Leather & Olive Oil

Two of my favorite things, and now even better together!

I recently bought a pair of custom made sandals from this cool local shop where a guy fits your foot to a sole and then literally builds the sandal of your choice around your foot.  He made each strap fit perfectly around my foot, and then made a hole exactly where I need it for the ankle straps and trimmed off the excess.  Wish I could do that for all my sandals.

The sandals all come in raw leather, but he told me that if I wanted them to be darker, I could simply paint them with olive oil.  Did you guys know about that?  I thought it was a pretty cool trick.

Here's my before and after.  The left sandal is the original, the one on the right has 2 coats of EVOO.  (do I owe Rachael Ray money for saying that?)

It's subtle, but a bit more noticeable in person.  I plan on doing at least 2 more coats (on both shoes this time).  I love that it's all-natural, leaves the leather nice and supple, and doesn't smell like a salad at all.  Promise.  (and no, Susan, it doesn't make them skinned-knee-inducing-slippery either)

You can use this little trick on any raw leather if you want to deepen the color a bit.  It might not work as well on leather that has been treated with paint or a sealant, but you could always try and let me know!