Writing negative reviews of purchases is never fun: it’s disappointing. I don’t write them if it’s my mistake, or I picked the wrong size or it was a general error or whatever. I write them because I am sad. I take my shopping pretty seriously, and having something go against your expectations pretty strongly – I take that almost personally. Especially if it’s a purchase you’ve been leading up to or waiting for the right time to make!
I’ve followed Public Desire on Instagram for probably a good year now, and since my hunt for over the knee boots has so far been fruitless, I turned to them to find my thigh high 70s suede dream shoes. This is what I wanted: a low heel, no knee peeking out, a tight fit over the calves and thigh, an ability to stay up.
I picked Carmen, the over the knee faux suede boot, priced at £39.99, but down to £35 with a student discount.
I was impressed by how quickly it was delivered, but was soon anxious when I had the package in my hands as I could feel the shoebox was squashed inside.
Unboxing:
I was right: the box was squashed. Squashed to the point of broken – the lid was askew and had all four corners broken, and one corner of the box was particularly crushed. I was worried about the shoe inside, but figured it’d be pretty well protected.
It wasn’t. It had one piece of tissue paper half crumpled over the top of the shoes. The shoes has nothing in them to hold their shape: no cardboard bit in the toe, no tissue paper ball. I have bought shoes online for a solid number of years, and even the cheapest have arrived with some kind of tissue paper protection.
Before I took the shoes out of the box I’d been pretty “it wasn’t their fault, must be Royal Mail cramming too many boxes in one van”, but after opening the box and taking the shoes out, I saw how the inside of the box was pretty dirty (and note that sad single piece of flattened tissue paper). Thinking about it now, I feel like I could have received someone’s return! I actually want to order something else from them to find out if this is what every order comes like, or if I just got unlucky.
But the shoes themselves, were they okay? No.
They weren’t damaged, but they were not what was expected.
I don’t have thin legs, and I certainly don’t have thinner legs than the woman modelling the boots: but these were not tight anywhere, eventually dropping down below my knee with minimal movement, bunched horribly, gaped at the thighs. The bottom right photo of the set shows on one leg where I wanted the boots to be, and on the other leg where it naturally fell to with a single step. And whilst I am tall, I have disproportionately short legs – I can’t imagine my legs being longer than the models. The boots have a zip, but definitely was not required to get my legs in.
I am so unimpressed! They arrived half an hour ago, I’ve written this post, and I’m now packaging them up to return before my uni class. Have any of you ordered from Public Desire before, what’s your experience been like? I don’t want to write them off completely. And, a more desperate question, does anyone have over the knee boots which they love?
Enjoy your Tuesday! Xxx
hello friend, it's me, katya 