Tarrago Whiskey Shoe Cream 110 – 50ml Warm Brown Shoe Cream

Description

Tarrago Whiskey Shoe Cream 110 – 50ml Warm Brown Shoe Cream – a rust brown with red beneath it, 50ml, matched to smooth brown boots, for the pair you paid off in instalments

Some shoes get bought in stages. You spread the cost over a few months, you feel faintly guilty about it every time the payment goes out, and by the time the last one clears the pair has stopped being an extravagance and become the boots you reach for. Warm brown boots are bought that way more than any other kind, because the good ones cost real money and everybody knows it.

Shade 110 is Whiskey, spelled without the middle letter on the jar label itself, and it is a warm rust brown with a distinct red bias underneath. It is deeper than a tan and lighter than a chestnut, which puts it exactly where most mid brown boot leather sits once it has seen a couple of winters.

Fifty millilitres of soft wax cream, £5.99, and one pot of it lasts and lasts.

Why choose the tarrago whiskey shoe cream 110 50ml?

• Brown boots go patchy at the toe before anywhere else. The toe cap takes the rain, the kerb and the trouser hem, and on a warm brown it lightens into a pale scuffed band while the rest stays rich. Pigmented cream levels that band back into the surrounding colour, which is what makes a tired boot look right.
• The red bias is what makes it match real boots. Most mid brown creams are too yellow, and applied to a boot with warmth in it they leave the leather looking flat and faintly orange. This shade carries red rather than yellow underneath, which is how the popular boot leathers are actually dyed.
• Boots need feeding more than shoes do. There is more leather, it flexes further at the ankle, and it spends more of its life wet. Carnauba and beeswax going into the fibre keeps the flex point at the instep from hardening, and that is where a boot almost always fails first.
• Water marks and tide lines blend away. A soaked boot dries with a pale ring where the water stopped, and no amount of brushing removes it. Cream carrying pigment fills the grain across the ring and either side of it, so the line stops existing rather than merely being made fainter.
• It builds a shine that suits country leather. This is not a mirror finish and should not be. Carnauba buffed up on a brown boot gives a low steady lustre that looks like leather rather than plastic, and it deepens each time you do it rather than building into a brittle layer.
• A plain jar with no extras thrown in. Glass you can see through, a screwed dark cap bearing the figure, and the tone repeated across the wrapper for several markets. Nothing rides along inside, so a stiff brush and cotton want laying out first.

How to use the tarrago whiskey shoe cream 110 50ml

Boots take more cream than shoes and more patience with it. Do the whole boot rather than only the scuffed parts, or you will trade one uneven patch for another.

1. Unlace the boots fully and open them right out.
2. Brush hard, then clean with a damp cloth and let dry.
3. Work cream over the whole upper, not just the toe.
4. Push it right into the instep flex and around the heel.
5. Rest the pair for a good twenty minutes somewhere warm.
6. Brush up, then finish with a rag for the shine.

My tip as a shoe specialist

Treat the tongue and the inside of the facings, which nobody ever does. On a boot those panels flex as hard as anything on the outside and they get no polish, no brushing and no daylight, so they dry out first and split while the visible leather still looks excellent. Once the tongue cracks the boot is finished, because it is not a repairable panel on most constructions. Unlace all the way down, lay the facings flat and give both a thin coat every time you do the outside. It costs thirty seconds and often decides whether a good pair lasts five years or fifteen.

Specifications

Product details

• Brown supplied: Whiskey, code 110
• Numbered: 110 among the browns
• Pack: 50ml glass pot
• Waxes: Beeswax with carnauba
• Correct for: Smooth brown leather and boots
• Tone reached: A warm rust brown
• Use it: Monthly right through the winter
• Behind it: Tarrago of Barcelona, since 1940
• Sum: £5.99 a jar

Frequently asked questions

Why are there two spellings?

The jar label and our listing differ by one letter, and it is the same shade 110 either way. What matters is the tone rather than the spelling: a warm rust brown with red underneath rather than a yellow toned tan.

Will it work on tan boots?

It will, and it deepens them. On a light tan expect a richer, redder result rather than a like for like refresh, so try a dab at the back of the counter before committing to the whole pair.

Does it help with waterproofing?

It helps a little, because wax fills the grain and sheds a light shower. It is no substitute for a proper protector spray before genuinely wet weather, so use both if you walk in the rain.

Where can I buy the tarrago whiskey shoe cream 110 50ml in the UK?

You will find it at Shoespecialist.co.uk. Anything sent through ahead of five on a weekday afternoon is packed that day, go past £50 and we absorb the postage, and should it not suit, sixty days covers a return.