The world of shoe care is vast, and with the abundance of brands, polishes, creams, and serums available, it can feel difficult to navigate; particularly for those just beginning. At its core, however, the fundamentals of shoe care are simple and methodical. A process of cleanse, hydrate, repigment, and shine.
With the right routine and a few essential products, maintaining and restoring your shoes becomes a simple and rewarding practice. Allow us to guide you through the essentials and set you on the right path in your shoe care journey.
The Importance of Shoe Trees
An essential tool you should always have handy in your shoe care kit is shoe trees. When applying any product, the leather needs to be smooth as to ensuring wax fills in cracks and crevices properly. Further, allowing for a stable surface for you to build upon.Â
Shoe trees are also key to caring and maintaining your shoes quality. Keeping shoe trees in your shoes between wear ensures they are able to ventilate while support their natural shape.
Always Keep Leather Clean
It is important your leather is free of any dust, dirt or previous product. This means brushing the leather with a coarse bristle brush, such as a horse-hair or wild boar shoe brush. Applying product upon a dirty shoe results in an uneven and messy application.
 Maintenance brushing not only keeps the leather clean to the eye, but also ensures no damage is caused to its integrity, thus promoting longevity. Thus, a quality shoe brush is also helpful outside of your polishing routine.Â
What Brush and When?
The key distinction every beginner should understand is the difference between cleaning brushes and polishing brushes. Before applying any product, leather should first be cleared of dust and surface dirt. This requires a firm-bristled brush, typically horsehair or wild boar, which is strong enough to lift debris from the leather.
Once polish has been applied, however, that same brush should not be used again. Firm bristles can scratch the surface of the wax or cream, leaving fine abrasions that compromise the smooth, refined finish you are trying to achieve. Instead, switch to a soft-bristled brush; such as a goat or yak-hair shoe brush. These softer brushes are designed for buffing: they help remove excess product and build a shine without disturbing the polish beneath.
Enthusiasts should also take care to keep separate brushes for light and dark polishes, or thoroughly clean brushes between uses. For example, using the same brush on a tan pair of shoes immediately after polishing black cap-toe oxfords can easily transfer pigment, leaving unwanted dark streaks across lighter leather.
The Difference Between Creams and Polishes
A shoe cream is vital to ensuring your leather is nourished. Designed to hydrate, cleanse and in some cases repigment. Dry leather easily cracks and loses its elasticity, luster and natural sheen. For this step we recommend using the Paul Brunngard Reviving Cream or Boot Black Rich Moisture Serum. Both of these products will moisturise the leather while additionally cleansing it of any debris missed during brushing. To apply the cream use an applicator brush, soft cotton cloth, or simply your fingertips.
If aiming to cover any scuffs, imperfections or colour inconsistencies to your leather, you may layer a pigmented shoe cream. Simply match the colour of your leather to the cream and layer the area until your desired result is achieved. If the colour damage is quite significant, the Artist Palette will offer a high pigmented concentrated result.
A shoe cream may give the leather a subtle sheen but it won’t result in a shine. For this, you'll want to use wax polish. Wax based products also naturally repel water, thus great for protection from the elements. Wax products work best when applied with your fingertips; the warmth from your hand will melt the wax, creating a smooth application.
How to Achieve a Mirrorshine
Wax polishes may also be built for a high definition mirror shine. This process can take some time to master, but the key factors are ensuring you have a quality product and applicator as well as patience.
Start by applying a small and thin amount of shoe polish. Using your finger tips, gently work the wax into your toe cap until even. Add a droplet of water and buff using a soft cloth or polishing brush. Allow the product to dry, then repeat until your desired shine is reached. To achieve a mirror shine, usually a minimum of five wax layers will be required.
Combining these simple steps with quality tools keeps your shoes looking and feeling brand new. Discover the Arterton Youtube channel for more shoe care tutorials.
