SHOES--KITTEN HEELS, COMFORT & LOGISTICS -- PERFECT TOGETHER

Trying new brands, especially with shoes is something I like doing. However, buying shoes online means not trying them on to feel the fit. Since I'm not keen on returning items-- takes too much time and effort, I need to be very eager to try the new brand or be in a daring mood before clicking on the shoes and buying them. About a month ago, after researching comfortable shoes, I took a leap of faith and purchased a pair of shoes from VIVAIA.

While reading various articles about comfortable shoes, I came across the brand VIVAIA. Wow there are articles aplenty written about this brand! Where

was I that I was not aware of this brand until a month ago? The articles discussed the super comfort, the range of styles and color offerings.

Particularly interesting is VIVAIA's focus on sustainability. The shoes, varying by style are made from recycled plastic bottles, hemp, rice husks, recycled faux fur and natural rubber. The packaging (shoe boxes) is made from 90% recycled cardboard and 10% regular cardboard packaging. The shoes are machine washable, though I don't think I'd ever try doing that.

In a daring mood, I dipped my toes into VIVAIA and opted for the $97 Melia style, a pointed toe d'Orsay style flat in black. Check it out: https://rb.gy/insec Within a week I received these shoes. I love them. Great comfortable fit and a nice deep shade. At ease with the fit, I decided to buy another pair of VIVAIA shoes. I know fit within a brand could vary among different styles, so with fingers and toes crossed I ordered the shoes shown in this post. The $129 black kitten heel named Natasha with a bow checked all the boxes: small kitten heel, pointed toe and elegant bow. See these lovely shoes above in this post.

Being eager to have these shoes, when I

received notice the order was being processed I started tracking it. Unlike other tracking updates received from other internet companies, this tracking showed the origination of the shoes.

The order tracking let me know they were in Dongguan, China. I do not know if VIVAIA manufactures in Dongguan or it is just a point in the company's logistics mission. Once I saw Dongguan I was hooked on tracking the order. Take a look at the portions I highlighted in green It is remarkable seeing the pair of shoes arrived at the airport in China, cleared US Customs and by the next day the shoes were delivered to the local courier. I love this logistics transparency!

Within a day or two, I received the shoes that were securely and efficiently packed. The outer wrap, tightly secured around the shoe box cutely announced "I'm Here." Please see photo below. Natasha is another great VIVAIA shoe for me.

It was amazing that from the time ordered, it took only about eight days to receive a pair of shoes shipped from Dongguan, China to me in New York City. The order was easy to track and of course the best part is: The shoe fits and I've been wearing and enjoying the Natasha style ever since receiving the shipment.

Do you buy shoes online? If so, do you buy brands you already own, or brands want to try? How successful are you with buying shoes without first trying them on?

IF THE SHOE FITS...IT IS THE AGL BRAND

With temperatures reaching the mid 80's in New York City last week, it prompted me to change up my comfortable low block heel booties for walking around to putting on shoes- with a low heel - meaning flats. I found a pair of flats in my closet. They looked sad and worn. But I thought it meant they were broken in and would be comfortable. However, while wearing the shoes on Thursday they felt uncomfortable and I concluded new flats were in order. These old shoes served me well and it was time for them to step aside.

Looking again in my closet on Thursday night, realizing I hadn't purchased flats for daily walking since 2021, I decided to start looking for comfortable leather flats the next day. I decided the flat style I'd look for would be a ballet style, and if possible, with a pointy toe.

Brands such as Mansur Gavriel, Repetto and Tory Burch, to name a few have been well regarded so I thought I'd try to locate those brands. Though feet change over time and shoes that others highly recommend are not the best for all I decided to keep an open mind.

On Friday I made it to the New York City Nordstrom store to look for comfortable ballet flats. Nordstrom is known for its huge shoe offerings. Though the selection in the New York City store is not as extensive as the range available on the Nordstrom website, I wasn't deterred. If I didn't find the shoes during the trip it would still be a good use of time as as it would be a chance to see shoe styles and colors I might not had not seen before and would keep me up to date with shoe brands and trends.

The selection of ballet flats in the Nordstrom lower level shoe department was mediocre. That did not matter because only one pair needed to be attractive, to fit and to be comfortable. I asked the sales associate to see three pairs of flats. Then I told him what I was looking for and asked him for his help. He happily went searching.

After trying on about eight pairs of flats the choices were narrowed down to two, each with pros and cons.

The runner up was the shoe in the bottom of this post, the Veronica Beard Champlain Chain Pointed Toe Flat. In addition to a great fit, the major attractive part was that it was pointy. I have other Veronica Beard shoes so I felt it would be a contender. The deterrent was that the leather seemed too elegant to stand up against my feet pounding the pavement. The shoe deserves better care than I can give it.

I purchased the shoe shown at the top of the post. It is the AGL Monika Cap Toe Ballet Flat. After I walked around the shoe department with them on for a few minutes, I knew these would be a great option to consider and then it became my purchase. Yes, the shoe fits! The pros were many: leather sole, leather lining, leather uppers and a patent leather cap toe. The only downside is that it is a round toe. With the exception of the toe shape, the AGL Monika checked all boxes I was looking for in buying these shoes.

I left Nordstrom happy, especially since these were not the only shoes I purchased at the time! The sales associate provided nice thoughtful service.

Do you have recommendations for flats, or other types of shoes for walking on city streets?

A HAIRY SITUATION...AND THEN A SOLUTION!

There are thousands of hair care products for a variety of hair needs. Choosing which products such as shampoos, styling products and serums to purchase is confusing and deciding which one to buy is even more challenging as there is a range of ingredients and price points for each product.

Once a reliable hair product is found and loved, it is smooth sailing. For instance, until recently I have been using Oribe's shampoo for beautiful color for quite some time. Every now and then I took a break from it tried other brands such as Christophe Robin and Phyto. After receiving samples of R+Co's Bleu line from Bluemercury, it has become another favorite. The majority of times when I've tried hair care and beauty samples I don't end up buying the product. But in this case I did. A win for the brand and a win for me.

Months ago I went looking to replenish a great hair product manufactured by the brand Living Proof. I had been using the product called body builder as a dry shampoo. Though the product was not labeled or promoted as a dry shampoo I used it that way because it did just what it was called. It built body within my dirty / oily hair. My hair loved body builder. From time to time I tried products in the dry shampoo category. But then went back to Living Proof's body builder. Needing to restock went to quickly pick up several cans at a local store. I didn't see it on the shelf and when I went looking for it on line I could not find it. I contacted Living Proof and was told body builder was discontinued. It gave me the names of a few Living Proof substitute products. I tried them but didn't become a fan of any of them.

Since learning body builder was discontinued I tried about a dozen dry shampoos. None of them measured up to body builder so my search continued. The other day while in my local Sephora, I looked at the store's relatively small hair care section. I came across a collection of hair products manufactured by Vegamour, a vegan products company. I recalled reading about a year ago in Women's Wear Daily that Nicole Kidman became an investor in the Company. I did not remember much more than it was a vegan company.

While in Sephora I read some of the information on a few of the Vegamour products. I bought a shampoo which I have not yet used. I also bought the Vegamour GRO dry shampoo. (Image of product is in this post) It has checked the boxes and worked nicely on my hair and satisfied I won't have to keep searching for a dry shampoo product. I'm open though to try other brands as unsure how long this one will be available!

Impressed with the results I've done some hasty research on Vegamour. It started in 2016 and according to the Los Angeles Business Journal, from 2019 to 2021 revenues grew 1,900%. Based on my light research efforts I see I'm late to the Vegamour brand. The brand sells more than shampoo and related hair care products. It also sells brow and lash serums. It has been the subject of articles in publications and websites such as Vogue, People and Allure to name a few. Vegamour is still new to me. Looking forward to learning more. Have you tried any of this brand's products?