Top Shoe Shining Tips

We really appreciate quality products whether it be a great dinnerware set, the perfect set of bedsheets or a comfortable pair of shoes. All these unique products require their own technique for being cared for. Today we scoured the interworld to give you expert tips on how to take care of your favorite shoes.

From Ask Andy About Clothes.

The first tip is to change into old clothes or put on an apron, don't sacrifice your favorite pair of pants to shine those shoes. Also putting down some newspaper is a good suggestion. Secondly, always match the polish or cream color to your shoe. The last thing you need is a streaky multi-colored pair of leather shoes because you guessed on the color. Most people talk about polish as a single item but actually there are two different kinds of polish.  Cream or Paste Polish: moisturizes fine leather, keeps it flexible and soaks into the leather to allow leather to breathe. Wax Polish shines leather better than cream, but it seals the leather and causes it to dry out. Avoid liquid polish, although it puts a fast shine on your shoes it can dry out and crack the leather. Read all of Andy's Shoeshine Tips   

The Guys at The Art Of Manliness, delved into getting the perfect soldier boot shine.

How To Shine Your Shoes Like a Soldier

There are a lot of opinions when it comes to the best way to shine a shoe. Everyone has their own unique twist from using spit to using a lighter to burn the top coat of polish (cool, although potentially dangerous). The process below is a simple one that I have used for many years and it has worked fine for me and many of my military peers.

 Step 1: Find an old towel or newspaper to spread over the area you will be working on. Shoe polish has an uncanny ability to get smeared everywhere even when you’re being extremely careful…and it’s really hard to get out of carpet.

 Step 2: Clean the dust and dirt off your boots with a horsehair shine brush or damp rag. If you must get your boots a little wet to clean them off, allow them time to dry before applying the polish.

 Step 3: Cover the entire shoe with a generous amount of polish, using your shoe polish brush. The polish I’m using is black Kiwi Shoe Polish, but be sure to match the color of the polish to your shoe as closely as possible. Make sure you get down in the seams of the shoe and attempt to cover evenly with polish. Allow 15 minutes for the polish to dry.

 Step 4: Brush the entire shoe vigorously using the horsehair shine brush. The point of this is to basically brush off all the excess polish, leaving only a small film on the outside of the shoe.

 Step 5: Once you feel comfortable that the entire shoe has been covered and brushed it is time to focus on the toe and heel for extra shine. Dip a cotton ball or pad into some water and squeeze out any excess moisture so it is damp, not dripping. Then get a little polish on the damp cotton. Next apply the polish on the toe and heel of the shoe using small circular motions. Sit back, this is going to take a while.

 Step 6: Repeat Step 5 until you are satisfied with the level of shine. Remember to use a new piece of cotton each time and to remove all excess polish before applying a new coating. Also, the initial shine is the hardest, it should get a bit easier each time you do it. These boots were fairly new and this was my first time giving them a good shine. From start to finish, it took me approximately 45 minutes to get them to the state shown below. Most of this was spent with the cotton pads shining the toe and heel. If I were to come back in a couple weeks it would take me half the time to do the same job.

If you want to take your shoeshine to the ultimate next level, check out Kirby Allison's presidential shine using Saphir polish. This is not a daily shine as it needs some time to be done properly. Presidential Shine

 Which ever way your shine your shoes or boots, nothing is better than wearing nicely shined footwear knowing that with a little bit of spit and polish was all you needed to make your shoes sparkle.

-Gold-N-Rule