Pointe shoes I've tried so far..

Obviously, there are about 5-6 more pairs I've tried over two decades ago, but I can't really comment on them.

I started pointe work again two months ago (August 2013), and as of today I own 3 pairs of pointe shoes. All of them are either brand new or pretty much new. And here's why...

[My feet]
medium to narrow width
high arch - well, not compared to other ballet dancers but high compared to average (most street shoes are very uncomfortable, and ballet flats - the normal shoes, not for the dance class kind - are the worst/super uncomfortable type of shoes I refuse to wear
sensitive skin - get blisters a lot from both street and dance shoes
second toe is super long

....pretty much not made for pointe.

[Gaynor Minden]
Apparently the fitter didn't give me the right size. I got size 8, medium/3/extra flex/sleek fit.
After one pas de deux class, I got blisters, foot pain, bruised toe nails and everything else in between. It's because the shoes are too big for my feet

[Bloch Balance European]
I got 5 XX but apparently I should've gotten smaller/narrower shoes.
I do about 1-2 hours of pointe work per week, and Block is more comfortable than Gaynor, but I can go over the box more with Gaynor than Bloch.

So, I needed to get a better pair. I happened to be in LA this weekend, and found a dance store called The Dance Store. The fitter spent a long time with me and recommended me Russian pointe Encore.

[Russian pointe Encore]
Haven't been to a class yet, so I can't have a decent opinion just yet. Both Block and Gaynor felt GREAT at a store. It's never the case after one hour of a real class. Everything hurts.. Then again, I know enough now and more picky. I hope I picked the right one.
I tried more than 10 different types of shoes, and it was a very interesting discovery that I can only over the box with some shoes and some are just impossible to do so. The store had Grishko Miracle which I wanted to try. It was soft inside and out, but I couldn't even go over the box at all. Before I tried the shoes on, the fitter told me they will NOT work for my feet. She was right. There's no way I can even do releve in first position. Oh my...

I am almost done sewing my russian pointe, and hopefully I can wear them this Wednesday! :)