Since my first Balenciaga bag over 10 years ago, I've loved high quality leather bags. Like good wine and good people, good leather bags get better with age. But of course there's some upkeep involved. I used to condition my Balenciaga bags with Lovin my Bags, which was alright. I didn't actually love Lovin my Bags. So when I bought my Mansur Gavriel bags, I did some research on the type of leather conditioners and protectants out there. And since I couldn't find any in-depth reviews of these products, I ended up buying a few to test out.
[edit: These products are recommended for darker colored veg-tanned leather or calf-skin leather bags. These products can be used on cammello or brandy veg-tanned leathers but just be warned that it will darken the natural leather color. Read all about it here.]
I purchased the following conditioners and protectors:
This is a water-based leather conditioner (more FAQs about it here) and it was the most liquid of all the formulas. It smelled and looked a lot like almond oil. The Chamberlain's products all come with a terry-cloth like sponge, which is great. Put some of the leather milk on the sponge and buff it into the leather. The formula does go on a bit streaky so you have to be careful to use thin even layers. There is also some color transfer onto the sponge when using it on veg-tanned leather but no color transfer onto the sponge when I treated my navy calf-leather lady.
I didn't know what the difference between no. 1 and no. 3 were, and since both seemed like great leather conditioners, I wanted to try out both. No. 3 is a wax/oil-based leather conditioner and protector, while no. 1 is more of a leather conditioner/cleaner. I think if people purchase both, they usually treat with no. 1 first and then follow it up with no. 3, but for this review I just tested it out on the veg-tanned clutch that comes with the MG tote. No. 3 has a gel-like consistency and has no smell. There is also no color-transfer when used on the veg-tanned leather. This product, unlike no. 1 didn't go on streaky. I can't say how well it protects since I haven't taken it out in damp or rainy conditions yet, but I might do an update when I do just to let you all know how well it works.
The Leather Honey is super sticky, exactly what you would expect a product called leather honey to feel like. On the bottle it recommends using it in a warm room to help spread the product easier. So you can imagine a little goes a long way. They recommend using a lint-free cloth, so I tried it with a microfiber cloth I had lying around. It definitely was not the easiest to use but thankfully the product was not streaky so it didn't require perfect application. The smell was not great, but faded when you let the product dry.
The Blackrock cleaner/conditioner has a creamy texture with a bit of a chemical smell which went away when it was fully dried. When I applied it using the same cloth that I used for the leather honey, there was A LOT of color transfer from the leather to the cloth. When I was done with the sample spot, I was surprised there was any color left on the leather. The application was noticeable but not too streaky.
Finally the Apple Brand spray is just a protectant. It is meant to protect your leather against rain and salt {it's also great to spray on leather shoes}. I sprayed my veg-tanned tote and first the spray droplets were visible, but in several seconds it faded. I haven't encountered any rain yet so I won't know how it holds up, but after I treat both the tote {with the Apple Brand Garde} and my veg-tanned lady bag with Chamberlain's no. 3 I might try a small experiment with some water and let you know how the hold up.
Here are some of the test samples:
Chamberlain's no. 1 is on the left, untreated in the middle, and Blackrock on the right. The picture above is in full sunlight and the picture below is the same thing in indirect sunlight. You can see how you have to be careful of application and make sure you treat all areas of the bag.
In the picture above, you have Leather Honey on the left, untreated in the middle, and Chamberlain's no. 3 on the right. The picture above is in direct sunlight and the one below is in indirect sunlight. You can see the with these two products, the treatment itself is not so noticeable.
So my final conclusion? Chamberlain's no. 1, Chamberlain's no. 3, Blackrock, and Leather Honey all work well, even though they're all really different. But if I were to choose just one of these products it would be Chamberlain's Leather Milk no. 3 since it is both a conditioner and a protector. With the other products, once you condition and/or clean the leather you would still need a protector, like the Apple Brand Garde {which I don't have any pictures of, but really there's nothing to see since it dries invisible}. My second favorite is probably Blackrock since it was easy to work with and wasn't really streaky. The Leather Honey was hard to work with and Chamberlain's No. 1 was too streaky. However, I did use it to fully condition my calf-leather lady bag below and it helped lessen the smell immensely. It also got rid of some dirt marks and gave it a subtle shine {see the picture below of my fully treated lady bag}.
I used the Blackrock conditioner to buff out some of the scuff marks on my tote. Before picture on top and after picture below.
Well I hope you found this useful and not too long! And if I ever try out the bags in the rain, I'll update you all on how the the leather holds up {let's hope the products do their job!}.