OMG.

I ran by Goodwill to drop off a donation this afternoon, and the siren call of the store drew me in, and to the shoe shelf, where a pair of Cole Haan patent leather pumps in my size, in a nude color, were waiting for me.

$5.95.

These shoes look like they were worn once, maybe twice, but there was a considerable scuff on the right shoe, right by the opening. But I figured the price was right for a DIY experiment, so I took the shoes home. I got most of the scuff out with Windex. I'm going to get some non-acetone nail polish
remover tomorrow to try the rest, but in truth, it isn't really
noticeable when the shoes are on. I'm very pleased with the outcome, because I have wanted a pair of nude patent pumps for awhile now, to replace a Topshop pair that I kind of feel are a little too "strippertastic".

I have only been to the Cole Haan Outlet stores, but I figured these probably retailed for around $175. Out of curiosity, I checked their site, and omg, these
are the shoes...

I am thrilled to have found these! but I am also very surprised that someone gave up on a pair of shoes that saw very little wear. It took me 10 minutes to Google "how to get scuffs out of patent leather", and get most of the scuff off.

Edit: I wore these shoes and outfit to a flamenco dance meetup tonight. They were comfortable, and held up pretty well, considering I had to park in the middle of a giant rain puddle in an alley next to a brick wall. That's the joy of thrifting - you don't freak out about ruining an expensive pair of shoes. I got another little scuff on them, but I'm going to work on that tomorrow.