Color Matching Shoe Polish

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?

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.

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.

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.