Steve Madden Women''s Gilliee Lace-Up Wedge Sandal

I bought these shoes for my summer vacation, since my family went to Bermuda and we needed more formal footwear. They are truly lovely shoes. The wedge heel is very small and easy to walk in, probably even for someone unused to heels. The leather is soft and that beautiful Madden Cognac color that I love so much. The laces look super fancy and intricate but they''re actually very easy to handle and tighten/loosen as you need.

Now, while I love these shoes and they will continue to be my go-to summer footwear, they have some notable drawbacks:

The heel band, while part of what makes this shoe attractive, can be a real pain to get on. I found that I had to make the top rows of lacing very loose in order to get my foot in, then tighten them back up a ton, since the lace/band is supposed to be fitted. Don''t pick these to wear to the beach, since they take a few minutes to put on/take off.

The laces on my shoes were not the same. Well, they were and weren''t. More specifically,the outer sections of the laces were the same (the leather) but one had a core and the other did not. The cored lace was thus much stiffer and hard to tie, and didn''t lay as flat as the other. I''m not a big fan of those bows that stick out, so this was an inconvenience.

Speaking of tying, I would have to retie these every few hours, and if doing a lot of walking, sometimes more often. The best solution was to double knot them, but if your shoes have the cored laces, you''re SOL learn to make bows fast.

So, in the end, these shoes were right for me: they were comfortable, easy walking heels that matched a variety of summer outfits and were acceptable in Bermuda''s more formal restaurants. I could deal with the hills and sloping roadways and steps and such without fear of tripping, but chose more efficient flip-flops for the beach. If you''re looking for a warm-weather wedge that you can throw on and ignore for hours, or slip in to and out of in seconds, you won''t be satisfied.