The Paul Walters Magical Mystery Shoe Polish Treatment

With a title like this, I almost can't believe myself that I am giving away this secret. In fact, peace out, I'm gone. Hmmm... I guess that joke doesn't translate itself too well to print. Well here it is, my methodology for a truly unique look for your medium brown shoes. As usual, pictures don't quite do justice to what I am describing here, but I have included one image that will hopefully give you some idea. I am giving away my secret for a beautiful shoe finish here. I say that this works best for a medium brown shoe, but I have not tried it on darker chocolate browns because I believe the canvas may be too complex to build upon.

I discovered this treatment one night when I couldn't sleep; I usually polish my shoes at night when insomnia kicks in, but this night in particular, I knew I was going to be up a while. The result was a beautiful shoe with four coats of polish and a luster I hadn't seen before.
Here is what I offer... take what works, leave that which does not. If this does indeed work for you, however; you will fall in love. Without further ado...

Begin by cleaning any residual dirt off of your shoes with a damp, soft cloth. Use a welt brush to remove dirt from between the sole of the shoe and the uppers. If it's bad, you shouldn't have been wearing dress shoes in the first place.

Pour a small amount of water in the lid of your polish tin, or in a small saucer. Dip your polishing cloth in the water prior to scooping up some polish. Reapply water every so often to keep your wax moist and to insure smooth application. Start with BLACK polish. You need not slather it on, but don't be stingy. You want a nice even coat. Using your polishing cloth as a shroud for your index finger, evenly apply the polish over the surface of the shoe using small circular motions until the entire shoe has a nice, dull haze. Repeat with other shoe (duh). After each shoe has sat for about 5 minutes, use a second cloth (your buffer cloth) to remove the polish using the same small circular motions that you did when applying the polish. Now that you're finished, your shoes should look lovely!

Congratulations! You are 25% finished! Repeat the above instructions with BROWN polish. At this point, the black has darkened your seam lines and stitching, giving you a beautiful antiqued patina, and your brown has brought out more of the shoe's natural color and subdued the black. The shoe should look even better now.

For the third coat, apply a NEUTRAL polish to the surface of the shoe and finish as above. The neutral polish will give the shoes a nice glaze, and will let you know where to buff better since neutral polish remains visible in cracks and crevices on the shoe. Buff out all the neutral polish, and proceed to step 4, which is the most important (and secret) step. This is the step that completes the look, and the one that you have probably not thought of before. Some purists may hem and haw, but once they try it, the peanut gallery shall remain suppressed!

Repeat the application and buffing process, but this time, use a CORDOVAN or OXBLOOD polish. The dark, reddish eggplant color of cordovan polish will not turn your shoes red, but will in fact give them a sheen that you will instantly adore. It will be subtle yet beautiful, and trust me; you will thank me. I used a vintage pair of shoes to try this, but the right medium brown in a supple leather should give you gorgeous results.

When you are done, buff the shoes with a horsehair brush to finish off the lovely look. Just be patient. Doing this properly will take you around 2 hours. Once you have tried this, please let me know. I hope you will fall in love with the effects of the Paul Walters Magical Mystery Polish Treatment. Just make sure to call it by its proper name!

Until next time,

Cheers!

-Paul