How I Bought a $695 Pair of Shoes for $340

Hello loves! I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last fashion post. If you saw on my Instagram last night, I just purchased my very first pair of Christian Louboutin heels. Because I’m still a college gal on a budget, I purchased these via the luxury consignment site: The Real Real. I thought it would be fun and useful to walk y’all through the process I went through to purchase these shoes (including what I looked for, checking the condition, and what I payed). Let me know if y’all find this helpful!

The Real Real is a consignment site for gently used luxury apparel and accessories. They employee a group of authenticators to make sure that everything being sold on the site is legit. I first heard of The Real Real a couple years ago, but had never bought anything from the site. Some of the ladies I worked with at my internship this past semester talked about how they purchased many of their designers pieces from The Real Real and were pleased with the results.

I was procrastinating one night (typical) and had some birthday money I hadn’t spent yet and decided to get on The Real Real just to see what I could find. I looked at bags, scarves, apparel, and shoes and was overwhelmed with all the choices. After deciding that I really wanted a pair of shoes (because I didn't own any designer shoes) I started to refine my search. I’ve always wanted a pair of Louboutin heels, so the first thing I did was filter the shoe page by brand, then by size. I did some research and read that most people have to go up a half or full size in Louboutins, so I filtered the results to only show me sizes 8 ad 8.5 (I normally a 7.5).

Once you click on an item, there is a description about the product, its condition, and what the piece comes with. My top wish was to find a pair that came with the box, the dust bag, and extra heel taps, and thankfully I was able to find that in the pair I ended up purchasing. In terms of condition, The Real Real categorizes pieces into categories; pristine, very good, and good. My shoes fell into the very good category. The only signs of wear are on the bottom of the soles, and there were a few small marks on the insoles, but nothing was wrong with the exterior leather so these things didn’t bother me.

The style name of these heels is the Iriza 100mm in black patent leather, and I bought a size 8.5. I probably could’ve fit into an 8, because my smaller foot was slipping, but I purchased ball and heel inserts from Target to combat this and now they fit perfectly!

As for the price, these shoes were listed on The Real Real for $425. The shoebox still had the price tag on it when I received it and it said they were $695 at retail. I found the exact pair I bought on the Neiman Marcus website for $675. The Real Real was running a 20% off promotion, which made the heels $340. Adding in the tax and the shipping costs, I ended up paying $380 and some change.

I am super happy with my purchase and I can’t wait to style them! One tip I have if you’re shopping on The Real Real is to browse the site frequently because they are constantly receiving new pieces. If you find something you like and the price is good, act fast because there’s only one of each piece so you never know if someone will beat you to it. Below I linked various colors of the style I purchased that are currently available on the website.

I hope this was an insightful post about finding luxury goods on a budget. Happy shopping!

Slap on some lipstick and smile

Channing