Another valuable aspect of shoe cream dye is its verified permanence. In my 1:6 art, I’m all about longevity. I use mostly leathers, furs, glues and paints that are known to last for decades, and I regard Thermoplastics Elastomer bodies in this category of permanence. It is only appropriate that a color application should last as long as the TPE / steel body itself.
My first attempt at coloring a Phicen with shoe cream was in late 2018 now 4 years ago, and that body’s tone looks the same today as in a photo taken 2 weeks after application. The tan is subtle, but subtlety allows for adjustment in matching tone to any head sculpt. Time permitting, additional applications can take it anywhere from light suntan to ebony. I do not advise dark brown cream for suntan as I used in 2018. The result is too orange. The reason it didn’t turn overly orange in this case is that I applied the cream for just 5 minutes which is normally insufficient for an even application. A full 10 minute application is advised.
In recently posing this figure, I have noticed that her arm pit and crotch area has retained the darker orange tone from its original dye application. Those are in fact areas of her body that had always remained in shadow while the rest of her was periodically exposed to sunlight from the adjacent window while stood in a glass display for 4 years. It may now be safe to state that shoe cream dye is indeed permanent! But it is also safe to speculate that its colors can somewhat fade under prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.