Rejuventating, Repairing or Restoring Your Balenciaga

Long post ahead!

Hi there! First off, this actually doesn't seem so bad! The cracks seem characteristic of the leather, though they've likely had some dirt build up in them. And the color is maybe slightly worn off in some places. A good cleaning would likely help, maybe with some kind of cleanser that foams that could get in some of those cracks (warning, it'll likely look worse before it looks better).

If cleaning still doesn't bring it to a level you want... a yellow like this is tough because it's a light, fairly opaque color in terms of how it sits on the leather (if that makes sense!). Any penetrative dyes won't help to restore this, they'd only change the color completely. 99% of the time I like to recommend creams [Tarrago, Saphir], but because of the opaque/surface-ness of this color (again, if that makes sense, lol) I'm not entirely sure they'd do what you're looking to do. If you did try a cream, you'd likely have to start with a white then add in yellow(s) until you got a matching shade... and even then if there was still darkening on the piping post-cleaning, that would likely not change much with cream.

As for paint - I'm usually super hesitant with paint on Bals BUT because of the characteristics of this particular color it might make sense as an option. My personal opinion w/ paint on any bag is that unless it's matched and blended well (i.e. applied sparingly in places vs blanket coating the whole bag), it might be better to avoid. If you painted the whole bag you'd end up coating the threading, which is pretty impossible to come back from. And a painted bag is, well, a painted bag.

That said, should you be determined to intervene with paint, below is what I'd recommend. I know it's not Balenciaga, but I touched up a Dior bag of mine last year that had a similar opaque surface color (in a light pink - I'll add pics at the end), and these are basically the steps I took. Disclaimer: I'm an artist so I was pretty comfortable with these materials. Go with your gut on whether for your comfort level the below is practical advice or complex nonsense :smile:
  1. Color match: I'd get a few more yellow paints with varying tones, maybe some other colors (i.e. green or orange or red if the available yellow paint tones are too warm or cool) and some white & mix mix mix til you get a tone that's as close as you can get it. Oh and make sure you're working under good lighting!
  2. Test: You can test either by gently trying on a somewhat hidden spot on the bag or on another surface that you can hold next to it to compare. FYI, in my experience angelus (and most acrylic) paints tend to dry a tad darker than they look when wet.
  3. Apply: When it comes to paint application, go light. Light gradual layers are better than one big ol' plop of paint. I used a couple smaller brushes. A little goes a long way, and the less you use the more you can blend it into the bag. You won't need a lot of paint, but there is a chance what you have will start to get dry as you're working. Be prepared to mix a bit more, or have a little water handy to loosen it up. Water can also help when used sparingly to thin out the paint for applying in those lighter layers.
  4. Topcoat: When all done and dry, the painted areas may be a bit more matte than other parts of the bag. A light touch with some topcoat (super small paintbrush or qtip) can help even out the finish.

Here's a before/after detail of the bag I touched up w/ paint. This is post-cleaning, and you can see there are just areas where the color was worn off. Of what's visible in these pics, I touched the handles as well as some select areas inside the cannage (note: I wasn't going for "brand new", more "not as beat"). To match the shade I used a couple pinks, as well as white, black, and brown. Slight color tone diff between pics b/c the before was taken at night, the after during day:
View attachment 4976123View attachment 4976124
Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed reply, Kerry! Really helpful! Will try out painting little areas first. The photos I attached are actually after cleaning with a foaming cleaner made for bags. But it's a local formula I bought from a bag spa. Do you have any recommendations for a specific cleaner? Thanks so much!
 
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Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed reply, Kerry! Really helpful! Will try out painting little areas first. The photos I attached are actually after cleaning with a foaming cleaner made for bags. But it's a local formula I bought from a bag spa. Do you have any recommendations for a specific cleaner? Thanks so much!
No "recommendations" per se - I haven't experienced that much difference between cleansers, so what you have is probably great! The ones I currently happen have on hand are a furniture clinic cleaner (it comes in a spray bottle, but I spray it on a sponge to foam it up), and angelus foam-tex.
 
Topcoat: When all done and dry, the painted areas may be a bit more matte than other parts of the bag. A light touch with some topcoat (super small paintbrush or qtip) can help even out the finish.

Hi Kerryisntreal! Wow, that's a brand new Dior you've got in there! When you've got such good painting skills, I believe that it makes you wanna re-touch, re-store every single bag you own :nuts: . After cleaning my pre-loved LV Metis that I've just bought and with plenty of free time, I ran into a "cleaning" and "re-touch" obsession : I want to re-store all of my pre-loved bags :shocked:

On one of my LV bag, the corners are "chipped" like the yellow Bal up ; and another spot got some color fading. The bag is a gorgeous taupe color.

I read the steps you explained thoroughly and I have a question before ordering the items.
-As I live in EU, I'm ordering the Angelus paint, soap you mentioned etc. from the US and the shipping costs are high, so I just wanna make sure that I don't miss anything out -_- -

-For the top coat you're mentioning to use at the end of the process, would the "Angelus 600 acrylic finisher" work?
-I don't have any brushes, any small brush would be ok?
-Which colors should I order and mix to obtain a taupe shade ?
-Would you recommend using the tarrago cream or acrylic paint for my "issue"?

Thanks a lot for helping me fill my obsession :coolio:
 
Hi Kerryisntreal! Wow, that's a brand new Dior you've got in there! When you've got such good painting skills, I believe that it makes you wanna re-touch, re-store every single bag you own :nuts: . After cleaning my pre-loved LV Metis that I've just bought and with plenty of free time, I ran into a "cleaning" and "re-touch" obsession : I want to re-store all of my pre-loved bags :shocked:

On one of my LV bag, the corners are "chipped" like the yellow Bal up ; and another spot got some color fading. The bag is a gorgeous taupe color.

I read the steps you explained thoroughly and I have a question before ordering the items.
-As I live in EU, I'm ordering the Angelus paint, soap you mentioned etc. from the US and the shipping costs are high, so I just wanna make sure that I don't miss anything out -_- -

-For the top coat you're mentioning to use at the end of the process, would the "Angelus 600 acrylic finisher" work?
-I don't have any brushes, any small brush would be ok?
-Which colors should I order and mix to obtain a taupe shade ?
-Would you recommend using the tarrago cream or acrylic paint for my "issue"?

Thanks a lot for helping me fill my obsession :coolio:
Hello!
  • Good point on the top coat. My best answer is that it depends. They make topcoat in finishes from matte to high gloss, so it might make sense to get a couple so you can tweak to the level needed for the bag. Balenciaga bags tend to be on the more flat/satin side, so not sure what you might need in your particular case. The topcoats I have on hand are Zelikovitz flat + satin, & Fiebing’s neutral + black resolene.
  • For brushes, my preference is something with softer bristles. I’ve actually even used small makeup brushes (that were clean!)
  • Hard to recommend specific colors for anything without seeing IRL, but I find it helps to look at pics of the paint jars themselves (vs swatches). Angelus’s website gives a pretty decent representation of what the colors look like, and this image is useful for comparing across colors if you don’t have access to them IRL. I usually get 3-5 colors around where I think I want to be. (Side note: 98% of the time if I’m using paint on a Balenciaga, I’m using it for the edge coating on the handles)
If you want to DM a pic of your LV bag (or if you have it posted in another forum and can point me to it) I’d be happy to give my 2 cents. :smile:
 
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Hello!
  • Good point on the top coat. My best answer is that it depends. They make topcoat in finishes from matte to high gloss, so it might make sense to get a couple so you can tweak to the level needed for the bag. Balenciaga bags tend to be on the more flat/satin side, so not sure what you might need in your particular case. The topcoats I have on hand are Zelikovitz flat + satin, & Fiebing’s neutral + black resolene.
  • For brushes, my preference is something with softer bristles. I’ve actually even used small makeup brushes (that were clean!)
  • Hard to recommend specific colors for anything without seeing IRL, but I find it helps to look at pics of the paint jars themselves (vs swatches). Angelus’s website gives a pretty decent representation of what the colors look like, and this image is useful for comparing across colors if you don’t have access to them IRL. I usually get 3-5 colors around where I think I want to be. (Side note: 98% of the time if I’m using paint on a Balenciaga, I’m using it for the edge coating on the handles)
If you want to DM a pic of your LV bag (or if you have it posted in another forum and can point me to it) I’d be happy to give my 2 cents. :smile:
Hey @kerryisntreal , I have the Zeli satin and I find it's still pretty glossy. Is the flat just a true matte finish? Or am I better off with the resolene? It's mostly for corners. TIA!
 
Hey @kerryisntreal , I have the Zeli satin and I find it's still pretty glossy. Is the flat just a true matte finish? Or am I better off with the resolene? It's mostly for corners. TIA!
Yeah I agree that the satin is pretty glossy. The flat is actually closer to what I’d consider a “satin” (like if you were buying varnish for a chair, lol). Since you basically buff it after it’s dry the flat Zeli will def have a light sheen.

I’ve actually also used the flat topcoat on top of edge coating paint fixes to tone down the sheen, since sometimes the built up paint there gets too glossy for my liking.
 
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Yeah I agree that the satin is pretty glossy. The flat is actually closer to what I’d consider a “satin” (like if you were buying varnish for a chair, lol). Since you basically buff it after it’s dry the flat Zeli will def have a light sheen.

I’ve actually also used the flat topcoat on top of edge coating paint fixes to tone down the sheen, since sometimes the built up paint there gets too glossy for my liking.
Which flat topcoat? The Zeli flat?
 
Hi ladies,
Has anybody experienced this kind of discoloration on the glazed parts of their bags? At first it was kinda sticky. I tried wiping it with water+vinegar solution but it didn’t help. Then wiped it with Collonil leather cleaner but didn’t do anything either. The marks aren’t raised or anything, like you can’t scratch it off. Hope these spots go away as this is one of my favorite bags :sad: the leather parts don’t have it. Just the glazed/waxed edges as far as I can observe..
 

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Hi ladies,
Has anybody experienced this kind of discoloration on the glazed parts of their bags? At first it was kinda sticky. I tried wiping it with water+vinegar solution but it didn’t help. Then wiped it with Collonil leather cleaner but didn’t do anything either. The marks aren’t raised or anything, like you can’t scratch it off. Hope these spots go away as this is one of my favorite bags :sad: the leather parts don’t have it. Just the glazed/waxed edges as far as I can observe..

It reminds me of the melting glazing issues that LV had with their Pochette Metis from a few years back. It was so widespread that they issued a recall of the bags. I wonder if it's a breakdown of the colored glazing that Balenciaga used on your bag. Have you taken it to a good leather shop/cobbler to see what they think? Or if you are brave, you could go the Angelus leather care route and use their leather preparer and deglazer followed by one of their acrylic leather paints to touch up the areas.
 
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Hi ladies,
Has anybody experienced this kind of discoloration on the glazed parts of their bags? At first it was kinda sticky. I tried wiping it with water+vinegar solution but it didn’t help. Then wiped it with Collonil leather cleaner but didn’t do anything either. The marks aren’t raised or anything, like you can’t scratch it off. Hope these spots go away as this is one of my favorite bags :sad: the leather parts don’t have it. Just the glazed/waxed edges as far as I can observe..
Hi, I've never seen that before. Did you buy the bag new or pre used? If the latter, maybe a former owner used something that made the edge coating like this?

It's strange it's just the edge coating and not on the leather. Have you tried asking in one of the other forums, Hermès and Coach, for example? I know there are some there who are very experienced with treating leather, maybe they can help. Also, I think there's a whole forum dedicated to these kinds of issues. Found it:

Good luck, I understand this must be frustrating, hope someone more experienced than me can help!
 
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Hi everyone! I've been searching for an answer and can't seem to find one. How do you keep the 'tassles' of moto style bals straight when the bag is stored? I'm talking about the long pieces of leather hanging - I usually leave them inside the bag but find them becoming 'wavy' sort of speaking
 
It reminds me of the melting glazing issues that LV had with their Pochette Metis from a few years back. It was so widespread that they issued a recall of the bags. I wonder if it's a breakdown of the colored glazing that Balenciaga used on your bag. Have you taken it to a good leather shop/cobbler to see what they think? Or if you are brave, you could go the Angelus leather care route and use their leather preparer and deglazer followed by one of their acrylic leather paints to touch up the areas.
I asked a leather specialist and they said they could probably fix it but I haven’t gone to the store yet. They didn’t say what the cause is though, they themselves aren’t sure, I just consulted online and sent them photos. I’m so scared to touch it as I might cause further damage haha. It’s more subtle now, or I’d like to think so haha.