Exciting New Discoveries!

So I'm flipping through a magazine and I see an ad for this:

(click photo for link to coupon)

Great googly-moogly! It's some sort of solid rub-on stuff that supposedly stops blisters from happening. Magic!! Sign me up!! This? Could change our lives. If it actually works it's going to take its place in the pantheon of All-Time Fab Inventions like those little padded thingies to put in your shoes and Spanx and Velcro and Frizz-Ease.

Now I just have to find some -- they didn't have it at my grocery store, and they're sold-out on Drugstore.com. If anyone sees it around town, gimme a heads-up. If I find some, I'm going to get extra & do a little giveaway here so someone else can try it.

The other thing I'm very intrigued by is this:


It's called a Smartheel and it's billed as a "revolutionary way to protect the heels of your shoes." (Click photo for link.) Now, I do love the idea of something that will keep my heels from getting scarred up -- because we all know I do not like the dinged-up shoes. I find that sometimes my fear of injuring my shoes interferes with my enjoyment of them. My blue Miu Miu mary janes were about the most comfortable (and fabulous) shoes I had on my trip to New York, but I was afraid to wear them walking around in the city for fear of scarring up that gorgeous patent leather. (While it's possible to have a heel re-covered so that it looks good as new, it's going to be much easier if it's a basic color such as black leather. I wasn't about to place any bets on an Austin shoe repair place being able to source exactly-matching blue patent.)

My shoes are lucky, because they live someplace where they aren't required to do a tremendous amount of walking -- Austin has a very automobile-based lifestyle, and valet parking is every high-heel-wearing gal's best friend. But Sian the English Rose can tell you horror stories about walking on the cobblestones of London (and provide you with shocking visual aids by way of a tragically injured pair of gorgeous red Louboutin d'orsay pumps... Sian, did you ever get those repaired?), and there are lots of places in the world where every day, beautiful shoes suffer a similar awful fate. So I've ordered a pair of these little gizmos to try in the name of research. They go for $9.95, and the shipping is free, so it seemed like it was worth it.

Now, in light of recent complaints on other blogs about "Payola" situations wherein bloggers are paid to express favorable opinions of products provided to them by perfume houses & other companies, let me assure you that such is not the case here. I stumbled across these bad boys completely on my own and am paying for them out of my own pocket. So far, my journalistic integrity is intact. However. If Mr. Blahnik were interested in setting up some sort of arrangement, I would just like to go on record right here as saying, Yeah, buddy. In a heartbeat. I will sell my soul & my soles for one pair of size 39.5 red Dodos or black patent Pangalas. You just try me.

I wish to be honest with everyone.

Back to the gizmos. They look fairly easy to use, so that's good. The down side, of course, is that they're... well, they're hideous, aren't they? Theoretically, one is supposed to snap the gizmos onto your shoes for the stroll to whatever fabulous event you're attending, and then when you get there, remove the gizmos and slip them into the cunning little carrying pouch that comes with your order. Theoretically. I don't honestly know if this is realistic. What do you guys think?

The other down side is that they have only one shape available as yet, and they won't work for every heel. Also, they don't recommend using them on shoes made of patent leather -- which caused a frown on my end and also made me wonder if they were appropriate for fabric. (The other pair of shoes I worry obsessively about when I wear them are these:


The heels are covered in the same printed silk as the rest of the shoe, and it's doubtful my cobbler is going to have any of that lying around, ya know?)

Other types of the gizmos are in development, according to the website. There's a little guide you can download & print up that tells you if your heels will fit into the gizmos, but I didn't bother. Surely somewhere in my shoe closet is a pair of shoes that will work. The odds are in my favor.

And speaking of shoes (as I so often am), I may have found a new shoe guy. I dropped off my poor mistreated low-heeled boots at a new (to me) shoe repair shop yesterday. I had a very nice conversation with the owner, who was extremely honest about what he could & couldn't do for the boots. I'll pick them up next week and report back. I'm hopeful and a little anxious. For me, a good shoe guy is right up there with a dentist who's gentle and a gynecologist I trust.

You laugh, but it's true.


Photos: drugstore.com, smartheel.com