How to mirror shine shoes (Bulling)

How to mirror shine shoes (Bulling).
In this video, I show you how to achieve a mirror shine, known in the UK as 'bulling' or to 'bull', a pair of shoes. If you want to know how to get that high glossed finish on your shoes for that special event, this shows you how you can do it, with a no nonsense approach.
I demonstrate a range of techniques that you can use in isolation in combination to achieve that high gloss shine finish. To save time, I have speeded up a lot of the footage, but you can achieve a sparkling mirror like this in about an hour and a half.
Who knows, you may experience the therapeutic effect of bulling your shoes!
How to mirror shine shoes, how to bull shoes, how to mirror shine shoe toe caps, polishing shoes, parade shine your shoes, methods of mirror shining shoes, water bulling shoes, mirror shining shoes, bulling shoes, mirror shine tutorial, The British Dapper, shoe care, shoe hints and tips, polishing shoes with kiwi, polishing boots with kiwi

[@pierre-emmanuelrichard9324]

Okay. Finally a video that does not lie about this thing.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you for your comments - hope you enjoyed the video 🙂

[@bestpossibleworld2091]

I really appreciate the honesty of how long it takes to get a mirror shine. Others are not so honest on KZbin.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you for your kind comments🙂

[@peterwentworth9181]

My Air Cadet son and myself used your method of bulling his parade shoes. I have to say the toecaps have come out with a brilliant mirror shine, only after about 40 mins of work. Great fun seeing results while doing the running tap stage. Thank you for great advice 👍

[@TheBritishDapper]

That is awesome!

[@stevecollins6858]

Life saver. My lad was ready to jack his cadets tonight until he watched this. He's working on them now. Already seeing a difference

[@TheBritishDapper]

I'm so pleased it helped and saved the day for your son, there is a slightly shorter video, showing only the cotton wool ball you might be interested in it gets good reason and in that video it does it a lot quicker 🙂 here's the link if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3XEeGNnrMaqr9U

[@justinsugay1149]

Wow, you put a lot of time into this. Much appreciated! It seems that taking your time and going at it repeatedly with patience will yield great results but knowing how to do all of that correctly is what makes this video a gem sir. Again, thank you!

[@TheBritishDapper]

you are most welcome 🙂

[@davidclark3603]

I was taught wrong! Your way works.

[@pompeytid1970]

Thank you chief - really appreciate you putting this together for everyone. Good on you Sir

[@TheBritishDapper]

Much appreciated👍

[@arfabarmcake2776]

Great vid, very helpful, its nice to see someone who dresses smart and presents themselves professionally 👍👍👍

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you 🙂

[@theox33roblox]

Your dedication and perseverance is admirable

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you🙂

[@dennistedder3384]

Very good. So many here have you going through 30 different steps and 40-50 creams and different polishes. A lot of hoops to jump through. This was great.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you for your valuable comments🙂

[@junaidsukhera7802]

I salute to u Sir for ur great defining styles of polishing our formal shoes😊💞👍

[@TheBritishDapper]

It's my pleasure 🙂👍

[@southernexposure123]

I enjoyed the video. Thanks for the time you spent and for sharing the several tips. My 8 year old black western boots look pretty shiny after brushing on KIWI a few times using a vegetable brush from the grocery store and a dozen hearty passes of a clean, dry t-shirt. The black was down to the leather on the toe tips and the heels. I can't use the boots to part my hair, but they do reflect the room incandescent lights. ((-: I think tomorrow I'll find my nitrile gloves and add a few layers of polish just to see what happens.

[@TheBritishDapper]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

[@anthonydixon1492]

This is clearly the best video on how to get mirror shine shoes/boots.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you🙂

[@lee_mill3712]

Saved my inspection day for JRORTC thank you

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad it was helpful🙂

[@basingstoke63]

This brought back some happy memories of our basic training Also learned at that time , that shoes and boots could fly across rooms and out of windows . lol . An enjoyable video , Sir . Thankyou .

[@TheBritishDapper]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video, it was a real skill how your section commander or NCO could also ricochet your boot off the window frame on the way out of the widow🙂😂😆

[@marcushennings9513]

Yeah mirror shining your shoes only made someone an easy target on my ship because someone was bound to purposely step on them to scuff em up.

[@basingstoke63]

What a strange concept . I thought you would all be in the same boat ( excuse the pun ) . and working together .

[@as680783]

Thanks very much for an extremely informative in-depth video. Too many similar vids just show a few seconds of each part of the actual process, which doesn't help the viewer in grasping and appreciating the time and dedication required to get the ultimate shine. I bull my boots for my prison job and have always bulled boots since joining the army in 1987. I'm still looking for a method which prevents polish from cracking after a few days of work. Good tip about applying with warm fingers! Cheers again.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you enjoyed the video, unfortunately you will always experience some cracking in the polish due to the flexing in the sole of the shoe or boot, especially if they are rubber soled. In the Army - Parade boots (the old Ammo boots) have 3 or even 4 soles to reduce the flexing, even then you still have to bull them and repair them. Once again thank you for your comments.

[@zer8845]

I know it's mentioned in the video, but one possible suggestion would be to use Saphir wax. The reason why is you could accomplish a mirror shine with much fewer layers of wax. I speak from personal experience, I use both the Saphir Pate de Lux wax, and the Saphir Mirror Gloss (If you're only going to get one, get the Mirror Gloss in neutral; you can use it in-between layers and it will do wonders). I have frequent success with only having to apply maybe 5-7 layers of the pate de lux as a base coat, then just top it off with Mirror Gloss/Ice water/chamois buffing. I also know from personal experience that the thicker the layer of wax on the toe (while it does have it's benefits; like if you drop something on your toe, while the mirror shine will crack, your shoe/foot will thank you) the harder it is for the shoe/boot to flex properly. I probably overexplained this, was just trying to be helpful. Thumbs up for the video btw!

[@samcarpenter9677]

Excellent video, very detailed 👌

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you! 👍

[@user-wc6gu7zp8o]

Thank you very much for your video, Sir. Very clear and helpfull.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad it was helpful and thank you for your comments👍🙂

[@iconicetiquette4546]

Polishing shoes its a lost art great video 😊

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you liked it🙂

[@kimjackson3391]

“A few more sessions like that, they’d be immaculate!” Wow 😳 they look immaculate to me now! 😄🙂 Impressive shine!! Very informative video for someone wanting to do a high mirror shine 😊x

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you very much! glad you found it informative and watch out for our next one, coming out soon.😀

[@PhD777]

Outstanding video!

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you liked it 👍🙂

[@Fantasticaal]

I found that a high quality chamios speeds the process by a lot I used a chamios for the first time ever yesterday and achieved a great shine overall on the edges and the upper btw enjoyed the video and I put about 2 hours just into 1 pair because I wanted to do it slow and I find it relaxing.

[@TheBritishDapper]

There are many different ways to create a high shine, and if you find a method that works for you, that's great. I'm pleased you enjoyed the video, I created it to give people a baseline, 3 different methods, somewhere to start from and using the cheapest materials to achieve a good result. Yes you can speed up the process by using far more expensive polish, Saphir is very good, but expensive, and you can use a silver cloth or Selvyt, but again they are more expensive than used a plain duster, an old 100% cotton t shirt, cotton wool balls or cotton wool pads. In regard to the time taken, it should be something to you do to relax and enjoy, it should not be considered a chore and if you rush it you could undo all the good work you have previously done. hope you have a continued great time 👍🙂

[@Fantasticaal]

@@TheBritishDapper I used me dad's travel kiwi wax polish its a very small tin with a lot of polish.

[@armidaleconcrete]

thanks for the video, Personally I use the cotton ball method for about 90% of my polishing with Saphir polish. Comes up shiny, shiny really quick.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thanks for sharing!

[@tdbone35]

Thank you for your explanation and video dialogue. I was trying this but could not understand why I see a shine then it would be gone. Thank you for sharing this...solved my headache

[@TheBritishDapper]

I am glad the video helped you.

[@Boyleheights13]

BRAVO..LOOK VERY NICE IM GONNA REY THE SINK STEP 1ST TIME I'VE SEEM THE SINK METHOD..👍👍👍👍

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you for your comment and support for the channel. Have fun and let me know how you got on?

[@rockeysingh8841]

Sir, many thanks for your taking your time to demonstrate and explain your methods and techniques for this marvelous "art". I do appreciate it all very much. P.S. It is both surprising and refreshing to hear the term bulling used, I am transported back to a British battle school in South America 40 years ago, where we/ I used actual spit on cotton balls, occasionally a dab of rum combined with saliva. We had to achieve a shine good enough to ""shave ""by.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thankyou for your kind words and the insight into your past experiences, not dissimilar to a lot of people who have an appreciation of bulling shoes or boots. 🙂

[@user-su6ly4tc2o]

It's really cool!

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you enjoyed it🙂

[@timeclock3969]

Excellent

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you🙂

[@williamthomas1022]

outstanding

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you for your kind comments🙂

[@topsouter]

The very first thing you need to do is put an apron on then roll those sleeves up.. great info in video and nice job

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thanks for your comments and support 🙂

[@peterharrison4324]

Wow! A mirror shine using Kiwi. That is a lot of work … a Yeoman’s effort. And the shine is excellent. I suppose that is how military and gentleman have been doing it for over a century. I used Kiwi for the first 66 years of my life and never came close to those results. But then I never put forth this kind of effort. Now I have switched to Saphir and Bootblack which make achieving a mirror shine a walk in the park. So I have a closet full of shiny shoes, but your video makes me feel like a fraud. I’ll procure a tin of Kiwi and attempt a real man’s shine. Thank you.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thankyou for your comments. Whilst I have used Kiwi all my life and military career, the reason i have demonstrated the use of Kiwi in this video is because it is cheap and whilst it takes time it will get good results. Saphir is very good stuff, its just very pricy if you have never polished your shoes like this. There is no fraudulence by using it and if you can afford it then use it. The world shoe shining competition uses Saphir - so it is good stuff. if you are using Saphir on your shoes, don't start using Kiwi on them, stick with Saphir the mixing of the different wax's can affect the existing shine. 🙂👍

[@peterharrison4324]

@@TheBritishDapper Good Advice. Thank you. I

[@Doodloper]

Top 3 vid on KZbin

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thanks Ron🙂

[@lestorhaslam]

Nice!

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you🙂

[@andymartinez5686]

awesome

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you.

[@tonysanta3497]

With that many layers and use of product, does it last longer? I normally strip it and reshine them and don't use that much product.

[@TheBritishDapper]

It gives a deeper shine and there is no need to strip off the polish all the time and any cracks can be fixed by applying heat and then re-bulling them. I've used kiwi polish in this video as a cost effective way of achieving the bulled (mirror shine) look. A great product to use is Saphir, but a little bit pricey🙂

[@baberoot1998]

If you do not mind me asking sir...what brand shoe is that? Maybe a Crockett and Jones? Maybe a Church's? Thanks for any responses. Nice channel.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Hi there, these are made for a company called Samuel Windsor, there originally retailed for £99.99 and i got the for £5 on eBay👍 Glad you enjoyed the video and like the channel🙂

[@alberthackler9022]

What a hoofing video. Clearly a lot of hard work has went into bulling those shoes. The shoes appear to be oxford style. Were they made by Sanders, they look very up market.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you enjoyed it, the shoes are from Samuel Windsor, their original price was £99.99 and I got them off eBay for just a £5. Thank you for your comments and support🙂

[@castelodeossos3947]

I learned using the cotton-wool ball from the beginning, meaning barely any polish on my fingertips. And, of course, not water but spit (spit and polish?). How long it took, depended on how much depth one wanted but an hour's work would certainly provide a good enough shine. (Remember once getting an extra pair of parade boots and spending 3-4 hours applying layer after layer, just for the hell of it. When I came out for parade, one guardsman accused me of showing off.) Then the next time one was due to go on parade, one would give the boots a quick shine and the toecap a quick layer or two, taking no more than 10 min. max. (Have tried looking for the etymology of 'bulling' but can find no dictionary with the word meaning making a mirror shine.)

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you found the video enjoyable. The term bulling is a military slang word referring to the Bull Sh*t of over preparing your boots for parade (hence the term bulling) or to bull your boots or shoes 🙂

[@Anak_Baik]

Terimakasih tuan

[@TheBritishDapper]

You are welcome🙂

[@magnoliamike]

Can you do a video using the wide brush

[@TheBritishDapper]

I made a video about brush polishing shoes, here the link to it, I hope this helps you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXO7lYqnh7acq7c

[@tombarnard4355]

I remember at CCF at school, the officer mentioning spitting on the polish, which is applied to the boot, is a good way to bring up the shine.

[@TheBritishDapper]

There are many methods you can employ when bulling (mirror shining) your shoes or boots and you are right spit and polish does work, but not as effective as the different methods shown in this video and you don't get a dry mouth doing it 😆 thank you for your comments Tom👍🙂

[@mynamejeff4883]

doesn't running water directly on it increase the likelihood of getting those dull spots that are caused when the leather picks up too much moisture?

[@TheBritishDapper]

It shouldn't do, I've not experienced it with this technique, but you must remember to draw of any residue water with the cotton wool ball squeezed out 👍

[@paulmiller6420]

That was anything but simple.

[@TheBritishDapper]

hi there, I did show you 4 different methods in the one video, although it may not have come across in the video that well, what do you find difficult when bulling shoes?

[@beargritter]

Sylvet cloth and kiwi polish. Always Kiwi.

[@TheBritishDapper]

A Sylvet cloth is a good choice, but it's not the only choice and kiwi polish is not the best, but as I explained it is the cost effective option and one I have used personally for over 50 years.🙂

[@ladytinter-AlleyKat]

😻❣️My Docs don't have a shine. I'm looking for the best way to clean them up because no shops within 60 miles that I can take them too. They are really worn and dry looking. I have 4 pairs identical and one is a brown. They are dull even when polished. I hope this method will pretty them up❤

[@TheBritishDapper]

I would suggest that the initial issue you need to look at is the fact that despite the boots being cleaned, they still appear dull, this could be because of the type of shoe polish being used, it might be the wrong type of polish being used. It appears you may need to apply a shoe moisturiser if they appear dry. let me know how you get on🙂

[@ladytinter-AlleyKat]

@@TheBritishDapper I will. The brown pair have a sad look so I bought a dye to pretty them up. I haven't got to anything yet. The 3 black ones aren't in as bad a shape. Boy, but I love these.

[@jonathonshanecrawford1840]

I've tried "How to mirror shine shoes (Bulling)" videos, and it doesn't seem to work, is it the shoes (caked on polish or too much (Kiwi) polish)? Or the quality of the leather? All I want is this pair of shoes Black Capped Oxford's to shine like a mirror.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Giday Jonathon, it could be a number of things that contribute to your problem, in this video I did show you a several methods, which one did you use? try not to use to much polish, it takes a significant amount of time to start getting a mirror shine with to much polish on them. Kiwi polish is a good polish to use, so I doubt it is the polish. The type of leather should not affect the shine, unless the shoes are treated with a dubbin or an oil or the shoes are not constructed of leather. you might consider another video I recently made bulling some tan shoes, in that video I only used 1 technique, which might be easier to follow. Just remember not to use to much pressure - its like polishing an egg. 🙂 here is the link to the video, hope it helps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3XEeGNnrMaqr9U

[@steveking8258]

not a bad effort, but use a selvyt not a duster. the tap needs to be on a lighter flow and use the water to draw off the beads on the show. you could get a much deeper shine by adding more layers. well done.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thanks for your views and feedback.

[@baberoot1998]

Is that a "corrected grain" leather shoe? If so...I was told "corrected grain" leather could not be polished, because of the plastic coating sprayed onto the leather.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Hi there, you are quite correct in stating you cannot improve upon the coating already applied to corrected grain leather because the polish does not key into the material 🙂. These are however calf leather and not corrected grain and the polish is able to key into the leather 🙂 I hope this answers your question🙂

[@ThePleasent1]

Nice oxford shoes, who makes them ????

[@TheBritishDapper]

They were bought on Ebay for just £5, they are Samuel Windsor, which sadly has stopped trading.

[@ThePleasent1]

@@TheBritishDapper Thank you.

[@Fanakapan222]

@@ThePleasent1 Check out the Sanders uniform range online. They're about the best deal these days for what most would consider 'Old Fashioned' shoe styles.

[@ThePleasent1]

@@Fanakapan222 Thanks for the heads up.

[@shkarfuad8030]

Hello, how much does the shoe you are shining cost?

[@TheBritishDapper]

It depends, they retail at about £100, but I got them on eBay for just £5. 🙂

[@asphayetmizimik287]

Where would the shoe be from?

[@TheBritishDapper]

These were not expensive, they were from Samuel Windsor bought on eBay for £5🙂👍

[@usernamemykel]

British butlers used to iron their employer's newspapers so that when read, the employer would not stain his fingers from printing ink.

[@TheBritishDapper]

that's very true🙂

[@usernamemykel]

01:25 Dog steals spotlight...

[@TheBritishDapper]

well spotted, he is great at photo bombing🙂

[@hilarylee5332]

Water: a precious resource and shouldn't be wasted

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thank you for your comment.

[@magpieminto4856]

Hillary, it's a good job the earth is 75% water then and gravity keeps it on earth

[@barrybarrett4626]

you have to smooth the leather out with hot spoons first

[@TheBritishDapper]

It depends on the leather used, in this particular case its not needed.🙂

[@clementmabunda3131]

I love my wingtips, but... not enough for all this elbow grease.

[@TheBritishDapper]

There's no elbow grease involved, its just technic and a little bit of patience my friend🙂

[@RADCOMJ1]

My army firend told me about this. Itching to try as Im a pervert...ony kidding :-P

[@TheBritishDapper]

Glad you enjoyed the video and why not have a go🙂👍

[@BrandensOutdoorChannel]

Just put an ice cube in the tin of your polish with water instead of putting the shoe under the tap.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Hi Branden, there are many methods that can be used, in these video we only showed 4 different methods. I tend to use an ice cube with a slash of water on it, you could use a ice cube in the polish tin and I have heard of people putting the polish in the fridge or freezer. Thanks for your mentioning your preferred method👍

[@pakkrat2001]

Of course the real final step is when some clumsy oaf steps on them! %^##!

[@TheBritishDapper]

never a truer word spoken😂

[@davidcoleman5860]

Yours is a very long process that is wholly unnecessary. A former Marine Corpsman taught me how to shine shoes so that the entire shoe has a mirror shine in way less time than it would take you to shine a whole shoe.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Thanks for your comments, I would note that the video covers 4 different methods, addressing some of the problems that can occur and whilst I accept in the military we always bulled the entire boot, including the shank area of the boot, this video is aimed at civilian sartorialism. Glad you have found a method that works for you though🙂👍

[@davidcoleman5860]

@@TheBritishDapper I followed all 25 minutes and saw but one method. Do you have other presentations?

[@robertdavies3460]

And then the sadistic Sergeant comes along with his hobnail boots and tramples on them in room inspection.

[@TheBritishDapper]

Standards must be maintained haha, in my day they used to through them out of the window, heart breaking to see six weeks work ricochet off the window frame on the way out of the window to then bounce along the road on landing - with the words start again ringing in your ears. 😂😂🙂🙂

[@robertdavies3460]

Never use Cherry Blossom shoe polish, it turns white

[@TheBritishDapper]

I know people that do and swear by it, but personally I don't use it - I stick with Kiwi, I've used it for 48years of polishing shoes. You can you more expensive polish and use more expensive clothes, but there really is no need.