Leather Polish Nightmare! Please Help!

Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased a lovely pair of mid tan brogues and I attempted to polish them for the first time this evening.
I was not in possession of a polish light enough in pigment for these shoes, so I tried out a neutral polish (Kiwi).
Here is the result:



The neutral blended in perfectly well with the patinated toe of the shoe, but when I applied it to the vamp of the shoe the leather turned as dark there as the leather on the toe of the show, which is why I didn't notice any colour change when I first started polishing! I tried to use nail varnish remover to remove the polish, but it turned even darker and now the shoes look awful! I'd be so grateful if you could advise me as to where I went wrong/what caused this terrible darkening, and if there's anything I can do to lighten or camouflage it (it wouldn't have bothered me as much if it had been somewhere I could have worked it into an appropriate patina, but it's just so clearly wrong!)

Thanks for your help!

hahahahhahaha. nail varnish remover? where do people get these ideas?

From what seemed like a fairly reputable shoemakers blog!

noap, you aren't going to lighten the color of the nail polish remover muck up.
I had a similar experience with a pair of ASEx which had a flawed finish on the toe right outta the box.
I could live with it if both shoes were the same but they aren't.

You're most likely looking at darkening the areas in question or spending a handful of cash attempting
to have them stripped and redyed. Even then the result will be suspect.

Next time try some Glen Karen cleaner / conditioner. It seems to remove some of the color but is much easier
to build a finish on after they're cleaned & is aeons better than the Saphir product for the purpose.

Okay so I'll darken the whole shoe... Thanks for the advice!

darken in small steps. don't try to do it all at once