Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
We love our feet,
And Nota Bene does, too.

Yes, shoe lovers, hot on the heels of our Glory Chen contest (and congrats to our lucky winner), here’s another chance to help yourself into a great new pair of shoes that will let you love your feet the way they deserve. Valentine’s Day may have passed, but there’s no reason not to treat your feet well for the rest of the year, too.

Nota Bene is a company that’s got their priorities in the right place. Here’s a quote from their mission statement:

Whoever she is, when the Nota Bene woman stands in front of her closet in the morning getting ready for work, she wants a beautiful pair of shoes she trusts will take her everywhere she wants to go that day. When she packs her suitcase, she wants versatile shoes. When she shops, she wants to find what she is looking for quickly and reliably. And at the end of the day, she still wants to love her beautiful shoes.

Who can’t get behind that kind of philosophy, I ask you? Shoeblog certainly can.

Nota Bene has worked out how to make shoes that don’t look like “comfort shoes” and still offer all the important features that keep your feet happy and comfortable through the day. Check out this comparison x-ray shot. The shoe on the left is a high end designer shoe, and the one on the right is by Nota Bene.

Nota Bene bad Nota Bene good

Look at all the ways the toes on the left are crunched and cramped into that space. They have no room to move, and that stresses the small bones in your toes in a major way. On the other hand (other foot?), the Nota Bene shoes keep the toes nice and straight and well separated, giving them freedom to flex and spread and grip and all those other great things toes do for us.

I took a pair of Nota Bene’s for a test drive (the Anne in bronze leather), and I have to say they did very well.

Nota Bene Anne

I’m always a little worried about a shoe like this, because they often end up rubbing in unforeseen places on my feet. But the Anne not only didn’t do that (the only rubbing I had was a bit on the inside of my heels, which is actually because they were a tad big–damn me and my size 8.25 feet–a toe pad will fix that right up), but it also kept my feet nice and comfy on a day when I ended up doing a higher than average amount of walking. I often have trouble with pointy toes, because my feet are very square and fairly wide at the base of my toes, but these left plenty of room for my feet, and only started to taper past the point where they’d have squeezed uncomfortably. Overall, quite enjoyable.

And I must also say that of the other styles Nota Bene sent me to try, a number of them were quite nice as well. Surprisingly, I found their heels to be the most stable, supporting, and comfortable to wear. I can’t rave highly enough about the sexy, chic Rosalind, which was pointy and sleek and toe-cleavage-y in just the right way, and yet managed to feel like a shoe you could actually wear and walk in all day long (although I would recommend going up a half size in that one, since most of the size 8s I tried were the best fit, but the Rosalind in 8.5 was just right).

Nota Bene Rosalind

So, how does this translate to you? Well, the folks at Nota Bene and the folks here at Shoeblog wanted to encourage some not-just-on-Valentine’s-Day love (since, after all, partners may come and go, but your feet are likely to be there for the long haul), so we’re offering you a shot at a $100 gift certificate at Nota Bene’s online shop. Leave a comment here to enter yourself in the contest (by midnight PST on February 26), and we’ll pick a winner at random.