Hey daydreamers! How is your weekend going so far? It’s been actually a really good week and I’m so excited for this weekend as well! When I saw Amber did a post like this, I thought it was a super fun idea! I asked her if I could steal the post idea, and she said I could, so I decided to try it! 😛 Thanks for the inspiration, Amber, and make sure to check out her post!

When you’re a dancer, you go through many pointe shoes because they “die” very quickly, or break down. The “shank” (the hard sole that is supporting you in the shoe) becomes bendy and soft, the “box” (the hard ends of the shoes where your toes are) becomes soft and unsupportive, and the “wings” (the sides of the pointe shoes toward the box) also break down.

This is because most traditional pointe shoes (with the exception of a brand called Gaynor Minden, which is what I currently have, that is made of different materials) are made of a special glue that breaks down with sweat, wear, and tear. My pointe shoes have all lasted various lengths, and I know some dancers that go through them every few weeks and others that only have to replace them every couple of months!

Because of this, I have a ton of old, dead pointe shoes that I haven’t tried on in forever. So today I’ll be trying on all my old pointe shoes and rating them out of 5! Whoah, that was a long intro, so let’s get right to it!

#1 – bloch european balance

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These were my very first pair of pointe shoes! I got them in October 2019. These shoes were a bit too wide for my feet at the time (even though they’re the narrowest possible lol), and probably too hard of a shank, but I had no idea because they were my first ever pair.

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In order to fit these onto my feet I couldn’t wear toe pads, ouch! These felt super weird to put on after so long, and they were pretty dead, but they actually didn’t look horrible on my feet?

rating:

#2 – mirellas

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For my second a pair of pointe shoes, I switched to a different brand. I liked these shoes at the time, and now they felt super dead. They also didn’t have any elastics, because I ripped them off to use on a different pair haha.

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rating

#3 – mirellas

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This pair of Mirellas is EXTREMELY dead, the shank is completely broken and I can bend the shoe in half. I wore these during Nutcracker, so that’s why they have calamine lotion on it to make it look matte.

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This pair is wider than the second one, which is definitely too big. They’re also quite torn up and beat up, but they look good on my feet (although I definitely couldn’t dance in them!)

rating

#4 – mirellas

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This was my third pair of Mirellas, where I went back to the narrower width. I remember these shoes being a bit painful painful and only lasting less than two months.

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I also remember them slipping off my heels all the time too. So these weren’t my favorite pair, which is why I switched the next time. XD

rating

#5 – gaynor mindens (current shoe)

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I decided to switch to Gaynors hoping they would last longer! They’re made differently then a traditional pointe shoe that supposedly makes them more durable. I’ve had them for about 2 months.

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These shoes definitely took a couple of weeks to get used to. I like how they’re much quieter than a normal shoe, but they’re a bit harder to get all the way up on pointe. I was also fitted for these without toe pads, but that ended up not working out, so I had to find some thin toe pads to help with the blisters I was getting.

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overall

To sum it all up: I’m only on my fifth pair; I tried Bloch Euro Balance for my first pair (they looked horrifying on my feet but I had no idea since I was brand-new to pointe lol). Then I had Mirellas for three more pairs (with various widths and lengths that were all kind of big), and now I have Gaynors! I like them for now, but I probably won’t be getting Gaynors again.

I hope that you guys learned something new about pointe from this post if you’re not a dancer, and that it was interesting! And if you are a dancer, hopefully it was also interesting to see the pointe shoes I’ve had compared to yours if you’re en pointe!

Also, sorry this post is up much later in the day then usual! I took the pictures for this on Tuesday, but ran out of time until Friday, and then our Wifi wasn’t working… so I’m finally getting around to posting this Saturday evening.

Oh yeah, one more thing, and then I’ll stop talking, I promise! 😛 You might have seen a story post called “What Posts Do You Want To See?” pop up in your reader several times. That’s because the story wasn’t working so I tried posting it multiple times and it never worked. Basically, I was asking for post ideas, so let me know any post suggestions down below in the comments!

Sorry about the long intro/outro and I’ll see you next week!!

THIS WEEK’S SHOUTOUT GOES TO Clover from Beautiful Days Blogging! THANKs for letting me know about the story and following my blog!

Are you en pointe? Did you find this post interesting? What posts should I do next?