I should of said when choosing a combo just try it on an smallish area until your satisfied with the result then use that over the rest of the vehicle.
As you say they are aggressive products but however when compounding on any colour you,ll always need to refine . Detailers will use different types of lighting to encapture all the defects left behind , usually alot the human eye will never see.
Yes even with pics its hard to comment , just one thought are the two products you used fairly opposite in scale? You may still of not got the gloss out enough with the compounding, or maybe the refining stage cannot cut back enough of the marks left by compounding.
Sometimes it can take 3 stages , or different methods within the stages you,ve used.
Do you use a halogen when machining?