Nearly as good as New...

Most proud owners of Christian Louboutin shoes will tell you how much their heart ache when the signature red soles come off as soon as you start wearing the shoes. It almost feels like shaving off the supple lambskin of your hard-earned Chanel purse with a sand paper ie NOT GOOD. Above is a pair of mine which suffered the same tragedy and no one can disagree that it looks rather awful. 

What I did next was rather controversial and would probably make some fellow CL owners horrified. I pretty much gave this pair a face lift. This is how I did it (and I can assure you that, ALL the way as I was doing this, I was pretty much hyperventilating with fear):

I started off by sending the shoes off for a professional heel repair. I then cleaned off any gravel/ grit off the bottom of the soles with a piece of cloth and further sand it down with a fine sand paper. This helped to create a smooth surface to work on.

I often try to think with a bit of logic. Considering the very origins of the signature CL's red sole, I thought: It cannot be crazily wrong for me to repaint the soles with a bright red nail varnish??! (For those of you unaware of the origins of the CL's red soles, the story goes something like this:  In 1992, the shoe designer Christian Louboutin incorporated the red soles into the designs of his shoes. This happened pretty much by accident (or should I say inspiration); as he felt the shoes lack energy or vibrancy, he then applied his assistant's red nail polish to the soles of the shoes. This was such as success, that it became a permanent fixture and a signature)

This is how the soles looked like 12 hours post-paint. I must confess, I still feel a bit uncertain on the outcome. The colour is pretty much a close match but the glossiness of the nail varnish is probably a little more than the original. Regardless, I think it probably looks better than the state it was at.

For those of you who are curious; I used Collection 2000, Lasting Colour (Number 5 Red Engine) which is dead cheap, costing no more than £3 a bottle. Please please, don't try this at home unless you are sure what you are doing. The other thing to note is that if you are planning to repaint your Louboutin soles, you're probably best to match the red colour with your own eyes. There are variations to the Christian Louboutin shoes, including the red soles shades. 

Here is a picture highlighting the variation in red shades of the soles. Both shoes are authentic. The one on the right has a slight orange tinge and the one on the left is a deeper red. These variations (including many other variations of the other features) are present as the CL shoes are manufactured in more than one factory.

So, this is my quick cheap skate fix. Once again, please, please don't do anything you would regret. I may be able to come to terms with destroying my own possession by accident but I won't be able to handle the thought of causing someone to destroy their own. It would be too horrifyingly wicked.