a state that nobody ever warned you about. The listing photograph was taken in kind light and the pair that comes out of the parcel is half a shade tired, with a toe that has clearly been resting against something for a year. On a pastel upper that shows instantly, because pale leather has nowhere to hide a mark like that.

The lid says pink. The jar in front of me does not agree at all. Measured properly, 385 sits high in brightness with a hue landing squarely in the violet range, so what you have here is a soft pale lilac with a mauve lean rather than anything on the red side of pink.

Pale lilac cream, French, fifty millilitres, and the cost is £6.49 a jar.

Why choose this pale lilac shoe cream?

• It is lilac, whatever the label says. I would far rather you knew that before the jar arrives on your doormat. On a rose or blush shoe this reads slightly cool and slightly off, while on a lilac, mauve or soft violet upper it lands exactly where it should. Buying the right pastel matters more than buying the named one.
• Pale creams have to be gentle. A heavily pigmented cream on light leather leaves rims and blotches that are very hard to undo. The pigment load here is deliberately modest, so it evens a pastel upper and lifts the chalky patches without flooding the grain.
• It puts colour back into a greyed toe. Pale shoes do not really fade so much as go grubby over time. The toe collects a dull grey film that survives every cleaning, and a tinted cream is the only thing that resets it, because plain conditioner simply makes the grey look wetter and darker than it was.
• Wax base keeps light leather supple. Beeswax, carnauba and shea butter sit behind the colour. Pastel uppers are usually thin and finished lightly, they crack early when neglected, and a cream that feeds while it tints is doing two jobs on leather that needs both.
• A soft sheen, never a hard gloss. High shine looks wrong on a pastel shoe and makes cheap leather look cheaper still. Brushed up properly this range settles to a gentle glow that flatters a pale upper and keeps the finish looking like leather rather than like a coat of paint.
• The jar will long outlast the shoes. Pale shoes come out for occasions rather than every day, so you will be using this a few times a year at most. Fifty millilitres behind a sealed screw lid stays soft and workable for years on that kind of schedule, which makes it a very cheap habit.

How to use the Famaco Motuiti Pink Leather Beauty Cream 385 – 50ml Pale Lilac Cream

Straightforward enough, but pale leather is completely unforgiving of a heavy hand. Clean it first, use rather less cream than feels right to you, wait for the waxes, then brush gently.

1. Brush the pair down and check for grit.
2. Sponge them over with plain water, then dry.
3. Take a scant pea onto a clean applicator.
4. Spread it very thinly across each panel in turn.
5. Wait two minutes while the waxes go off.
6. Brush lightly with soft horsehair, then look again.

My tip as a shoe specialist

Keep one cloth for pale shades only, mark it clearly with a pen, and store it away with the jar rather than in the drawer with everything else. A lilac as delicate as this one will pick up whatever brown or navy is still hiding inside a shared cloth within a single stroke, and you will not see it until the shoe dries and a grubby smear appears where there was none before. A rubber band around the jar, holding its own folded cloth, solves the problem permanently and costs you nothing at all.

Specifications

At a glance

• Pot size: 50ml glass with lid
• Measured colour: Pale mauve lilac tone
• Shown as: Motuiti Pink 385 pot
• Kind of product: Lightly pigmented cream polish
• Works on: Pastel smooth leather shoes
• Keep off: Suede, nubuck and patent
• Method: Thin cloth coat, soft brush
• Series name: Creme de Beaute, Famaco Paris
• Source and price: French filled, at £6.49

Frequently asked questions

Will 385 work on a blush or rose pink shoe?

It will tint one, but not match it. This shade leans towards violet, so on a warm rose upper it slightly cools the colour. If your shoe is properly pink rather than lilac, look at a warmer code instead.

My pale shoes have grey marks that will not wash off.

That is exactly what this jar handles. A thin tinted coat covers the dull film that ordinary cleaning always leaves behind, though very deep scuffs may need two passes.

Can I use it on white leather to freshen it?

Better not. It will leave a faint lilac cast on a true white. A neutral or white cream is the right choice for a genuinely white shoe.

Where can I buy the Famaco Motuiti Pink Leather Beauty Cream 385 – 50ml Pale Lilac Cream in the UK?

Shoespecialist.co.uk has this waiting for you. Postage is free once your basket goes past £50, orders received by five o’clock on any weekday are sent out immediately, and you may return anything within sixty days.