Blue shoe polish / separate brush

[flx]

Hi, I've just bought some new beautiful dark blue derbys and wanted to apply some initial coat of polish on them to provide a base layer of protection (unless you'l tell me now that its completely useless and I should just polish them after some wear & tear)

Usually I have a brush for black polish and a brush for brown polish (which right now are still brand new since I just bought a new set).

Since I don't own any blue polish I was planning on using colorless shoepolish on the shoes. Is this a good idea or should I specifically get blue shoe polish? They're pretty dark (almost black) anyway so I'm not even sure if the available blue polishs (e.g. Saphir Navy) wouldn't even be too light.

I'm also quite unsure which brush I should use ?

Since they're very dark do I use the brush for the black polish ? Do I use the brush for the brown polish for all colorless applications as well? Or should I just buy a completely new brush just for colorless polish. Will it affect anything if I use the new brown brush for colorless polish now and brown polish afterwards ? As far as I understood it's only important not to reuse the black brush on other colors to avoid streaks.

Thanks a lot for your answer in advance!

 

[papado]

Hi, I've just bought some new beautiful dark blue derbys and wanted to apply some initial coat of polish on them to provide a base layer of protection (unless you'l tell me now that its completely useless and I should just polish them after some wear & tear)

Usually I have a brush for black polish and a brush for brown polish (which right now are still brand new since I just bought a new set).

Since I don't own any blue polish I was planning on using colorless shoepolish on the shoes. Is this a good idea or should I specifically get blue shoe polish? They're pretty dark (almost black) anyway so I'm not even sure if the available blue polishs (e.g. Saphir Navy) wouldn't even be too light.

I'm also quite unsure which brush I should use ?

Since they're very dark do I use the brush for the black polish ? Do I use the brush for the brown polish for all colorless applications as well? Or should I just buy a completely new brush just for colorless polish. Will it affect anything if I use the new brown brush for colorless polish now and brown polish afterwards ? As far as I understood it's only important not to reuse the black brush on other colors to avoid streaks.

Thanks a lot for your answer in advance!

Wax polish doesn't provide a lot of pigmentation, so even if the saphir navy may be lighter than your shoes it won't cause any significant color change. I'd argue you could use black polish for this initial preparation as it can add a smokiness to the color. One light coat of black wax polish will not permanently change the color of your shoes to black, plus you can use the brush for black.

In general I would say to keep brushes for similar colors--a dark navy shoe is fine it you get a little black polish on it and a black shoe is fine if there is some navy polish. Once you go into browns, and especially if you have any tan shoes, the darker colors could cause that streaking you speak of. Now I've never had the streaking to a point which you couldn't just buff off anyway so I think you don't need too many brushes.

I have one for black, one for browns, and one for burgundy. When I use navy polish on my black shoes I use the black brush.

 

[Krown]

I would use Saphir Medaille d´ Or pommadier neutral cream

 

[MarcDavidMiller]

Papado gives some good advice here. As far as brushes I agree with him; i err on the side of caution though, NEVER mix dark and light (so I would have one for neutral), but also keep the color families separated (for instance, I consider Mahogany to be in the burgundy/red family so I would not use the brush with either dark brown or black). Navy and black are to me fine to mix.

Kirby Allison has a good video on how to initially care for quality shoes in terms of shining and other work. Some might argue that it is overkill, but at the very lest I would always put at least cream polish on my shoes before wearing.

How to Mirror Shine Allen Edmonds Fifth Ave

Kirby Allison, founder of the Hanger Project, shows you how to shine a pair of Allen Edmonds 5th Avenue. Allen Edmonds shoes are a great pair of shoes to own but in order to keep them looking as great as new, you have to maintain their shine. Follow these steps to shine your pair of Allen...

www.kirbyallison.com

 

[flx]

I've already answered this over in the shoecare thread but I've put neutral polish on there and everything turned out great. Unfortunately my foot got injured and now there's some small stain inside but thats another story. Thanks for all your great replies!