Shoe Polishing mistake?

I am a novice when it comes to shoe polishing. After attempting to polish my shoes, I got these darker spots on the shoes. Is there a remedy for the situation?

I was using some kiwi shoe polish and the darker spots didn't occur until tried to "spit shine" a spot.

Quick guess...too much water. You broke through the factory finish.

I don't know what to tell you. I'm not sure there is a remedy...maybe rider or Nick V. will chime in here.

Generally(IMO), when shining my shoes at home, all I need is polish/rag/brush. Have never spit shined...

Use neutral color polish.

Never spit shine the vamp area ... do only the toes.

Try using a neutral cream on the dark areas. If that does not work, you probably have to use some sort of a leather cleaner (e.g. lexol) to remove the wax buildup -- but be careful as to what you use. You DON'T want to remove the entire finish.

If all else fails, you can always get both the shoes darkened.

Agreed with trying to apply a cleaner, yet most likely you will have to darken the shoe. A moisturizer should do trhe trick.
BTW, never spit shine a lighter colored shoe (dark brown+black is fine, IMO)

A wild guess here -- and I may be way off the mark -- but something looks off about the finish of those shoes even beyond that dark spot. Did you clean them with some sort of harsh solvent, like undiluted saddle soap or something? It almost looks as if you rubbed off all the existing color and polish on the shoes (the factory finish, as mentioned a few posts up) before applying your own polish.

If so, why'd you do that? By mistake, or by design? The shoes look totally stripped of their finish, which is no doubt what allowed the darker polish you then applied to make such a dramatic impression.

Originally Posted by uhurit

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Agreed with trying to apply a cleaner, yet most likely you will have to darken the shoe. A moisturizer should do trhe trick.
BTW, never spit shine a lighter colored shoe (dark brown+black is fine, IMO)

Please pardon my ignorance, but when you say "I will most likely have to use a cleaner" and then you said "a moisturizer should do the trick". What is the difference between "Cleaner" and "Moisturizer"? Any recommendations? I believe the kiwi brand is readily available at the drug store near my place. Will that suffice?

I don't mind a darker shade of brown

Originally Posted by srivats

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Never spit shine the vamp area ... do only the toes.

Try using a neutral cream on the dark areas. If that does not work, you probably have to use some sort of a leather cleaner (e.g. lexol) to remove the wax buildup -- but be careful as to what you use. You DON'T want to remove the entire finish.

If all else fails, you can always get both the shoes darkened.


I JUST tried to polish the spots with a neutral polish, no dice.

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

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A wild guess here -- and I may be way off the mark -- but something looks off about the finish of those shoes even beyond that dark spot. Did you clean them with some sort of harsh solvent, like undiluted saddle soap or something? It almost looks as if you rubbed off all the existing color and polish on the shoes (the factory finish, as mentioned a few posts up) before applying your own polish.

If so, why'd you do that? By mistake, or by design? The shoes look totally stripped of their finish, which is no doubt what allowed the darker polish you then applied to make such a dramatic impression.

yeah, that section of the shoe is a little off. After I messed up the polishing, I tried to correct my mistake with water

YES, I am a novice

Strip everything with a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol. Let dry then apply several layers of neutral cream.

If that fails buy better shoes.

Originally Posted by westinghouse

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Strip everything with a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol. Let dry then apply several layers of neutral cream.

If that fails buy better shoes.

...and use those as your bad weather shoes...

Originally Posted by jroring

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yeah, that section of the shoe is a little off. After I messed up the polishing, I tried to correct my mistake with water

YES, I am a novice
Don't beat yourself up. I've been there, done that, bought the T-shirt...too many times to count. Everybody is a novice about anything, and everything, sometime in their life. When you spit shine you want to use only the smallest amount of moisture you can get away with. It really ought to be called "spittle" shine rather than "hork up a gob" shine. Using too much water can even cut through and ruin a deep spit shine. If the finish was applied to your shoes at the shoe factory...for instance, wax and colour on crust...you could easily cut through it with a wet rag nevermind standing pools. No matter what you do from here you need to build up a layer of conditioners and wax before you try spit shining again. If I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing you may want to wash the shoe down with Lexol ph such that the whole shoe turns a "wet colour". Rinse well. Let dry...the shoe will, hopefully, be a uniform colour when dry. Recondition with Lexol Conditioner or Saphir Renovateur and start over again building up wax finish. Apply wax thinnly. Let dry. Brush. Repeat. Only after several applications...maybe four...should you try to spit shine again. And then, as mentioned above, only on the toe and heel

I just had this happen to me with a pair of tan shoes. Got an area that was slightly darker after an application of oil preservative.... then, like an idiot, couldn't leave it alone, and I rubbed it until it took the finish off and darkened.

I had to bring it in to my local cobbler. He stripped that local area and then used a spray that was probably edge dressing. Perfect color match so you can't tell. Total cost: $3 (he is old school and extremely kind). I wouldn't want to use it on the whole shoe, and who knows how it will age, but it lets me use this pair of shoes for the time being. When dried, it seems to take obenauf's LP fine and you really can't tell. I'll just be careful on that particular area in the future and won't give it LP more than once every few months.

Originally Posted by meso

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I just had this happen to me with a pair of tan shoes. Got an area that was slightly darker after an application of oil preservative.... then, like an idiot, couldn't leave it alone, and I rubbed it until it took the finish off and darkened.


Exactly what happen. Although, Kiwi does say sprinkle water and buff, damn Kiwi...

Thanks everyone for their advise!

I'll throw my two cents in, this has happened to me from rubbing too hard. I put a dark spot on my light colored Ed Greens from over enthusiastic rubbing....