Black and gold

I dont know if anyone else experiences this, but I tend to go through major colour phases when it comes to my wardrobe.  When I was about 15 that colour was brown: I had brown boots, brown jerseys, brown jacket, brown handbag brown t-shirts etc etc. Then in my last year or two of high-school that colour changed to grey. All my staples went through a colour makeover and grey became my new best friend.

I dont know if its because I'm a bit older now, or maybe it's just the ever-chic Parisiens who have inspired me, but all of a sudden black has completely taken over. I never used to be able to wear it before. Black always felt too depressing or too mature for me, but now it forms the base of all my outfits.

I'm trying hard not to go head to toe black everyday though. (don't want to be mistaken for an emo)

Last sunday, after brunching with some of my au pair friends at pierre herme (supposedly they have the best pain au chocolate in Paris) I passed by a shoe shop with a closing down sale. I found a pair of (no surprise) black oxford flats for a very reasonable 14,99 E and vowed to spruce them up a bit by painting them. I was a bit undecided about what colour I wanted so I did a bit of research and eventually decided on classic gold. Check out some of my très très chic inspiration.

I have seen loads of shoe makeovers on sites like craftgawker and pinterest and although they all look great, none of them are very specific about  which paint to use and wheather or not the look actually lasts. 

So I decided to take a bit of a risk to share with you what I have used and whether or not it works so that you can learn from my example. 

Ok so here is my DIY

What you need: 1 pair of, preferable cheap or old, oxford flats
                        12 washers
                        1 Marabu Brilliant painter (I chose this pen because it says its suitable for most
                       surfaces including plastic and leather so I hope it will work with my 'pleather'
                       shoes.*)

 Step 1: Outline the areas you want to paint.Take your time and be neat. I like the fact that with the pen you don't need to cover the other parts of the shoe to protect them from the paint, like you would have to do if you used spraypaint.

 Step 2: Fill in the areas with the pen. Make sure to always apply the paint in the same direction. Apply 2 coats

Step 3: Apply washers to the lace holes. If you want to you can glue them but it's not really necessary .

And there you go!

         

                                          

* please note that this project is an experiment and I will be updating with information about the paint. Whether it flakes, is water proof etc. so stay tuned before buying your supplies.