Signature Leather Darkening Oil, Hydrophane, Horse Leather Care, 500ml

I used this to darken my saddle and I'm very happy with it. The liquid is clear and it darkens the leather as it dries. I only needed to apply one coat. First picture is before, second is right after application, third is it drying for approximately five minutes.

Checking in December 15, 2022: Who knew the chair & ottoman would need to carry me through a Pandemic :-O ... Spent a lot more time there than I did in the Before Times, yet the color has remained rich and gorgeous. I touch up maybe twice a year, but otherwise all good to go.Update May 15, 2018: Still so glad I found this oil! Fantastic staying power, for a chair I use every day. At first it tended to transfer trace bits of oil to paper laid on it, but not any longer, yet the color remains a gorgeous rich brown (was originally caramel).Amazing results, seriously. Prior to this, I'd used another oil I got here on Amazon, but it turned out blotchy and ultimately didn't deepen the color enough to hide random little stains. Then I found the Hydrophane oil, and you can see the effect I got. The 'before' color of the chair is caramel, and the 'after' color is shown on the ottoman, a rich coffee shade. This pic was taken three days after I applied it, and there's been no lightening in the color. It now behaves like a true oiled leather club chair, where you can scratch it and then rub the scratch away with just a fingertip. I remember pricing one of those type chairs at Crate & Barrel back in the day, and it was just way too pricey for the oiled leather. Now I have it!A few notes on my experience with the product, and a major caution:1. How much it took to do the job: It took a whole canister to do just my ottoman—approximately 2-3 coats—and eventually took a total of *five* of the 500 ml canisters to complete the chair & ottoman! This was necessary partly because I had to rub quite a bit to get past whatever glaze was on the leather. Hindsight tells me I probably could've prepped the surface better by de-glazing it somehow, but not sure that would've been any cheaper once that separate product was added to the total. Another factor was that I was making a dramatic color shift, and going from caramel to coffee takes a lot of product. You might not need anywhere near that much to do a similar sized project that doesn't need much (or any) color shift.2. Best application tool: I worked with the cheap sponge paintbrushes, and the cheap bristle brushes from the hardware store. Both had uses, but I found that totally removing the thick sponge end and just tossing the handle worked the fastest to distribute the oil. Use something like a chunk of dense foam, like old cushion foam, which allows for fast distribution. Wear gloves if you like, but I didn't. And definitely put something like a plastic tarp underneath the item as you work, because it's quite prone to dripping.3. One notable side effect: The oil can indeed 'come up' even weeks later. In fact this may be a permanent issue. I first noticed it when I set a piece of white paper on the ottoman, with a book resting on top. When I retrieved the book awhile later, the paper was mottled all over with oil spots that had absorbed up into it. This was two weeks after I'd applied the oil. The same proved true of the seat and arms of the chair. So, just be warned and test this for yourself. The rising oil may or may not depend on how much of the oil you applied, and what type of leather it is. I've now started doing a good cleaning every week, using diluted Dawn detergent and warm water, to keep the immediate surface mostly free of leeching oil—at least temporarily—and when I'm going to be sitting for awhile I lay a washable cotton throw blanket over it first, to avoid even light oil transfer into my clothing. When my bare legs rest on the ottoman, there is definite residue transfer onto my skin, so avoid putting bare feet on oiled leather to avoid transferring residue onto your carpeted surfaces. Even being careful, I suspect this will prompt more frequent spot cleaning of my cream-colored area rug using my mini Bissell carpet cleaner.So, just that one major caution. Oil never really 'dries', it only seeps in, and can indeed seep back up when pressure is applied. It won't necessarily show as 'oily' when you press the leather, but if you do the white paper test, with something heavy on top of the paper for an hour or so, you'll know whether or not this is an issue for you.Even though this very deep shade wasn't my original intention, I love it—the leather now goes incredibly well with my dark brown bookcases. Plus, no more worries about little oil spots that will inevitably come along, since it's now fully oiled.

Worth the buy if you want a nice even shade or two darker than what you have! Nice consistency, easy to use and doesn’t make a mess. Highly recommend!

Works, but it is not as effective as I had hoped for. It might work slightly better than Neatsfoot oil. Maybe it's just me, but I was hoping for better results.

This oil is amazing!!!I thrifted this leather bag, the condition of the leather is really good with the exception of some stains that I couldn’t get rid off with cleaning, so I got this oil and give it a shot, glad I did!!!! The bag looks amazing!!!! Almost like Brand new!!!! And I said almost because me and my lack of care I used tape around the parts where I didn’t want the oil to stain and when I removed it, it also remove some color from the leather 😩, but otherwise looks amazing!!! 100% recommend it!!!

We recently acquired a restoration hardware Italian brompton leather couch and really didn't want to spend restoration hardware money on an ottoman (let alone 2) so we got these small ottomans online and the color came a bit lighter than expected. I found this product and wow, am I impressed. The color isn't perfect but it's close enough that I'm really happy with the results.... This specific color took about 5-6 full coats but well worth it

I wanted this for a pair of cow skin boots that were sort of blonde color. The product did darken somewhat, after multiple applications over numerous days, but I probably would have achieved the same darkening effect with neatsfoot oil. Could have just been my leather. Give it a try. Hopefully it will work better for you.

You tell me???? I have tried everything til this product!!! 20 year old perfect leather left in a sun room bleached out to some buttercream looking color is now being restored and put into my living room and looks like a new $10,000 set of full grain leather! Great job on making such a product. I’m on my 9th can and still going but I know what I have when I’m done!!!!