I was cleaning the walls around my bed and I noticed a large shimmery smudge above where I light a candle sometimes, Google recommended cleaning walls off with a cloth dipped in some warm soapy water and rung out a bit, and then rinsing with a clean wash cloth that's a bit damp so I figured it'd work on the soot/smoke marks.

However this made it all so much worse. It wasn't visible before unless you were at the right angle, but now I've a much larger light grey stain on the wall. I spent about an hour and a half scrubbing at it and got it from dark, really noticeable grey to a light one that isnt as bad. I probably would have been better off trying to just wipe it away with tissue or something dry.

Any tips for cleaning it off? Right now the only thing I can think of is just painting over it again because the washcloths don't seem to be working, at this point I'm not even sure if it's lighter in colour because there's less of it or because it's just spread out more. I also tried one of those magic sponges which didn't really make a difference.

If I have to I'll repaint, but I'd like to avoid it if possible.