Good video! As an individual who was both in Honor Guards and Bands in the military (Army), before synthetic leather footwear was approved for these outfits, and was expected to present to a higher level, I would only mirror shine the front of the shoe or boot to the first cracking/flex point and then the heel. I was never called out on this practice. Mind you, the rest of the boot or shoe was well shined but not to a mirror finish. An old boy who ran a small shop as a shoe and boot repairer/cobbler showed my young self how to do this. In return, I always bought my shoe supplies from him and each year I would take my shoes and boots to him so he could spiff them up for me (whether they needed it or not). I would also come into his shop now and again, just before closing time, with a bottle of bourbon and shoot the sh*t with him. He was very reasonably priced and a heck of a nice man.
Another informative and calming video 💕 Getting my husband a pair of TLB Mallorca for Christmas on your previous recommendation...he loves a good Chelsea boot
"Thank You", for the explanation and examples you provided, to prove and validate your reasoning of the toe tip mirror glass shine. I'm a firm believer now! Again, thank you for your professional knowledge on this subject matter and for sharing!
I like to also add a high shine (maybe not mirror) to the quarters, around the eyelets, especially on Derbys. There's still some flexing there, but not much. To me it adds a nice balance between the mirror shined toe and heal.
The trick we did in the military is to buy shoes 1/2 to one size larger; that way the crack would be right above the laces and not noticeable. These boots of course were only worn for formations, inspections, parades etc not for serious walking.
I remember an old adage, “toe shine is no shine.” Now I think in a world where we’re busier and the shoes worn are more sophisticated in design, the toe shine looks good where there’s a capped toe.
I am a recent viewer/subscriber to your RUclips presentations. Great information. Thankyou. I recently saw your cheat attempt with hairspray. I don't know if anyone else has mentioned another cheat for a mirror shine for the toe of the shoes/boots so I'll mention it anyway. By using a few coats, with a small soft paint brush, of Long Life High Gloss Floor Polish you can also achieve a long lasting high sheen if you are in a hurry, as many cadets, trainees are.
I used to carry nylon stocking back in field training, for remedy purposes of correcting the flaking by brushing with the nylon. Worked like gangbusters
I can always produce a perfect mirror shine. Only ever had one failure; a pair of John Lobb City 2 shoes. The toe box was so soft, as soon as I walked they went 'crazy paving'.
While the video is fine... I don't think you made a strong enough argument with your demonstration to convince the "shine the whole shoe" crowd. I know you don't want to totally cake the vamp of your good shoes but what I think would have been good to do would be to totally mirror shine the entire shoe, lacing and soles included, and then walk around in them for an hour.... I did that once, and my shoes looked like a smashed window with dandruff, and it was visible from 6ft away. Additionally, even after brushing all the excess off, it would still produce horrible cracked polish every time I walked in them for months until I finally used a solvent to properly remove it all.
I just tried my first mirror polish and it turned out pretty good thanks to your tutorials and a few others! I was wondering if I need to remove the wax polish in order to condition the leather down the line since it seems like it would block the conditioner from getting to the leather and soaking in. Or can I just condition, cream polish, and then mirror polish as I did this time?
Man the colr of those shoes is freakin beautiful . I wear brown leather square toe cowboy boots are able to get a mirror shine? Normally not touching my boots but my new ones have a shell cordovan whiskey color an I'd really like to see what they look like mirror shined
Do you use boot trees? If not, I strongly suggest that you invest in some, prior to attempting a mirror shine. Not only is it good for the boots, but it's much easier to mirror shine shoes and boots that have trees in them. I recently purchased boot trees for my Tecovas, and they make the whole boot care regimen much easier, and yes, you can buy trees specifically for square toe boots!
@@calebmalinowski7183 Thanks. Was thinking that might be the case. I'll simply say that I bought it for stripping paint. That'll avoid any suspicion. This shoe malarkey: a perversion I'd rather keep as a dark secret.
@@calebmalinowski7183 That's not necessarily so! It all depends on the wattage of the hairdryer. The higher the wattage, the greater the heat! Preston used to use his wife's hairdryer to remove old wax from shoes he was working on. Yes, the heat gun puts out greater heat, but you also have to be *much* more careful!!🔥
@@brookeggleston9314 that’s cool! whatever works for you, personally I wasn’t able to find a hairdryer that had the level of heat needed to melt wax. I’ve used a heat gun on hundreds of pairs and it’s very safe, there are certain instances were you wouldn’t want to use it. One would be cheap shoes with bad countering. The heat can break down the adhesive in the countering.
Here in the uk they use melted beeswax that is brushed on, then a flame is used to harden it. Would that alleviate any cracking as it makes the boot hard? So the whole boot is like the toe area and is then polished.
I’ve never tried beeswax but it might work as long as it doesn’t harden enough to crack. If the whole boot hardens, it would make walking impossible. Felixing is just a natural part of walking.
@@TheElegantOxford they only use that technique on dress boots for the royal grenadiers especially. I don’t think the boot hardens enough that it can’t flex at all. Otherwise the queens guards feet must kill after marching all day😂
@@TheElegantOxford check out "How To | Polishing boots | British Army" on youtube, I want to see your reaction to it... I'm not sure I'm ready to stuff my shoes with sand just yet, I think shoe trees will do xD
@@carlslater8843 the boots are definitely not comfortable to wear, but you get used to marching in hardened boots and they do slightly flex over time. The hardest in particular, though, is walking down stairs. You have to go sideways!
Hmm…I’d say no. Once a shoe is lasted, reducing sizes might be too hard. Although I’m sure it can be done by someone like Bedo’s Leather Works, it would be $$$$
Great video! Was waiting for one like this. It seems like most shoeshine videos show beautiful mirror shines on brand new shoes which is a far contrast to what most of us have. The flex points really need to be avoided when you mirror shine or you'll end up with a shattered-mirror mess! I like to wear my shoes with a basic shine (before I mirror shine) for a while so I can clearly see where the flexing will occur. Question: If one goes too far with the mirror shine and you continually get cracking even after "fixing" the shine, is the only option to remove with Reno'Mat, for example, and start again with less layers?
You don’t even have to use renomat. Just melt the wax down really well and wipe it completely off with a rag. You can actually get it all off with that method if you use a few passes
@@TheElegantOxford before I learned the hairdryer trick from you I went too far with rènomat on the toe cap amd took off the factory finish. Lesson learned.
@@josephheinecke1992 I thank you, and others like you! Because of *your* errors with Renomat, I managed to avoid those problems! Reading the comments on this channel has taught me nearly as much as Preston has!✨
Please help! I mirror shined a new pair of AE strands. Then the next day I wanted it to be shinier. I didn’t do it correctly and burned the pigment right off the heel of the shoe. 🤦🏼♂️ I’m trying to add cream polish but it looks horrible. What would you recommend?
You haven’t burned anything. That’s called a dry spot. It happens when you mirror shine incorrectly. Please see my tutorial on RUclips called fixing the dry spot.
@@TheElegantOxford yeah I was a little freaked out when I commented that lol 🤦🏼♂️ I’ve watched nearly all of your mirror shine videos and followed your techniques. They look awesome now!! Thank you for replying!! Hard to do with so many people trying to ask question. Have a good one sir!
@@mahreeohhhh To my knowledge it only comes in that finish. But if a leather has a matte finish like that, regardless of the leather type, you should not try to mirror shine it. Cheers!
Hi! Great video. questions: same thing for Cordovan?. I use Saphir Médaille d’Or Cordovan Cream Shoe Polish cordovan 71 (burgundy color, no black ) I use first the Cream from Saphir then what pate de luxe will you advice? also mirror gloss ? even using water? so I guess the question is it exactly the same process for Cordovan (cordovan 71 color)? did not see in Saphir any pate de luxe specifically for Cordovan....THANKS
@@TheElegantOxford That's fantastic news! It seems the new factory will try to produce the exact same thing, but we'll see how it will turn out, the first months may be chaotic...
I absolutely shine the entire shoe, just we did in the military. Harder polishes like Mirror Gloss will flake off, but you brush them away. Shiny toe caps and matte vamps look relatively terrible. Edit: Also, strongly disagree that military boots are low quality. Civilian "military style" boots are low quality. But actual Danners or Rocky boots are remarkable.
Hey JJ, I don’t think military boots are low quality per se, I just think they pale in comparison to what the dress shoe world offers. I think you can shine an entire military boot and not worry about it, I just wouldn’t do it to a pair of high end dress shoes. Leather quality and welting alone surpass the common cemented military boot. They are simply built for different reasons but there’s nothing wrong with military boots either.
Hey Scott. The grained hippopotamus leather is ethically sourced and certified by CITIES (Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species). The Hippo skin is only sourced from Hippos that died of natural causes. White tiger suede would be crazy. I’m sure it exists though
I DO watch all of your videos. Thanks for the reminder, though. Have a wonderful Christmas!
You’re a true fan Perry! Thanks for watching!
Good video! As an individual who was both in Honor Guards and Bands in the military (Army), before synthetic leather footwear was approved for these outfits, and was expected to present to a higher level, I would only mirror shine the front of the shoe or boot to the first cracking/flex point and then the heel. I was never called out on this practice. Mind you, the rest of the boot or shoe was well shined but not to a mirror finish. An old boy who ran a small shop as a shoe and boot repairer/cobbler showed my young self how to do this. In return, I always bought my shoe supplies from him and each year I would take my shoes and boots to him so he could spiff them up for me (whether they needed it or not). I would also come into his shop now and again, just before closing time, with a bottle of bourbon and shoot the sh*t with him. He was very reasonably priced and a heck of a nice man.
Another informative and calming video 💕 Getting my husband a pair of TLB Mallorca for Christmas on your previous recommendation...he loves a good Chelsea boot
"Thank You", for the explanation and examples you provided, to prove and validate your reasoning of the toe tip mirror glass shine. I'm a firm believer now! Again, thank you for your professional knowledge on this subject matter and for sharing!
I like to also add a high shine (maybe not mirror) to the quarters, around the eyelets, especially on Derbys. There's still some flexing there, but not much.
To me it adds a nice balance between the mirror shined toe and heal.
The trick we did in the military is to buy shoes 1/2 to one size larger; that way the crack would be right above the laces and not noticeable. These boots of course were only worn for formations, inspections, parades etc not for serious walking.
It's why I had Corcoran Jump Boots for inspections and the like. They held a shine like no other military boot.
Thanks, Preston. Great video and appreciate the tip on “feathering.”
I remember an old adage, “toe shine is no shine.” Now I think in a world where we’re busier and the shoes worn are more sophisticated in design, the toe shine looks good where there’s a capped toe.
Your tips are good and thanks for the lessons. P.S. your tip on the military techniques is true this from a 12-year service in 2 armies.
I usually mirror shine the cap toe a little bit on the back part and that's all
You are a patient man👍🏽
Thank you for watching my videos. Kind Regards
Beautiful shoes, merry Christmas Preston.
I am a recent viewer/subscriber to your RUclips presentations. Great information. Thankyou. I recently saw your cheat attempt with hairspray. I don't know if anyone else has mentioned another cheat for a mirror shine for the toe of the shoes/boots so I'll mention it anyway. By using a few coats, with a small soft paint brush, of Long Life High Gloss Floor Polish you can also achieve a long lasting high sheen if you are in a hurry, as many cadets, trainees are.
Very good point.
My previous comment on another video was answered here about polishing the whole shoe vs just the toe cap
Thank you for this video. I just started using wax. I kept it only on the toe cap. I did not know that the vamp could be waxed safely as well.
Thank you for explaining, I used to think that either the leather is cheap or it needs more conditioner.
Thank you amazing tutorial and amazing practical information
I used to carry nylon stocking back in field training, for remedy purposes of correcting the flaking by brushing with the nylon. Worked like gangbusters
Great insight. Never really thought about it but I have wondered.
Preston, I'm wondering why you haven't entered the World Shoe Shining Competition yet. You would kill it!
I can always produce a perfect mirror shine. Only ever had one failure; a pair of John Lobb City 2 shoes. The toe box was so soft, as soon as I walked they went 'crazy paving'.
Happy New Year to your family!
Wow beautiful!
While the video is fine... I don't think you made a strong enough argument with your demonstration to convince the "shine the whole shoe" crowd.
I know you don't want to totally cake the vamp of your good shoes but what I think would have been good to do would be to totally mirror shine the entire shoe, lacing and soles included, and then walk around in them for an hour.... I did that once, and my shoes looked like a smashed window with dandruff, and it was visible from 6ft away. Additionally, even after brushing all the excess off, it would still produce horrible cracked polish every time I walked in them for months until I finally used a solvent to properly remove it all.
Mirror shine is not a matter of taste, but of ability. Not everyone can obtain a decent shine. 😉
I just tried my first mirror polish and it turned out pretty good thanks to your tutorials and a few others! I was wondering if I need to remove the wax polish in order to condition the leather down the line since it seems like it would block the conditioner from getting to the leather and soaking in. Or can I just condition, cream polish, and then mirror polish as I did this time?
Question. How does one start as a shoe shinner? Where do you begin? I super want to do this!
💯💯💯 great video
You apply wax with your fingers? How long does it take to wash your hands?
Love your videos, pls were can I find the first brown shoe? Went on Yeossal website and this model isn’t available…
In your opinion what is the best high shine cotton chamois to use? Great video and content with the best information.
Crazy question, can you mirror shine leather winter boots?
Man the colr of those shoes is freakin beautiful . I wear brown leather square toe cowboy boots are able to get a mirror shine? Normally not touching my boots but my new ones have a shell cordovan whiskey color an I'd really like to see what they look like mirror shined
Do you use boot trees? If not, I strongly suggest that you invest in some, prior to attempting a mirror shine. Not only is it good for the boots, but it's much easier to mirror shine shoes and boots that have trees in them. I recently purchased boot trees for my Tecovas, and they make the whole boot care regimen much easier, and yes, you can buy trees specifically for square toe boots!
How often do you recommend to shine your shoe??
I like how I'm waching this video whilst mirror shining the whole shoe of my black cap-toe oxfords. Forgive me, please.
great video
Quick question: I see that you use a heat gun. Would a cheap (non-commercial) home hairdryer do? Thinking it might not put out enough heat.
Not enough heat, with the heat gun it will liquify the wax.
@@calebmalinowski7183 Thanks. Was thinking that might be the case. I'll simply say that I bought it for stripping paint. That'll avoid any suspicion. This shoe malarkey: a perversion I'd rather keep as a dark secret.
@@calebmalinowski7183 That's not necessarily so! It all depends on the wattage of the hairdryer. The higher the wattage, the greater the heat! Preston used to use his wife's hairdryer to remove old wax from shoes he was working on. Yes, the heat gun puts out greater heat, but you also have to be *much* more careful!!🔥
@@brookeggleston9314 Thanks. I'll remember that, as I experiment on an old pair of shoes first.
@@brookeggleston9314 that’s cool! whatever works for you, personally I wasn’t able to find a hairdryer that had the level of heat needed to melt wax. I’ve used a heat gun on hundreds of pairs and it’s very safe, there are certain instances were you wouldn’t want to use it. One would be cheap shoes with bad countering. The heat can break down the adhesive in the countering.
SHOE SHINE ASMR Relaxing 👞👞👞
Here in the uk they use melted beeswax that is brushed on, then a flame is used to harden it. Would that alleviate any cracking as it makes the boot hard? So the whole boot is like the toe area and is then polished.
I’ve never tried beeswax but it might work as long as it doesn’t harden enough to crack.
If the whole boot hardens, it would make walking impossible. Felixing is just a natural part of walking.
@@TheElegantOxford they only use that technique on dress boots for the royal grenadiers especially. I don’t think the boot hardens enough that it can’t flex at all. Otherwise the queens guards feet must kill after marching all day😂
@@TheElegantOxford check out "How To | Polishing boots | British Army" on youtube, I want to see your reaction to it... I'm not sure I'm ready to stuff my shoes with sand just yet, I think shoe trees will do xD
@@carlslater8843 the boots are definitely not comfortable to wear, but you get used to marching in hardened boots and they do slightly flex over time. The hardest in particular, though, is walking down stairs. You have to go sideways!
I want to ask…. Is that possible to reduce the size of boots by changing the soles ???!!!
Hmm…I’d say no. Once a shoe is lasted, reducing sizes might be too hard.
Although I’m sure it can be done by someone like Bedo’s Leather Works, it would be $$$$
Great video! Was waiting for one like this. It seems like most shoeshine videos show beautiful mirror shines on brand new shoes which is a far contrast to what most of us have. The flex points really need to be avoided when you mirror shine or you'll end up with a shattered-mirror mess! I like to wear my shoes with a basic shine (before I mirror shine) for a while so I can clearly see where the flexing will occur. Question: If one goes too far with the mirror shine and you continually get cracking even after "fixing" the shine, is the only option to remove with Reno'Mat, for example, and start again with less layers?
You don’t even have to use renomat. Just melt the wax down really well and wipe it completely off with a rag.
You can actually get it all off with that method if you use a few passes
@@TheElegantOxford before I learned the hairdryer trick from you I went too far with rènomat on the toe cap amd took off the factory finish. Lesson learned.
@@josephheinecke1992 I thank you, and others like you! Because of *your* errors with Renomat, I managed to avoid those problems! Reading the comments on this channel has taught me nearly as much as Preston has!✨
SHOE SHINE ASMR Relaxing 👞👞👞👍
@@brookeggleston9314 yep, that's the value of these communities👍👍
Please help! I mirror shined a new pair of AE strands. Then the next day I wanted it to be shinier. I didn’t do it correctly and burned the pigment right off the heel of the shoe. 🤦🏼♂️ I’m trying to add cream polish but it looks horrible. What would you recommend?
You haven’t burned anything. That’s called a dry spot. It happens when you mirror shine incorrectly. Please see my tutorial on RUclips called fixing the dry spot.
@@TheElegantOxford yeah I was a little freaked out when I commented that lol 🤦🏼♂️ I’ve watched nearly all of your mirror shine videos and followed your techniques. They look awesome now!! Thank you for replying!! Hard to do with so many people trying to ask question. Have a good one sir!
Your videos awsome.
Thank you! I appreciate it!
Can confirm, military spend 1-2 hours shining every day.
Can you mirror shine hippopotamus leather? Inquiring minds want to know
The hippo leather has a suede like finish so you would not want to use anything besides the Saphir suede care products.
@@calebmalinowski7183 It should definitely be called hippopotamus suede then.
@@mahreeohhhh To my knowledge it only comes in that finish. But if a leather has a matte finish like that, regardless of the leather type, you should not try to mirror shine it.
Cheers!
In the Air Force, we mirror shined the toes and the heels
Toe and heel for me always and everyday.
make a cursed image and mirror shine the toe of a suede shoe???? kinda hurt to even suggest this..... lolz
Haha believe it or not some guys actually wax their suede. It just looks wet and darker at the front. I don’t like it but some people do haha
I did love to see setting crease on shoes with a pencil.
Hi just wondering but would you fix a cracked toe cap in the same way or is there another method
Pretty sure he has a video for that...have a search👍.
What if the toe part to mirror shine doesn’t have any defined stitching area, then how far should one mirror shine the toe area? No capped toe.
Hi! Great video. questions: same thing for Cordovan?. I use Saphir Médaille d’Or Cordovan Cream Shoe Polish cordovan 71 (burgundy color, no black )
I use first the Cream from Saphir then what pate de luxe will you advice? also mirror gloss ? even using water? so I guess the question is it exactly the same process for Cordovan (cordovan 71 color)? did not see in Saphir any pate de luxe specifically for Cordovan....THANKS
Ok
Personally I like the contrast of the toe shine only.
Sure thing! It’s hard to beat the glass toe!
Sadly JR will go out of business in the beginning of next year :c
They'll be missed...
It’s so unfortunate! They were luckily purchased by another competitor so they will remain in business but under a new brand
@@TheElegantOxford That's fantastic news! It seems the new factory will try to produce the exact same thing, but we'll see how it will turn out, the first months may be chaotic...
I absolutely shine the entire shoe, just we did in the military. Harder polishes like Mirror Gloss will flake off, but you brush them away. Shiny toe caps and matte vamps look relatively terrible.
Edit: Also, strongly disagree that military boots are low quality. Civilian "military style" boots are low quality. But actual Danners or Rocky boots are remarkable.
Hey JJ,
I don’t think military boots are low quality per se, I just think they pale in comparison to what the dress shoe world
offers. I think you can shine an entire military boot and not worry about it, I just wouldn’t do it to a pair of high end dress shoes.
Leather quality and welting alone surpass the common cemented military boot. They are simply built for different reasons but there’s nothing wrong with military boots either.
Hippocampus leather? They’re a vulnerable species of wild animal. No white tiger suede?
Hey Scott. The grained hippopotamus leather is ethically sourced and certified by CITIES (Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species).
The Hippo skin is only sourced from Hippos that died of natural causes.
White tiger suede would be crazy. I’m sure it exists though