Minwax® PolyShades® Bombay Mahogany, Satin, Half Pint

I can't tell  you when I bought my Minwax Polyshade, there's always some left in the can from a previous use, it's the only product I use!  It always goes on smooth and cleans up nicely and the furniture looks beautiful!

I've only used Classic Black, (on kitchen cabinets) which I am guessing must be the easiest color with which to get consistent results. I applied two coats over existing poly. The oak wood grain looks great with the black satin. (Adding crown molding and satin hardware also helped). I believe most disappointed users are not carefully following the recommended application instructions.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Minwax® PolyShades® I was surprised how well this covered with the first coat. I did apply a second only because I wanted a deeper color and once it dried the sheen is amazing.I am hoping they will come out with addition colors as I have a few other projects that I would consider using this.

I'm a DIYer and have used stains & paints for 30 years. I bought this product and used it on end tables for my living room. Although, I DO get compliments on the end result, and it definitely "saved" time...I will go back to stain and poly as a separate product. I found polyshades more difficult to use and I had less ...control over the product...(if that makes sense)

I found this produce very hard to work with, perhaps because of the combination of stain and poly -- streaky colors and gummy application. Using steel wool between coats, (as directed) is a mistake, even after 7 hours of drying time as it sticks to some parts of the finish that were apparently not fully cured. I wish I'd stayed with the traditional two step strain and finish process.

Review Polyshade After using PolyShades all in one my choice is to strip the oak table and chairs again or trash them PolyShades was blotchy and uneven. Unfortunately, this all-in-one polyurethane stain cannot be adjusted the way regular stain can be. This stuff is impossible to apply without the finish looking as though a 5-year-old did it. It's globby, uneven and just plain awful to use. It's almost as though it clots. I've refinished many pieces over the years but nothing has failed like this project has. I spent well over 20 hours stripping and sanding (3 steps to 240). I used Minwax prep, and several good brushes for the poly before I switched to a cotton cloth application. I applied three light coats. Then four...sanding lightly between each with a 240-grit sandpaper and then tacking for dust. My hope was that this would even out with more applications. It didn't. Too bad because it was a beautiful piece. Now I wonder if it is even salvageable. Very disappointed in the product and would rate it less than one star if I could.

purchased the polyshade stain in mahogany. Three coats to get the dark shade I wanted,. (staining oak kitchen cabinets). I did this on an extra cabinet door I had to see if I would like it and make sure not to difficult since I have never done this before. Did not like the shine on the door. I purchased the satin but it dried with a high gloss finish. I don't want this type of finish on my kitchen cabinets to show the imperfections of the cabinets. Going to try gel stain from a different manufacture.

I bought two of the satin finish espresso cans. One came out satin, the second is very obviously NOT satin and the can was mislabeled so now I need to sand it down buy another can and start over so the table matches the chairs I already did. Quality control is lacking.

Bought a quart of Polyshades American Chestnut satin at Home Depot. Used it on our brand new barn doors. It is a terrible product. Not at all easy to apply, and difficult to get a good finish. The end result looked horrible. We spent two days sanding it off the doors. What a HUGE disaster. Cost us a tremendous amount of time and money.

I chose the PolyShades product because the the "Honey" stain color in the brochure matched exactly to the wood moldings I was trying to match. This color oddly was not available as a traditional oil based stain through Minwax. So, we decided to try the PolyShades route. Big mistake! It is so splotchy. Although I am no where close to an expert, I have used Minwax stains and poly on various projects for the last 20 years. This PolyShades product needs to be removed from their lineup. It is horrible. It is inconsistent, splotchy, and does not look anything like the color it is supposed to be. I also did use the Minwax wood conditioner. I spent 2 days stripping my door to bare wood before this product. I am going to have to strip it again. We are very unhappy with the product, but would still use the traditional Minwax stain and poly.