Flash-Back LJ Post Import: An*Tai*Na shoes (Qutieland) post-wearing review
I saw quite a few reviews of An*Tai*Na shoes right after they were shipped, but very few about them after they were worn.
So, a few months ago I was looking at Qutieland and I fell in love with a purse they had, and I figured if I was going to order the purse, I was going to order some shoes too. I found some super cute shoes from An*Tai*Na, and flipping through the reviews here, decided I was willing to take a risk on them.
The shoes I picked were the an*tai*na Big Ribbon Shoes – High Heels in Sky Blue :: http://www.qutieland.com/product.php?id=6
My shoes arrived pretty much as I expected based on the reviews. The box was a bit crushed, and there were some loose threads here and there. I didn’t take any pictures when I unpacked, unfortunately. I tried them on and they fit (I used the trace-your-foot method for sizing and then went up a half step.) I was a little concerned because the lining piece on the bottom didn’t seem to be fully attached (but that turned out to be fine) and a little concerned that the layers kinda.. separated in places. Like on the ankle straps. You can see that while the layers of material are sewn together, they don’t stick to each other. But I shrugged that off, and figured they would do better when they were on my feet.
What I was really concerned at was just how.. well.. soft the material felt. Not soft like a kitten, but soft like I was afraid my nails were going to scratch chunks out of them if I wasn’t careful. So I carefully put them back in the box and decided I was going to be careful with them.
Fast-forward a little, and I decided to wear them out to Otakon (I’m very shy, but I figured if there is a place where no one is going to think I look outlandish compared to those around me, that is certainly it!) I snapped a quick picture of the shoes sitting on my bed before hand (please ignore my messy bed; I was in a rush XD). This picture is pretty true to color, for those that are wondering, the rest won’t be.
I wore the shoes half a day. Mostly around the carpeted area of the convention center, and for a short walk out on the pavement. While I was slightly off balance at times from the whole ‘new shoes’ experiance, I didn’t trip in a way that my shoes ever hit anything, I didn’t fall spectacularly or anything.. in short I was very proud at how careful I had been. Then I sat down after a few hours and looked at my shoes. I could have cried. I was expecting them to be delicate, but I was not expecting whole patches of the surface to have worn off just from rubbing the other shoe! Now, maybe I have unrealistic expectations; I don’t know. I’ve never owned any other lolita shoes.
now, at first they don’t look that bad.
thumb03-1.pn
I would expect these types of marks if I had… say taken sand paper to the shoes or something, but the marks are on the inside-side. And as I didn’t sit funny on the floor, or run into anything or trip and fall, all I can figure is they they rubbed against each other; which really shouldn’t do this much damage to any shoes IMHO. You can see the blue finish wrinkling and bunching in places on some of the photos too. It makes me so sad.
All in all I’m pretty disappointed, and rather wondering if it’s just this color, or brand, or pair… I’m a bit scared to buy another pair of shoes now.