How to DIY Gorgeous Louboutin Dupe Heels
Do you have a tired pair of pumps collecting dust on your closet floor?
Follow along with this simple tutorial to learn how to turn that old pair of pumps into these fabulous Christian Louboutin dupe shoes. These will cost just a fraction of the designer price tag.
Let’s go, DIY army!
Tools and materials:
- Pumps to upcycle (should be with skinny heels and pointed toes)
- Mod Podge
- Glitter in blue, pink and silver
- Painter's tape
- Precision knife
- Small paintbrush
- Red acrylic leather paint
- Scissors
- Cardboard for work surface
- Clear spray paint
1. Tape your shoes
Before we can begin painting the heels, cover your pumps with painter's tape to avoid getting the red paint anywhere besides the bottoms of the shoes.
Also, I recommend that you begin working on top of a large piece of cardboard because with the paint and glitter, it’s bound to get messy.
Make small rips in the tape as you work around the curved shape of the shoe.
Once you’ve covered around the main part of the shoe, begin covering the heel itself with tape, leaving the inside vertical piece uncovered.
When your pumps look like this, you’ll be ready to start painting:
2. Paint 2 coats of red on the bottoms of the pumps
Using a small paintbrush, apply 2 coats of red paint.
I know as you’re painting this, you’re probably thinking that it’s going to tear off right away, but it won’t!
Obviously, after wearing them a bunch of times, the color will fade, but that’s true of the originals as well.
After you let it dry, go ahead and paint the second coat.
3. Remove the tape
Once the second coat of paint is completely dry, carefully remove the tape.
It’s starting to look really chic!
4. Tape the insides of pumps
Before applying the glitter, tape the inside of the pumps so that they stay untouched.
5. Tape the red bottoms
Now, so as not to ruin the beautifully painted bottoms, cover also with painter's tape.
Once you get to the pointed toe, cut the tape with scissors to match the shape.
Don’t forget to tape the inside, red part of the heel as well. Use scissors again to help get the exact shape.
The little, bottom part of the heel should also remain black, so cover that with tape too.
6. Mix the glitter
In a small container, mix the pink, blue and silver glitter.
This combination is what I found to best match the shade of glitter of the original Louboutin glitter heels.
7. Apply Mod Podge to the parts without tape
Using your cleaned paintbrush, apply Mod Podge to one main part on one side of the pumps where you want the glitter to stick.
Don’t apply all the Mod Podge at once, because then it might start to dry before you get a chance to add the glitter.
8. Add the glitter
Now it’s time to sprinkle on the glitter to adhere to the Mod Podge.
9. Apply more Mod Podge and glitter
Begin a new, bare section, starting with Mod Podge and continuing with the glitter.
Besides keeping tidy, another perk to working over cardboard is that you can save some of the glitter that falls off.
10. Repeat for the other side of the pump
Now that one side is complete, follow the same process for the other side of the pump.
11. Fill in
Once both sides are basically finished, go back and fill in any parts that remained bare.
Here’s what happens when you don’t apply that second round of tape before applying the Mod Podge and glitter:
12. Seal the glitter, then remove tape
To make sure the glitter doesn’t fall right off, seal it on your Louboutin dupes with clear spray paint. First remove the tape and spray away!
Let them dry, and then try on your Christian Louboutin dupe shoes!
Louboutin dupes
With the winter holidays approaching, these gorgeous DIY Louboutin dupes will bring the sparkle to all the parties. Show us your DIY glitter heels in the comments below.
For more designer DIYs, check out my post on Learn to DIY and Amazing Alexander Wang T-Shirt.
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Comments
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Love the after! And this is terrific since Louboutins (and any quality dress shoes) are outrageously priced.
Angelus has a specific paint just for the bottoms of dress shoes called "Walk On Red" and it's incredible! Great to use for your Louboutin dupes.
I just have to comment about the beautiful heels! I'm 78 years young and I did a similar glitter painting on my skinny spike heels when I was 19. A year before, I had bought a gorgeous pair of black Patten leather, pointed toe spike heels with a flower embroideredon the top. After wearing them for a year, they were starting to look a bit old. At Christmas time, I found some pink shoe paint and pink glitter. Using the paint, I covered the shoes, one at a time, and poured the glitter all over it. The paint had to dry overnight so the glitter stuck to it very well. Now I had a new pair of shoes that only cost me $4 and they were a perfect match with my pink high school graduation dress! Today we have glitter that isn't so course. Unfortunately, my shoes were murder on my hose - snagging my hose on the insides of my ankles terribly! But it was so worth it to have gorgeous shoes that were glittery and matched my dress. I wore them to dances for almost another year before the glitter started looking bad. Enjoy your new shoes!