Review: Mel heart front jelly shoes

Mel jelly shoes with hearts, c/o Spartoo, £57.99

Yup, I did it: I got a pair of the Mel heart-front shoes I wrote about a few weeks ago. Is anyone really surprised?

When I featured these back in May, I’d only come across the blue and red version, and I wasn’t too sure about them, saying that although I loved the IDEA, I thought they looked a little too cartoonish. Well, I still think they look a little cartoonish (I mean, they’re jelly shoes with hearts on the front….), but when I discovered this pink and black version, which is a lot more toned down, I suddenly decided I loved them.

And I do. Love them, that is. As with the Melissa flats I featured last week, these aren’t going to be my day-to-day or special occasion shoes, but I love the idea of wearing them almost like high-heeled galoshes: well, they’ll be so much more fun than a pair of wellies on a rainy day, won’t they?

I bought my usual size 4 in these, and I realise I’m pretty much repeating what I said last week about the flats, but if I’d ever wondered about the comfort of jelly shoes (And I had), those fears have been put to rest: I was actually amazed by how soft the uppers are, and how comfortable they are to wear. I actually think they’re more comfortable than a leather or other man-made upper, and don’t seem to require any breaking-in, which is great. Whether or not they’ll still be comfortable after a full day’s wear remains to be seen: I suspect not, to be honest, because my experience is that most heels will still to pinch a little bit at least by the end of the day, but fingers crossed.

To answer the questions that always come up when I feature Melissa/Mel shoes:

1. No, the heel doesn’t bend: it’s not jelly all the way through, and there’s a regular (strong) stiletto hiding under that upper.

2. Yes, I suspect they will make the feet sweat. Well, they’re plastic: it seems inevitable, really. I don’t have this issue with any of the Lady Dragons I have, because they’re peep toed slingbacks, which means most of the foot is exposed, and therefore doesn’t get sweaty. These are enclosed, so I’m guessing that, like any non-breathable upper, they won’t exactly keep you cool. My Melissa flats aren’t any worse than any other enclosed shoes I own, though, so I’m hoping these won’t be either.

3. They don’t smell like bubblegum. This is Melissa’s lower-priced range, and these shoes don’t have that fabulous bubblegum scent that the Lady Dragons do. I think that’s a shame, because I LOVE the scent of those shoes, but I know some people absolutely hate it, so while these do have a faint scent when you take them out of the box, it’s not the super-sweet bubblegum smell you might be expecting. Shame.

I ordered these from Spartoo, using a gift code supplied by the store: the size 4 has since sold out in this colourway, but there are other sizes available, and they’re also stocked in black, with a red heart, which I think is pretty cute too.