Working by hand can't go wrong with good old Autoglym Super Resin follow it up with a decent sealnat/ and or wax.
yeah. nip down to halfrauds and grab a bottle of Super resin Polish, and one of Extra Gloss Protection. It took me agers before i wanted to start using wax, but you could try some. I use DODO Juice - Purple haze, Rich reccomended it to me and i find its easy to apply and it lasts quite a while.
If youve not kept the car polished or sealed for a while it might also be worth claying the thing too.
But like rich said, worth getting the autoglym products to start with. You might want to give it a wash with Meguirs Nxt gen wash too, its pretty good when it comes to stripping s**t off your car, but i wouldnt use it for a "quick wash" for that reason.