I had a day off today, and after lunch I decided to shine my black split toe shoes. I remember reading about the woes of seeing un-shined shoes, so I thought I'd put up my method. This isn't quick, but it'll give you a good mirrored shine.

First, I'll wash the shoes with gentle soap & water. Let them dry.

Next I take an old toothbrush and load it up with black Kiwi shoe polish. Before you apply the polish you want to spit a tiny bit onto the shoe. I find making a "t" sound over the shoe gives just the right amount of splatter. The spit lubricates the wax of the polish.

Get a nice thick layer over the shoe so it looks really hazy. Keep loading the brush to make sure you have enough. Do this a couple of times.

Then move to a soft (microfiber) cloth. I guess those dusting rags at the grocery would be good. I use the ones that came in the shoe shine kit my mom got me for Christmas. Wrap the cloth around your finger and load up some polish. Apply it in a circular motion. Go over it again and again using less polish each time.

You know you're done when you can see yourself in your shoe. It should take about an hour for each shoe. It took me 1:45 for the pair, but I've been doing it this way a while.

How about you? Does anyone out there have a special method for shoe shine?