Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Leather Cases - Patina Proud Photos
- Thread starter JamiLynee
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wisteria at just under 1 month, picture taken in the afternoon shade
The edges and front have turned into a darker purple
The edges and front have turned into a darker purple
This is after roughly one month of daily use, sorry for the pocket lint around camera. Tried showing it in various lighting angles. These pictures show it as a golden brown, when in reality it’s more of a mahogany brown.
Last edited:
That’s false.
Also, what matters is the metal andar cutout vs leather of the Bullstrap.
Personally, the latter is superior
Wanted to share my current stash of leather cases and my quick thoughts in case anybody was comparing the 3 cases that I had. For background, I deliberately chose 3 cases with varying degrees of leather to see what worked best for me (full wrap, half wrap, back wrap) and didn’t even attempt to clean them to show my hand oils and marks.
1. Apple Leather in Sequoia Green (2 months daily driver)
2. Nomad in Rustic Brown (2 weeks daily driver)
3. dbrand Grip case with Tan Horween Skin (3 days daily driver)
Apple Leather case is by far the most compact of the bunch in hand and I love the feeling of a full leather wrap.
Nomad is the better hybrid case of protection with leather feel. The leather definitely dings the easiest but I enjoy seeing how it takes a beating and reflects my lifestyle.
Dbrand just released real horween leather skins and always wanted to test out the grip case. The leather has the softest and most coarse feeling of the bunch which I enjoy but the grip is also the thickest/largest of the bunch. I do enjoy how much more confident I feel with the case’s grip but it certainly has the least leather feel of the 3.
Excited to see how all 3 continue to age!
1. Apple Leather in Sequoia Green (2 months daily driver)
2. Nomad in Rustic Brown (2 weeks daily driver)
3. dbrand Grip case with Tan Horween Skin (3 days daily driver)
Apple Leather case is by far the most compact of the bunch in hand and I love the feeling of a full leather wrap.
Nomad is the better hybrid case of protection with leather feel. The leather definitely dings the easiest but I enjoy seeing how it takes a beating and reflects my lifestyle.
Dbrand just released real horween leather skins and always wanted to test out the grip case. The leather has the softest and most coarse feeling of the bunch which I enjoy but the grip is also the thickest/largest of the bunch. I do enjoy how much more confident I feel with the case’s grip but it certainly has the least leather feel of the 3.
Excited to see how all 3 continue to age!
Out of curiosity, what made you get the dbrand leather skin over the Nomad leather skin? I'm considering purchasing one and was wondering what helped with your decision.
I have the same dbrand leather skin on my iPad Pro magic keyboard case and really enjoyed the look and feel. I also wanted to maintain a case with a skin and the nomad is made to be put in the iPhone itself instead of a case.
Also I read the nomad reviews on the skin and didn’t feel confident in the complaints that the skin started peeling and couldn’t be reapplied if you made mistakes. Dbrand is known for their skins so I trusted them to make a better skin product than nomad as this is nomad’s 1st attempt at skins.
Meanwhile, here’s my 1 week old camel tan Andar 13PM case with sequoia green Apple MagSafe wallet.
~6 week update, Andar camel tan.
Last edited:
Nomad after 6mos it’s hard to show the true color. It’s actually very dark with good depth of color
anyone wanna share how their nomad cases patina overtime?
Mine seems to have passed customs clearance. Shows Monday delivery.
Attachments
Don’t think this works if the sunlight is coming thru a window. Needs to be exposed to UV rays
Thanks for offering good points. I am currently undecided on whether I want to apply the skin to a case or directly to the phone, but it sounds like dbrand offers the freedom of either option.
This is hilarious. Now Nomad is covering for USPS. Third day now it’s been out for delivery but the history doesn’t show that anymore.
I've had the saddle brown on all my iPhones since the 5S. When I picked up the SB for my 12 mini last year I was pretty disappointed with how it aged and it ended up in the trash. I then cycled through a few different cases over the year but always missed the saddle brown. I've been lurking here for a while and picked up a few ideas for what I'd do different the next time. I was hesitant to go drop $80CDN on a new Apple case and have it not turn out so I've been waiting for a sale. This weekend my local Telus store put them on sale for $29 so I grabbed one. I brought it home and hit it with a damp magic eraser to remove the bulk of the coating. Once it had dried I gave it a wipe down with a isopropyl wipe to pull off the last of the coating. The wipes came off fairly clean so I knew the coating was gone. I let it sit for about 30 minutes and then massaged it with my hands for a while and buffed it with an old sock for a while while watching TV. The case now feels and smells exactly like real leather. I thought about putting some Smiths leather balm on it but I decided in the end to just let the oils from my hands do the work on this case and see what happens. This photo was taken 48 hours after the above treatment and i can already see some changes. I know there is a good chance this case will turn into garbage like most of the cases but I'm hopeful it turns into one of the rare gems I've seen here. I'll post updates later on as it evolves into beauty or the beast.
Attachments
Its very smooth. I was very careful with the magic eraser to not to push too hard or stay in any one area any longer than needed. I knew I was going to go over it again with the alcohol wipe so I could afford to go a bit lighter with the magic eraser and let the wipe pick up any missed bits.
It also smells fantastic. It had a very chemical smell when it came out of the package. Once the coating was gone it changed to a nice leather smell. So far I'm happy with it but I know its going to take time to see if this works out or not.
I never wanted to force any patina, I just want to give it the best chance at actually developing one by removing the coating. From here we just wait and see what happens.
Finally. Smells amazing and they’ve done something different with the openings on the bottom as it’s perfectly comfortable with the weight of the phone resting on my finger.
The buttons are super clicky/responsive. Maybe even too clicky; almost a loosey-goosey feeling if that makes sense.
Third edit: I don’t know if the texture on the sleep/wake button is new but I’m a fan.
Very happy.
The buttons are super clicky/responsive. Maybe even too clicky; almost a loosey-goosey feeling if that makes sense.
Third edit: I don’t know if the texture on the sleep/wake button is new but I’m a fan.
Very happy.
Attachments
Last edited:
I agree on the clickiness of the buttons on the nomad, it's the same clickiness you get from the Apple leather case.
I'm puzzled when I read about the older posts, stating that the buttons isn't that clicky.
I tried using a Nomad on my 12 Mini last year and the buttons were definitely way more stiff.