I read somewhere that wax is like hand moistureizer...you want it IN your hands, but not ON it. You rub it in, but you don't want globs of white crap on your hands. Its sounds counter productive, to put the wax on, and scrape it off, and keep brushing until its all off, but it works. And plus, those "mini scratches" are good, cause a perfectly smooth base isnt fast. Thats why people, including myself have a "structure" in their base.