Occasionally, we get spots on our car seats or furniture that can’t be easily cleaned off. Certain kinds of markers and fingernail polishes contain solvents which allow the pigments to migrate into the surfaces they are applied to, including leathers and vinyls.
Here is an approach you can take to remove the stain or greatly improve it. This works best on protected leathers and vinyls used on car seats and most furniture.
To determine whether your leather is protected or not, place a drop of water in several locations on the leather’s surface. If it does not absorb, you have protected leather and you will benefit from this repair method. NOTE: If the water is absorbed during the water droplet test, you have unprotected leather (apparel leathers, handbags, boots, etc.). You’re not as likely to achieve good results with this method and will likely require a professional repair.
Once you determine you have protected leather, gather isopropyl alcohol (as you would have in your medicine cabinet), acetone or fingernail polish remover and some cotton swabs.
Starting with the alcohol, dampen the swab, place it on the surface by the stain and roll the swab over the stain slowly. Do this several times. Do not drag the swab over the stain or use a scrubbing motion, as this will only move the stain around. If the alcohol swab removed the stain, you are finished!
If the stain remains, you can use the same method with acetone or fingernail polish remover and this is very likely to remove the stain. Be careful though ,if you are too aggressive with the cotton swabs, you will start to remove the leather colorant the stain resides in and this could be equally unsightly. The goal is to strike a balance and remove as much of the stain as possible while removing as little as the underlying color as possible. If this method doesn’t remove the stain, it will most likely require a professional repair.