My work shoes were “bulled” for every day of my RAF service, just under 20 yrs (must have been mad!). And I was a pilot too, not an admin wallah! 
As an instructor at RAFC Cranwell DIOT, the shoes had to be top notch.
I can still take a brand new pair of shoes & get a mirror finish on the toe caps in less than one hr. Yellow dusters of good quality have been fine - make sure that it is a “thicker” material rather than a basic quality “thin” one. Never used cotton wool.
Technique is, as mentioned previously, everything. Initially, an excess of water is no big issue (always apply polish sparingly - Parade Gloss for me), but as you build up the layers, slowly reducing the amount of water & polish is vital. Personally, I would put an ice cube in the water to ensure that the polish hardened quickly. That said, the warmth of your finger tip is part of the process to blend everything in.
I was shown (& used) the full bees wax treatment by someone on QCS (my shoes had 3 layers of leather on the soles for rigidity + horseshoe heel & metal toecap), but this is probably far too much of a technique for basic cadet shoes. However, I would use a mixture of bees wax + black polish as a base layer on cadet shoes, smoothed over using the back of a heated spoon (the technique for that is a separate post in itself!). I would very carefully melt this onto the toe cap using a camping stove in order to get a smooth finish.
Red/brown polish = a load of horse poo as far as I’m concerned, never used it or knew anyone else who did. Likewise, with a reducing amount of water/polish, you won’t need a water rinse of any kind.
If the toes caps got scratched, I would brush polish them to give a good “keyed” surface for the new polish. Renewed in less than 10 mins.
This clip gives a good idea of the technique required to assess the water/polish aspects:
