The eagle has landed

I made a post semi-recently about the only shoes I was really wanting lately (and was willing to rationalize). I saved up my Amex rewards points and armed myself with a gift card for Saks, because it's easiest to order from them in case I need to exchange (as I have a brick and mortar store here). Well, I ordered my gift card, waited for it to arrive... and then they sold out of my size. I called and called for days, weeks, bookmarked the site hoping my size would pop up. No such luck.

Finally, after about a month of periodic calling and stalking the website, a store in New Orleans had my size. Eureka! I called the store, and sure enough they were there. Except... I couldn't use my gift card over the phone. Really? Really. I couldn't find them anywhere else at this point, so I said send them anyhow.

If you'll recall, I also talked about the not-so-stellar service in the shoe department at my local Saks. Maybe they saw my blog post. Either way, the shoes arrived on Friday, I called and asked if I could return/rebuy so that I *could* use my gift card and they gave me the okay. I had really great customer service this time, and I don't have his card handy but I will update with his information. Incidentally, there were 5 pairs of Louboutins someone had returned from online. Who are you?! They were all my size-ish, and I got to try on some really cool pairs.

Initially I wanted these in black, but after seeing the nude patent on a fellow shoepal online, I changed my mind, and I didn't have a nude patent heel anyhow.

So, here are the nude patent Maudissimas. They are possibly the most unique style I've ever seen, and I'm so happy to be able to own them. I still love the black, so here's hoping they go on super sale.

Christian Louboutin Maudissima pump in Nude Patent, S/S 2011, shown with Jonathan Aston knee-highs

I couldn't help but take a million gratuitous pictures of these shoes (including with knee-highs I thought looked cute with them). I love them so much. As you can see, they are quite a bit darker than my skin tone (or than I expected). I would say these will look "nude" on tanner, more camel-toned skin, but I don't find them unflattering on me.

I ended up wearing them out that very night and I paired them with a vintage dress. I thought they looked perfect together.

Fit on these seems true to size. They are a bit big in length, but the shoe itself is pretty narrow. I ordered a 37, and maybe I could have gone down to a 36.5 but I think my toes would have been crushed. I am a baby about painful shoes. I would say if you have a wider foot, size up a half size, even if the length might be a bit long. I wore these out with ball-of-foot pads, but they need heel grips as well.

Comfort is so-so, not amazing. They are 110mm, instead of 100, and I think that extra 10mm makes them a little less comfortable than I was hoping.

They are available at Saks, Neiman Marcus and Louboutin boutiques. The colors and materials available as far as I know are black kid, black patent, nude patent and royal blue suede.