Ok guys here it is, the review that several of you asked for: the review of the Sevilla Smith Terilyn booties (if you're not familiar with Sevilla Smith, it's a woman-run shoe-making biz that makes all their shoes by hand and thus its customized to your specifications). I got this one with soft powder grey leather (in the 2cm heel height). And as you could tell from my Insta that I love love LOVE these shoes! Out of the box, I had no issues whatsoever with my usual problem, a particularly wide forefront of the foot. They truly do feel like a leather glove for your feet, especially with the softness of this leather.
{For the first picture I'm wearing: Everlane waffle cashmere sweater, Levi's 501 jean, Sevilla Smith Terilyn booties. For the picture above I'm wearing: Grana cropped cashmere, Elizabeth Suzann Clyde pants, Sevilla Smith Terilyn booties}
First a note on sizing. I ordered these in a 7.5 (my usual size), which is a 38 in European sizes. I had thought about paying extra for the wide lasting since I do have a wider foot. But in the end I decided if the leather will stretch, I should be ok (and I am!). I do however 100% recommend measuring your foot before ordering and following her very detailed sizing guide. I didn't because I'm a lazy blogger and I think I might have been able to go with a size 7 (with possibly a wider last). As you can see from some of the pictures, I'm really stretching out the leather and you can see the outline of my toes and the forefront of my foot.
I also say that I could have gone with a 7 because I found that I had a smidge of extra space around the heel and because the leather is so soft, it kind of folds into that space (you can really see it in the sideview picture of the booties). It kind of bothered me in the beginning that it would slouch/fold like that, but now it doesn't bother me. Especially since I added these heel pads:
I'm just not used to such hard soles for shoes. There's zero padding, which I think is good for your foot muscles but I'm too old to retrain my foot muscles. I found that if I wore these too long (before I got the heel pads), it would aggravate my plantar fasciitis (damn you old age and decades of running). Now that I've got these heel pads, I've got no complaints. So for my next pair of Sevilla Smiths (and you bet there's going to be a next one) I might just stick with the size and add the heel pads from the get go to avoid the folding-at-the-heel issue (or choose a sturdier leather for the boot).
Overall I just really love these shoes and Sevilla Smith. Yes, they're expensive but they're also made start-to-finish by one person (and compare that to uber expensive designer shoes and you can really start seeing the value of these). The shoebag that comes with the shoes are so cute (and practical with a slot for each shoe so they don't rub against each other). Also I've never owned a hand-lasted shoe with no glues and binders and so I was really enchanted with the way the soles are held together with nails. The shoes come with special instructions on how to maintain them (ie when you're going to need to take them in for repair), so I look forward to using these for a long time to come. And of course I'll be periodically updating this review as they age!
{February 2021: Hi there, sorry this post is due for a major update. So the heel things did not help with the sizing issue (though they did help with the hard soles issue). So I have to say it’s key to make sure you get the right sizing, especially for these soft leather type of shoes. If you go for the soft leather, I would recommend sizing down (and I probably should have gone with the wider last for my wide-ish foot). Anyway in the end I sold these shoes on ebay since I just wasn’t wearing them that much, but I do miss them from time to time (cuz they’re such good looking shoes).