Heh heh, well...after those posts from
bert31 and
JasonC8301 I don't know if I really have all that much to add
Long-winded post follows anyhow....
Yeah, I just use Kiwi paste. My dress shoes never get all *that* nasty under normal circumstances, but now and then they *do*...graveside services in the rain can make for a real mess.
But with all those layers of Kiwi on there the shoes clean up with just a spritz of my old Tony Nancy Leather Cleaner (that 16 oz. bottle will probably last my whole life as I hardly ever need to use it). Note that the only time I use anything except plain water is when the shoes are far dirtier than dress shoes normally get. If you really need to clean them, I'd expect any leather/interior cleaner would work fine, just don't saturate them and do some kind of light rinsing to get it all off.
FWIW, the pro shine guys I learned spitshining from used some kind of nasty solvent to clean every pair of shoes before shining them
I was sure it'd destroy mine, but it never caused any harm that I could tell and 20+ years later I still have those shoes and they're still OK.
(Short history lesson: I got my shoes shined by pros for years, just couldn't duplicate their work and I enjoyed the whole experience anyhow, stopping by the shine parlor every Friday afternoon. When that shop closed I worked and worked to finally get close to their level of ability. Still takes me a lot longer to get that "near-patent" look and I can't get as close to "patent" as they got 'em; a guy there named Willie could shine shoes as well as I can do *anything* and I'm nowhere near his league.)
I basically do the spitshine the way all the articles/links say to do it. I rub the polish on with old terry dampened with water (note that Willie rubbed it in with his bare hands). I buff off the first one/two applications with old horsehair brushes (my dad bought 'em shortly after WWII) then I switch to old cotton towels (same way Willie did it). Spritz on some water, rub the polish in until it's basically gone, buff off the minimal haze, over and over and over again.
As I've posted before, the last time I sent a pair or AE shoes back for resoling I told them to refinish them if they thought it advisable. They wrote back that they didn't even try to *shine* them because I had them in such nice shape. Those shoes were (at that time) nearly 20 years old and had never been treated with anything except the Kiwi shoe polish. They have lots of creases from all the years of wear, but other than that they're in great shape.
On "dress casual" shoes I use either neutral shoe cream or, more recently Leather Master stuff. But I hardly ever bother treating them and they don't seem any the worse for this "neglect" (scare-quotes intentional as I have some pairs from ~1990 that are still in great shape). Considering that these can be rebuilt like dress shoes, it seems they can last pretty much forever even with no really involved care.
Cheapie casual shoes I seldom treat at all, I treat 'em like disposables (same as with athletic shoes). I'll clean them as needed and maybe do a quick pass like on the dress casual, but I really just abuse and neglect them...but they still seem to hold up/look OK until they get replaced over worn heels/soles anyhow.