Shoe cleaning advice for a first timer?

[Roen]

Hello,

Recently, I had to wear my AE Fifth Avenues in Dark Brown in a slightly muddy and salted environment. It has just snowed at a conference I was attending, and by the time I arrived, the parking lot had already been salted. I made a short walk from the car to the conference center, but did end up getting some mud and salt on the shoes. I immediately went into a restroom, took a wet paper towel and got rid of any surface stains.

I had already followed the advice on how to prep your new shoes. I applied a coat of Renovateur, followed by a coat of Saphir Medaille d'Or Cream Polish, followed by a thin coat of Saphir Medaille d'Or Pate de Luxe Wax Polish and then applied a mirror shine on the toe cap using a combination of Pate de Luxe and Mirror Gloss.
When I arrived home, I took the shoes off and took off any loose dirt with a horsehair brush. Now I'm a bit stumped as to how to clean the shoe. It doesn't have residual stains, to the naked eye.
A couple of questions:

1. Is Renovateur a good cleaner in this case, or should I look for a saddle soap? I also have Renomat available to me.
2. What's the best way to clean on top of a mirror shine? As I understand, Renovateur and Cream Polishes won't penetrate the wax layer.

Any responses and other tips that you guys might have would be very much appreciated!

 

[norMD]

Be carefull with renovateur, it can strip colour. We have seen several examples of this and Dieworkwear writes about it.

If you cant see any stains I think your shoe survived. I would just polish with cream polish.

 

[breakaway01]

You did the right thing by wiping off the salt as soon as you could and then brushing when you got home to remove any dirt.
I personally would not clean the shoes at this point beyond brushing.