I had never owned a pair of brown leather shoes or boots until a couple of years ago, having required black boots in Corrections and the Police. Now with several pairs in differing shades of brown I do something similar to the black polish on brown, but use different tones of brown polish. This gives a real depth (not sure if patina is the right word) and character to the leather that I find very appealing. Incidentally my oldest son joined the Australian Navy Cadets last year and his PO advised against Kiwi Parade Gloss for spit polishing, and to use the regular Kiwi black.