Have I ruined my new shoes already?

[FintheFox]

I decided to shine my shoes. I am not happy with the way it turned out and there were a couple of darker spots on them. Did I apply too much shoe polish? I think I matched the color fairly well. I have never worked with brown shoes before, only black - and that was years ago. Most of the darker spots came away with some elbow grease - but I didn't want to work the leather too hard in case I was going to rub off a factory finish or something. Have I already ruined my shoes? Or is this something I can correct? I used Kiwi polish, a brush, and a rag. I did spray them afterwards with a water protector spray. I did notice several dark spots showed up when I sprayed, but went away when the shoe dried. Is this going to happen every time the shoe gets wet? Is there a way to prevent this?

 

[mixProtocol]

It looks like you may have applied the wrong color polish. For lighter shoes, the rule of thumb is to typically use a lighter-colored polish than the shoes themselves. Saddle soap could likely remove the polish and allow you to start over. For those shoes, I'd use either a light tan or neutral polish. Also, you might want to ask your question in the "Official Shoecare thread"....

 

[Fred G. Unn]

Bicycle square toed loafers? Not sure if serious.

 

[Friskydingo]

Shoes were ruined before you even bought them.

 

[gyalos]

a happy accident

 

[GBR]

I would not fret, they are quite wearable as they are now - if you really must.