Color Matching Shoe Polish

[Matt]

I have never polished a pair of shoes before.

Now that I've got that admission off my chest, I'm seeking help. I saw the thread on a polishing regime started by Nath, and some comments there have given me a good idea of what I need to do. One question I have though is, how close should the polish cream be in color to the shoe? I figure it's not a good idea to use black on a brown shoe, or light brown cream on a dark brown shoe (I did consider this for a while, as I already have tan cream, but I'm pretty sure something bad would happen). Do I have to spend weeks looking for a perfect color match, or should I just buy any dark brown cream for my dark brown shoes?

[Nath6644]

For dark brown, a brown or dark tan should be absolutely fine. If in doubt, get a neutral polish. I use one by Kiwi to polish one of my pairs of brogues which has several shades and it gets quite a nice shine.

Really invest in lots of polishes, brushes and cloths. It pays to have a decent polishing kit. I have an old shoe box packed to the brim with polishes, creams, cloths, brushes, sprays, suede-cleaners, suede brushes etc.

Oh and btw, I recomend Jones Bootmakers lint-free cloths for finishing off your shine. Great for brogues in particular as the bits don't get caught in the broguing.

[Ares]

im colour blind (and have messed up the colour of a pair of shoes in the past with the wrong shoe cream!!) so usually ask the company that makes them to reccomend an exact creme and polish - or I use neutral.

Just to add - every so often its good to strip the polish off, i do this every 3-6 months. if youre uncomfortable doing this yourself then a good cobler should be able to help.

[gnasher]

Matt - you may find that the company who make the shoes have matching colour polishes.

Ares - how do you strip the colour? My dark leaf Cheaneys were a wonderful colour, but they're noticeably darkening, even though I use the correct Cheaney polish (there's nothing wrong with the new colour, it's just that the old was awesome).

p.s I have heard that brown polish on black shoes increases the shine.