Step By Step Shoe Shine | Mirror Shine

A pair of well-polished and shined shoes truly makes a statement. It shows that you pay attention to the little details and will truly make you stand out from the crowd...in a GOOD way!
In this video, we take you through the basic steps to achieve that nice shine on your shoes.
Step 1 - Condition the shoes
Step 2 - Apply shoe cream
Step 3 - Apply 1-2 light coats of a good shoe wax to entire shoe
Step 4 - Apply very light coats of wax, mixed with water, to the toes and heels until you have achieved desired shine
Check out the Beckett Simonon collection of shoes here: bit.ly/2GNnYuC
PRODUCTS FEATURED IN VIDEO:
Saphir Renovateur - potterandsons.com/collections...
Saphir Shoe Creams - potterandsons.com/collections...
Saphir Shoe Wax - potterandsons.com/collections...
QUESTIONS REGARDING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES?
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Video edited by: Ashley Saldanha
Song: / conversation

[@watcher4627]

After 50 yrs of shoe shining I find that your process is valid. Old School, use spit...and elbow grease and patience. I enjoy and appreciate your love of your craft. May you Live Long and continue your journey. ThanQ

[@ShaunKeefe]

This was really great. The only thing I would have done differently is, I would have taken out the laces so that my conditioner and polish contacted every part of the shoe and nothing got caked up near the laces.

[@andricopoulos70]

Been trying to get the perfect shine for years. Thank you for this tutorial best tutorial I have come across thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@carlcolvin8320]

I like how you polished them Old School meaning using your fingertips . I used Lincoln polish on my low quarters and finished with nuetral polish . I put an ice cube in the lid with the water to keep the water cold.

[@Agerskiold]

In lack of a 'better' word - this was awesome. Also, I like the way you use the water - no need for a 'dispenser' and a more basic approach ! Cheers from Denmark 🇩🇰

[@fotosbyford]

I’ve watched about one dozen videos on the subject and this is easily the best. Watch no other. Results in a classic military spit shine.

[@adriankirk4644]

After waxing the toes of the shoes, how often does the cream need to be applied to re-nourish the leather? Presumably the wax will prevent the cream from doing its job. Does the wax have to be removed? Thank you.

[@bwayne40004]

I literally shined up a pair of shoes for work tomorrow just before I sat down and watched a couple of KZbin videos. I did it about a third as well.

[@TrentonHeath]

bwayne40004 👍🏻👍🏻 two thumbs up for shining your shoes! It takes practice, but you’ll get there. By shining your shoes, you’re already ahead of 90% of other guys out there.

[@RayovacWorkhorse]

Excellent video, gonna try this out on my old Jones Brogues, love what you did with the soles on those too, the colour is very nice.

[@roshif-tv9xd]

OMG..I really dig the color and work you put into those soles! SO AWESOME!!! 👌

[@yannissakellarakis1798]

A detailed video with crucial details. Shall try it out, with patience! Thanks!

[@TheNunakun]

Informative, succinct, genuine, & therapeutic. I look forward to every upload of yours! Thank you.

[@TrentonHeath]

Thank you!

[@IGAN13]

Мы в восторге от Ваших уроков! Много полезного берем для себя!Спасибо!

[@64mustangfan]

Shine on! Thanks, great video. An old army trick we also used was finishing off the shine with a pair of ladies used nylon stockings as a buff, works like magic.

[@mjgholfza]

Yes, it works great!

[@robertnelson3179]

Thanks learned some good points. Thought I knew it all from my days in the Corps.

[@clue3092]

Thanks for the step by step....

[@johndeer4250]

Omg those shoes are amazing Never seen shoes like that before They are beautiful

[@saadabdullah4245]

And fairly priced Becket simminon

[@majadi8855]

Excellent. I'm almost a pro myself. Couple of more vids and I'm off and running. Great job. Thanks!

[@TrentonHeath]

Mr. KMC Good deal! Glad you enjoyed.

[@ArchdukeJames]

Great tutorial here. I also like to use wax across my entire shoe surface before focusing on the toe/heels, and I also go for the saphir wax before the mirror gloss. I found if you do the mirror gloss first, or only, you end up getting a very weak mirror shine.

[@jeffestes960]

Another great video Trenton. I like the color you added to the soles.

[@TrentonHeath]

Jeff Estes Thank you!

[@albertomolina3678]

Another great step by step tutorial. I just ordered these exact shoes, black whole cuts, based on your and a few other videos.

[@TrentonHeath]

Alberto Molina Thank you! Hope you enjoy them. We appreciate you watching.

[@SkyofDread]

Just a wonderful video. Thank you.

[@josephmushatt4199]

Great instructional video

[@dabdella1460]

I was never taught how to wax shoes properly ,to get that high shine. So a few more steps for me. Thanks

[@samueltuminello7882]

What a beautiful pair of shoes you have.

[@mcalisterhayes]

I just ordered those from Beckett-Simonon!!!

[@Mike82ARP]

Watching this brings back memories. I used to get a killer spit shine on my Corcorans using black Kiwi. I wonder how much better the Saphir products would have worked.

[@powderriverfarrier]

Heck yes these videos, especially this one, help. Who else would have told us about the use of the drops of cold water. Don't over estimate what we know. You guys can likely teach us a lot. Keep at 'em.

[@anthonytindle5758]

I'm going to polish my shoes using this method from now on and see if I can get the hang of this method. I have preferred highly polished shoes or boots since the punk days.

[@sanjitbose1]

SUPER Video! Thanks.

[@geoffjohnston1531]

Smashing job.

[@abeloth7188]

those purple bottoms look pristine

[@sweetwater718]

Best mirror shine tutorial I have seen!

[@TrentonHeath]

Thanks!

[@blastmink1352]

Its actually the worst Watch Elegant Oxfords channel

[@connormonnery6998]

Great show👍🏽👍🏽

[@eyeheartsushi2212]

Excellent tutorial. Subbed.

[@CarlosPerez-yu3dj]

Wow great video!!

[@mickcresswell1031]

Just seen this and recently started following you guys. Love the attention to detail and craftsmanship you guys show in your work! One question - what do you do when you come the polish your shoes next time? With all the wax on, do you have to remove the wax and start from scratch with conditioner, cream, wax etc? Or put conditioner, cream, wax straight on? Or just wax? Sorry for the dumb questions!

[@JohnSpence]

Thanks so much - this was VERY helpful. I get my shoes shined at the airport and hotels often, but I am not always happy with the result and sometimes I need a touch-up at home before an event. This was perfect to understand how to do a shine by myself properly.

[@TrentonHeath]

We appreciate you watching, John! Glad it was helpful.

[@joykelley9971]

Very nice!

[@MrBanegasgaleas]

What a wonderful wholecuts

[@TrentonHeath]

Thank you!

[@davidbrewster1994]

KIWI FOR LIFE!!

[@50haywood]

Beautiful

[@brianbarnett100]

Wow, ask and I shall receive hahaha great video

[@bboliveira]

GREAT!

[@rhymeandreasoning]

Those are great looking shoes.

[@ourshoeshineblog8035]

Nice video, I would have also added a tad of conditioner to the tongues, and removed the laces. Thanks for sharing

[@Enemji]

At the end of the day, after I have taken my shoes off, I take off my socks, now a bit sweaty, and use that to clean and shine my shoes. The slightly wet socks brings out a decent mirror shine on the toe. Something that works on a daily basis.

[@sociopathicnarcissist8810]

I'm ex Army and we used to have a finishing step of lightly shining the finished shoe with a woman's stocking or pantyhose. The stockings that have elastene in them seem to work the best.

[@TrentonHeath]

Sociopathic Narcissist Agreed! Pantyhose do an awesome job with shining!! Our dad is retired military, and we used to shine his flight boots all the time. I remember using stockings at the end to really heat that wax up and bring out the shine. 👍🏻

[@HarrisPilton789]

Note to self: save old pantyhose for shoe shine purposes.

[@MetalJoe0609]

i love those purple soles!

[@lastozzo]

Hi, thanks for your precious advices! I'm wondering: how to take care of the shoes after mirror shine them? I mean: I don't think I can apply conditioner or other products over the wax right? Should I remove all the mirror shine with aomething like reno mat every time I condition the shoe? Thanks!

[@grafiek]

probably the best new channel on youtube....let's aim for 5,000 subscribers

[@TrentonHeath]

Wow, thank you so much! Hopefully we’ll get there soon. 👍🏻

[@calicuts909]

That apron is so nice

[@TrentonHeath]

calicuts909 Thanks

[@joegarcia54]

Will you consider a video on shinning a pair of spectator shoes? I haven’t found one anywhere.

[@a1shootingsports270]

All very informative - thank you. Why not remove laces ?

[@abdullah79195]

I used to be stupid enough to use those terrible sponge shoe shines, can you do a video on “donts” like those?

[@TrentonHeath]

Great idea! Yeah, stay away from the sponges. :)

[@deankenny4627]

Me too until I started watching videos!

[@christiaaanC7]

Me too, until I noticed they were not doing a good job

[@grahamb5930]

They work by making all parts of your shoes equally dull! I used to keep one in my car, it was a terrible idea, wouldn't even use it on the sidewalls of my tyres now

[@denmualim5050]

This a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing. Just curious, what should we do whenever the wax has been worn out? Do we need cleaning steps? Can we reapply the shining steps in the middle or do we have to start over from the beginning?

[@gonnahavemesomefun]

Would you mind listing the exact Saphir products you used pleased? Fantastic video, my son has join the cadets and shiny shoes are a must ☺️

[@jaimegd4275]

Hello guys, thank you so much for the videos. I have watched a lot of them. I just had a few questions. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to answer. The first is, I travel a lot between dry countries and rainy ones, based on this, how often should I apply conditioner to the leather, and wax to protect the leather? and is there an additional product i should use or is the wax enough?

[@dude28405]

I had a little trick I used to use when I had my cloth a little wet just a little dab of alcohol and just a very little bit would really give it a good shine. I really don’t Recommend doing it if you’ve never tried it or done it because you can undo your work real quick if you used to much. I’ve seen a few people do it but you pretty much have to trial and error. I did anyway but I could get a mirror gloss.

[@wrbergner]

Reminds me of having to 'spit' shine my shoes for inspection!

[@GandalftheWise]

I'm still there HUA!

[@thermann9]

These fellas have so much knowledge and craftsmanship, they should just do the repair and hire an apprentice/intern to take care of the detailing.

[@rudrabarathan2737]

I watched another video showing After using Saphir cream polish using Mirror shine about 4 or 5 layers then Saphir Wax polish. I am confused which order I need to follow? I enjoined your video.

[@lunarexs9245]

How long does a mirror shine last? If I, for example, am using my shoes 1-2 times a week, how often will I need to shine my shoes? And after how many times do I need to strip the wax to condition my shoes?

[@mikeresurreccion1162]

Nice shoes!

[@TrentonHeath]

Mike Resurreccion Thank you!

[@aarongarciasolis8827]

Hi sr how do you dye the soles I have a small shoe repair shop but the person who thought me never showed me that and that’s something i want to start doing you do an awesome work and I really liked your shoes

[@colmglass]

Great videos! Am about to place my first order of Saphir products - my shoes are Brown; Ox blood and black. So 1. the Renovateur for moisturizing; 2. then I noticed that you use a neutral polish; should I go with neutral or invest in one of each polishes? 3. The final is the Saphire Mirror polish. What do you recommend for getting a shine on the side of the heel and sole and the stitching on the welt area? Could you also let me know about cost for resole on some Church's and Barker's.

[@phillato]

how often do you recomend to do this shine, in normal conditions? would you recomend using ink before applying the creams?

[@brunobahiense4900]

Hi there! My wife gave me two beautiful pairs of Csrlis Santos shoes. Both ha an amazing patina. Could you please tell me if I should use Ssphir Renovateur on those shoes?

[@barrysegal4964]

I used to do that since I was a little kid

[@alabamaramma]

As a retired US Navy man I can appreciate well shined shoes. Great video! What is the brand and style of those shoes? They are far and away the best looking plain to dress shoes I've ever seen.

[@Dim_Dimich777]

This is wholecut oxford. There are many different brands. These are the most classic shoes. I have such a couple from Ferragamo, they are my best onse.

[@igornyoman9840]

Hi i have one question -- can the saphir renovateur or shoe cream expiry? Say i buy one and will only use it for my shoes next year. Thanks for the insightful video as always!

[@leecorleone]

is there a difference in brushes? a "quality" brush and if so what do you recommend?

[@andrewholt8356]

So when you want to condition and shine them again do you need to remove any of the products applied previously or do you just start again with the conditioner and go through the same process?

[@deepbluesea615]

I had 30+ years of experience with "spit-shining" in the Navy. Where we differed was you using a neutral color wax instead black wax. Please explain the difference. Also, I just bought a pair of brown cowboy boots where they blended a darker color brown into the toe area. Would I be correct in using a neutral colored wax for my boots? Thanks for any advice you can offer. Larry

[@BjE1173]

If you haven’t already, can you do a video for cleaning and revitalizing suede shoes?

[@thatguythatdoesstuff7448]

The Elegant Oxford has one available on his channel. It's pretty good.

[@connormonnery6998]

I have wingtip dress shoe, will the wax build up in the little Creases of the leather which creates the wingtip design? Thanks 😀

[@steampunkvampyre]

Stunning work, are those the shoes you ripped apart? did you do a vid of resoling ?

[@TrentonHeath]

Thanks! Yeah, these were the shoes we took apart for the Beckett Simonon review video. No, unfortunately, we got too busy to film the resoling of these.

[@carlosantoso]

Please do video on how to clean suede leather.

[@joelpolanco731]

What type of brush should I use? I bought 2 pairs of Ace Marks, Cognac & Black.

[@Fflovver]

Hey Trenton and Heath love the videos! They’re amazing! I was wondering- do you need different brushes for different colored shoes?

[@TrentonHeath]

Thanks, Justin! Yes, ideally you’ll want a brush for black shoes and a brush for brown colored shoes. You definitely don’t want to use a brush with black cream/wax residue on it on your brown shoes. You could always use your black brush on burgundy colored shoes, or you could get a separate brush for those as well. Hope that helps.

[@bluegrasskid4835]

@@TrentonHeath Along with a different brush for each color, should you have a separate brush for brushing shoe conditioner, a separate brush for cream polish and a separate brush for wax polish in each color?

[@markchambers7839]

great shoe shine video, can you give me the full name off all the products you use, thanks

[@Tomasz0216]

The few times I tried to get a mirror polish I always feel I am reducing the shine getting hazy and settle with buffing it off with a shoe brush or rag to get a good shine. Today for example, I feel like my shoes were starting to soak up too much water as well and I didn’t even feel like I used that much water. Any advice on building the waxes besides little drops of water like how much pressure?

[@nolanmcgilvrey1619]

Hey man! Do you have any opinion on using chemical guys or griots garage leather products for shoes? I have used them on my seats for 10+ years and they are black buffalo leather and they are still like new. Just wondered if there's something I don't know. Thanks!

[@goodtastingsteak]

Nice video! Question: if someone were to wear their shoes twice a week, how often would you do each of these steps? Say: Daily = brushing, Weekly = brushing+cream+polish, Monthly = brushing+conditioner+cream+polish?

[@jdp1219]

Did you ever find the answer to this question?

[@wilsonjr5713]

Should I remove the mink oil I used on my boots before using renivator crème?

[@joellalthanzuala7100]

Sir.. Could you please give me a solution regarding mirror shine maintainence.. I've used kiwi product and my mirror shining captoe have cracked and easily peeled off within few steps which is a devastating experience..All my hard work ruined within a three to fours steps.. Love your work btw 👍🏻👍🏻

[@JayJay9j]

Hi, so im new to taking care of shoes and i am trying to learn. I would only use the tin of shoe polish on my leather shoes. Now i see you guys using conditioner, cream and wax. Is the “tin shoe polish” irrelevant?

[@kostaskritsilas2681]

I was in Air Cadets (semi-military organization that was sponsored by the Canadian Air Force (Canadian Forces, actually) fot kids between 12 and 17) and we shined our shoes before each weekly meeting. We used Kiwi shoe polish back then (mid 1970s). Got a really good shine, and we used water as well, just as you showed. I have a fairly old pair of Florsheim Imperial (my be Royal Imperial) shoes. They are 360 Goodyear welted (at least they look thar way from the stitching both above and below the sole). They have a matte finish in black, and are scuffed up some. Can you tell me how to polish them up? I have other Florsheim shoes that are shiny/smooth leather, and they are no problem, but I have a lot of problems with these.

[@federinik77]

With normal use without going into mud or rain, how often should one need to treat the shoes that way?

[@sarafritsch123]

Does this work only on full grain leather? My shoes are a corrected grain and don’t really absorb leather conditioner that well, but I wanna shine em!

[@mdm5891]

I think it's important to make a distinction between shoe cream and shoe wax and how to apply them. To me you should use your hands to apply the shoe cream which allows to give a "massage" to the leather. The shoe cream needs to enter the leather, and by using your hands you can really feel the leather absorbing it. On the other hand, the shoe wax should not penetrate the leather, it is meant as an external shield. Using a brush or cloth for that step makes more sense I believe. Just my humble opinion. Cheers!

[@adriaulia8105]

Martin De Moor Totally agree with you dude

[@mdm5891]

@@adriaulia8105 Happy to hear that! ;)

[@lidluser1876]

Great tutorial, i love this channel

[@DanielLee1]

What should I do if I’ve only just learned about all of this and the black shoes I currently have (which are new) have been polished with just the mirror gloss and nothing else? Should I strip that off and start fresh? Surely everything I try to do with the toe tip at this point, wont actually get applied to the leather, but to the Mirror Gloss…

[@SoXFireBlade]

Fantastic video! how long should i wait for each coat of wax?

[@TrentonHeath]

Fouad AL-Hatlan After the first couple of coats, just wait until it dries to a haze. After that, as you apply the very light coats, there isn’t a wait time. You’ll lightly rub the wax/water mixture together on the toes/heels until it comes to a shine. Then, you’ll do it again and again until you get the shine you want. Hope that makes sense.

[@giovannisynthesis]

Is it ok for the brush to have conditioner, cream polish , n wax? Do you clean the brush? Or the more you use it the better it gets?

[@jasonanthonyschultz5672]

Did you use more Pate de Luxe after you used the Mirror Gloss? How many coats of the Mirror Gloss did you put on?

[@timsmith1589]

Looking sharp

[@pauljaramillo4350]

If I'm just starting to shine my shoes. What should I purchase to get that mirror shine?

[@denning2781]

How do you strip off old wax so that you can apply conditioner to the shoe? I know u can you safir renovator but is there a cheaper alternative?

[@bro4297]

I have cole haan shoes with the close cell leather. Would I go that many steps of wax?