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Updated: Aug 1, 2019 146 Comments · by

Coffee Break: Casati Point-Toe Flats

Coffee Break

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I mostly know Nicholas Kirkwood for his pointy-toed loafers that were all the rage a few years ago (still available!), but today I'm crushing on these pointy-toed flats with pearl details — they seem like a great “elevated basic” that you can wear everywhere yet still be distinctive when you do. They're $725 at Net-a-Porter in blush and black, and Saks has them in a great black and white print. Casati embellished leather point-toe flats This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

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Comments

      • Anon

        Omg I can’t believe these are over $700. That is INSANE. They look like children’s dress-up shoes.

        • Cat

          Yeah I really don’t get the fake-pearl trend for exactly this reason! I’ve seen them in headbands, decorating the tops of sneakers, etc — they just look cheap no matter how expensive the product, IMHO.

      • Anonymous

        Stuart Weitzman had some like this, you might still be able to find them.

    • Pointy Toe Girl

      Without the dopey pearls I’d be totally into them. maybe even keeping an accent gold heel? I do really like the color and the shape of the shoe.

    • Anonymous

      Agree. Without the pearls they would be cute. With the pearls? super weird.

      • LaurenB

        I’m half Jewish and half Catholic so I can say this. This is the look that the Jewish side affectionately refers to as “goyim.” It’s like an 8 yo’s impression of a Fancy Shoe.

        • Anon

          Is that the phobia of holes or empty spaces? Like a honecomb is terrifying? Because I agree, I have the same feeling looking at this as a honeycomb, it leaves me very uneasy.

    • Rainbow Hair

      (1) the way those pearls are deployed totally triggers my phobia
      (2) more than SEVEN HUNDRED dollars?!
      (3) would be cute with a plain gold heel for 1/20th of the price, maybe.

    • Ellen

      I agree. Something looks unrealistic here; these must be fake pearls, no? Otherwise why would you wear real ones in your shoes, but for $700, they should be real, but I still don’t think I would buy them. Lilie Pulitzer has some cutesey stuff like this but not fake stuff. I wonder who buys these? FOOEY!

  2. anon

    Best calcium supplements? I really despise them, but the gyn insists I get 1000 mg a day…

    • Monday

      Health food stores have chocolates that are calcium supplements! They taste like regular chocolates but are just more expensive. Never despise again!

      • OP

        Oh, but they don’t taste like regular chocolate. And I’m not even a chocolate snob…
        Thank you for the advice, I’m not trying to be ungrateful. I just have such a strong aversion to the chalky minerally flavor I don’t know what to do :(

          • OP

            Pills? This is news to me…WHY DOES NO-ONE TELL ME THESE THINGS!!! Except you wonderful ‘rettes. Thank you.

          • anon

            Make sure you get enough D3 as well (your body can’t absorb calcium without it), and that you are splitting your doses up.

        • Miss

          I used to get the vita fusion calcium gummies at Costco. I liked them better than the chocolate (which I thought tasted like a chalky tootsie roll). The fruit flavor hid the mineral better imo. Ymmv but they’re worth a try.

  3. Anon

    Makeup question- my brother is getting married in a HUGE super blow out wedding. I used to be decent at putting makeup on, but pretty much stopped wearing anything at all about 4 years ago because my skin is so sensitive, and a telecommute. Should I splurge and get it professionally done? Or should I go to the mall and buy a bunch of stuff & practice? I probably won’t use the makeup very often afterwards. Mac used to do makeup if you bought $50 worth of stuff, but now they just have a flat fee, and if that’s the case, I’d rather go with someone I choose.
    Los Angeles if it matters.

    • Anon

      Since you don’t wear makeup, it doesn’t make sense to buy your own. Just have it done by an artist and make sure she knows you have super sensitive skin.

    • TZ

      You can get it done at Sephora if you buy $80 worth of stuff. Can use it on skin-care, fragrence, or a gift card to use as needed.

    • Anon

      Are you in the wedding? If so, usually the bridal party has access to a makeup artist. If not, I agree with going with a freelance makeup artist, I am sure there are tons in LA. If you are strapped for time or cash, Sephora or Mac will do just fine for a basic “make me look nice” sort of look, so long as you emphasize a natural look.

      • Anon

        I got booted from the party (long and short story and no hard feelings), so I’m on my own! I’m paying like 2500 to get my whole family there and for a gift, so while I’m not strapped on cash, I’d rather not spend more than necessary. A standalone MUA would cost about $100.
        I could definitly get a Sephora GC if that is one of the options- I buy stuff there for my FSIL for xmas etc all the time.

    • Anon

      I would definitely get it professionally done if it’s a fancy wedding. If you go to Sephora or a department store there is definitely a cost, but it would be way less than buying makeup you might not use again (consider: just a good quality foundation alone can be like $80). Alternatively, do you know anyone who has Sephora Rouge? They get a free makeup session for a friend IIRC.

    • anon

      I had the same debate for my own wedding back in May. I ended up doing it myself and am glad I did. Bought new foundation and blush (both from Laura Mercier), used lipstick, eye shadow, and mascara I already had and liked (all drugstore, all prob >2 years old – I know, I know). Was very happy with how it came out and got tons of compliments, I think that most people thought it was done by an artist and I literally never do my own makeup. I get makeup done professionally maybe once a year or so and either love it or hate it despite always asking for a pretty consistent and relatively natural look, so I just didn’t want to risk it.

    • Miss

      I’d go to Nordstrom (Laura Mercier, Nars, or similar, MAC always seems to be heavy and trendy) to get tips and makeup or watch some Lisa Eldridge videos, but would do it myself.

    • Anonymous

      Glam Squad. Cheaper than a standalone makeup artist, they come to you, you don’t have to spend a ton of money on product, and they’re prevalent in the LA area! :)

  4. Anon

    These shoes are just adorable but sadly out of my budget.

    Does anyone have a Park Slope hotel recommendation? I’ve decided at 34 I am too old to crash on a friend’s couch. I’m just afraid of getting bed bugs.

    • Anonymous

      Does anyone have a recommendation for similar shoes more in budget? I love these but can’t justify the price point.

    • Anonymous

      I mean yes they are cute but so obviously fake and a waste of resources. A quality leather products may be something to envy – not this. Definitely not worth any ounce of effort to find this or an affordable option. Step away from the glitter and glitz!!! (which is something I say to myself so please don’t take offense)

      • Anon

        What even is this comment. A waste of resources? And she says she likes them, so if you’re just going to insult her taste maybe just don’t.

        • Anonymous

          It’s okay, I like my bad taste XD

          I can’t wear these to court or work but I love them. If they were black maybe I’d find a way to justify them.

    • Anonymous

      I lived in Park Slope for years but couldn’t tell you if there was a single hotel there! There must have been? I know there is a Holiday Inn near the Gowanus Canal, which looked nicer than I’m making it sound!

  5. Anonymous

    Does anyone work in giving/development at a major university or health system or do you know something about it?

    Went to a big university health system for a procedure about 2 weeks ago. Since then I have received 2 emails seeking gifts for said ivy university’s fund for its school of medicine. It isn’t clear to me whether they are seeking $ for the med school (which I would think would mean research; maybe used in some grant fund for med students etc.) or for the health system. I imagine they mean the health system, since I didn’t use the med school for its services, I used the hospital. So question — where does said health system money go? They have already billed my insurance upward of 10k for my care, so I don’t really want to be giving money so they can put it in their fund to build fancier parking garages or whatever (and I think it’s tacky to ask for money starting 1 week after someone has a medical procedure at your hospital that you are already being paid for but whatever). BUT I do realize that healthcare costs are crazy and even with insurance etc., people have tons of financial issues if someone is in the hospital — even paying for parking daily at $15-20/day or meals in the cafeteria for family members is not in the budget for many families (and even less in the budget as they have to worry about hospital copays etc). I totally wouldn’t mind donating if money were going to a fund that could help people somehow — like validated parking or meal tickets, rather than to the university/health system itself.

    Anyone have any ideas on how this works? I give money to this place once in a while anyway — since I went to business school at this university, though usually I donate to a fund for the business school. I may shoot them back an email and ask, but with the breadth of experience on this board I figured I’d ask here too.

    • Z

      You’re probably on some e-mail list now and they’re sending out generic donation requests. I would ignore it tbh.

    • Anon

      You’re way overthinking this. If you want to donate to people who need medical care, there are tons of nonprofits that do this. You don’t need to give to a hospital.

      • Anonymous

        Can you name a couple besides gofundme? I share OP’s opinion — while I’d be interested in giving to PEOPLE who need some financial help while they/their family member gets care, at my university it seems like $$$ keeps going towards fancier buildings. Like OP I wouldn’t have any particular interest in funding a new waterfall in the health system lobby or palm trees flown in from Hawaii for the atrium; I’d much rather that someone’s family can get in and out of the garage whenever they need to without worrying that it’ll cost them an extra $20.

      • Anon

        Shriners and St. Jude’s immediately come to mind, along with organizations like the Ronald McDonald House. There are lots more.

        • Anonymous

          Fisher House is like ronald McDonald for military families. Service members and dependents often need care far from loved ones who often can’t otherwise afford hotels when traveling to help in recovery or be moral support.

          As a slacker slouchy civilian who is not from a military family, it is my small way of helping. I love me my first amendment (and fourth, sixth, fourteenth, etc.). But a piece of paper ain’t going to back itself up.

          • navychica

            Just want to second Fisher House. I have friends whose baby had a month-long stay in Bethesda when he needed brain surgery and it was out of the scope of the local doctors in Norfolk. They rave about Fisher House and its support during that awful time in their lives. I’m incredibly picky about where I’ll donate money to, but Fisher House and St Jude’s are two I’m always ok with.

            The baby’s two now, and completely healthy!

    • Inspired By Hermione

      A lot of the hospitals have social work offices for stuff like this, or charity care funding you could probably donate to specifically. I think you’d have to call to find out.

      If you’re interested in knowing your money is going to a good place, children’s hospitals have A-zon wishlists for stuff like onesies and blankets for hospitalized kiddos so they don’t have to just wear gowns, birthday presents for hospitalized kids, toy room stock, toiletries and laundry supplies for parents who are stuck there for days on end, books, etc. These are not funding areas that are priorities in budgets but make a world of difference to families and kids. I was hospitalized for about ten weeks at a children’s hospital over about two years and stuff like free detergent and fuzzy socks improved my life tenfold.

    • Anonymous

      I work for a health system and here’s a peek behind the curtain. Hospitals often hire vendors to perform a “wealth assessment” on certain patients. Those vendors have access to public information such as where you work and whether you own a home. If it appears that you have the resources to make a donation (or maybe it’s randomly sent to all patients), they will solicit you for a donation. As someone above said, it can go to waterfalls or palm trees. My health system allows you to designate an area to target your donation. You could ask that it be spent for cardiology research or the like. Otherwise, it will go into the general coffers. As is also mentioned above, patients without resources (in my state) qualify for charity care or Medicare. I don’t know off hand a national charity that subsidizes medical bills, although I have heard of some that provide support for certain types of care or for certain diseases. Our website shows the options for donation and gives a number to call. There are many ways in which donations support very worthy causes at hospitals (I have donated to a fundraiser that raised money for expensive equipment in our NICU, for example), but you are smart to try to target a cause for your dollars.

    • Anon

      Just click unsubscribe.

      I swear, the things people here spend their mental energy on . . .

  6. Anonymous

    What’s everyone making for dinner tonight? Madras lentils with cauliflower rice for me (both shelf stable Costco finds because grocery day is tomorrow)

    • NOLA

      What I have most weeknights – large salad (sweet hearts mix) with strawberries, blueberries, nectarine, sauteed chicken, blue cheese, and balsamic vinegar. Glass of chardonnay and a ramekin of plain M&Ms. It’s what I like and I’m sticking to it.

      • Anonymous

        That sounds awesome, all the way down to the ramekin of M&Ms! Do you prep your salad ingredients in advance for the week or anything?

        • NOLA

          I buy bags of salad mix and just have the fruit in the fridge. I do cook the chicken (cube, salt and pepper, brown in olive oil) on Sundays. I put it all together in a giant bowl, pour my wine, and read while I eat. When I get home tired from the gym, it’s about all I want to eat!

      • Anon

        Ha, I use a Greek-ish salad the same way – red romaine lettuce, feta cheese, cucumbers, carrots, kalamata olives, tuna, and primal kitchen Greek salad dressing with 4 sea salt caramels and a glass of water. 9/10 would eat again…and again.

        • NOLA

          I have tried to cook other things, or to spend more time cooking food for the week, but honestly, this is what I want to eat most nights. When I run out of salad, I pick up baked fish and veggies at the grocery store a few blocks from my house.

    • Abby

      Nachos! Taco meat with marinated red onions, shredded cheese, jalapenos, shredded lettuce, homemade salsa, sour cream, hot sauce and avocados if mine are ripe.

    • pugsnbourbon

      Every so often Aldi has these frozen potstickers – I’ll buy like six bags at once and steam them with a little bit of sesame oil. Potstickers + steam-in-bag veggies have been dinner for the last … six nights.

    • Anon

      Salmon filet with Penzey’s fox point seasoning, wild rice/brown rice mix, steamed broccoli. Leftover from last night and it was good!

  7. Anon

    I hate these shoes. They look like something my 90 year old grandma would wear to church.

  8. Anonymous

    I’ve had two coffees and am drinking a pepsi right now but I am falling asleep. What are some good options to stay awake at my desk? Can’t sneak a power nap.

    • Anonymous

      Can you go on a walk? Take a phone call standing up and pace? I also find drinking really cold ice water and chewing gum sometimes help.

    • Vicky Austin

      Can you eat an apple? I forget why this is a thing but it worked for me in college!

  9. Anon

    Just a quick word of praise for Warby Parker. Bought glasses a couple years ago and my RX has changed. I just IM’d with their customer service agent asking how to get my lenses updated. She pulled up my old account, created a ticket for me, sent me a request for payment through the IM window and I paid $50, told me to email a copy of my new RX to their help desk, and they’re sending a prepaid envelope to me that I can mail my old glasses back to them and they’ll return them to me within 10 days. Seriously, all of that hassle taken care of in just 2-3 minutes over IM from my desk at work. All the love. (Esp. since I’m people’d out today and couldn’t bear to fight crowds and traffic to speak to a human in a store.)

    • BeenThatGuy

      +1 for their customer service. I’ve had a pair of glasses from them for about 8 months. They became horribly scratched up. All I had to do was ship them back to WP in their prepaid envelope and I had new lenses in 5 days. Zero hassle. Zero cost.

    • Inspired By Hermione

      This is great to know because I hate the rigamarole of LensCrafters.

    • anon

      More WP love: I bought a pair of sunglasses from them last year and they got stepped on and bent out of shape and they totally fixed them! I hadn’t even thought it would be possible to fix!

  10. A note on biking

    I caught the end of the risk thread re biking your kids places. I am a huge biking fan and biking in my city is not safe. In the downtown core, traffic can move slowly but we have an influx of young adults on electric scooters whizzing by sidewalks and streets, often after drinking and/or in dim light to add into the mix with drivers who are multitasking and wear earbuds. Outside of the urban core, lighting is spotty and car speeds are too fast.

    Closed head trauma is no joke. And the person always loses to the car. We have way too many bikers dying in our city each year.

    My kids can bike on our neighborhood streets and when I drive us all to some greenways.

    I am shocked that more scooter drivers haven’t yet been seriously injured but will 100% get them cars as soon as they can drive because I’d rather have them protected by a ton of steel than a styrofoam helmet. Our lives are not safely walkable or bike-able.

    • Anon

      Unless there’s some hitherto-unknown epidemic of scooter riders crashing into and gravely injuring pedestrians at higher rates than car accidents, you might be making the same flawed risk calculus that a lot of those articles talk about.

      • Anonymous

        IDK — risk is on the scooter driver. I’m in a car and they often zoom up on the right when I have my right blinker on at a light and I’m amazed that they don’t routinely get hit.

        My city has a few bike lanes and the scooters ménage bikers and then jump on sidewalks where they menace pedestrians.

      • Senior Attorney

        What are you talking about? This post is about how dangerous it is to BE a scooter rider!

        • Anon

          No, the post is saying that walking and biking are impossible because some scooter drivers are jerks, especially after dark and after drinking (which is not exactly peak kid bike-commuting time). I agree that it really sucks when some scooter or skateboard rider practices unsafe behavior around you or blocks the sidewalk, but there isn’t any evidence that scooters are as dangerous or more dangerous than cars to pedestrians.

      • Anon

        Not the OP, but the number of scooter riders that cut off pedestrians is shocking. I’ve been cut off at least five times in the last two weeks, where if I had not seen them out of a corner of my eye for another minute, they would have hit me as I crossed the street with the light. I HATE scooters, and would in no way be surprised if there have been a ton of accidents.

        • nona

          In my city, it’s unclear to many scooter riders if they should be on the sidewalks or the street (street, if they are motorized). So its far more likely for a scooter rider to be among pedestrians than a car.

          In terms of biking – i was commenting that unless a kid has a drivers licenses, I think they shouldn’t be on city streets with cars, because you want the kids to have knowledge of traffic laws. Neighborhood streets (with less traffic) are a different story.

          • Anon

            In my city, bikes are banned from the sidewalk in the city core (not that it is enforced). If bikes can not be on sidewalk, scooters with adult riders shouldn’t be either regardless of whether they are motorized. (I’m fine with a kid’s scooter on the sidewalk, but they are going at a normal walking pace.)

      • Anon

        Anyone in a large city with rental scooters everywhere knows what this is about. They’re a menace and need more regulation.

        • Anon

          I freaking hate them! People are always dumping them in front of my driveway or the sidewalk so people can’t walk.

      • Anonymous

        The picture is of a kid off-road biking. Which I’m 100% fine with. It may be the only place left that is fit for them actually.

        I think it all went downhill with phones and texting and multitasking when we drive. I don’t feel safe biking in my city and often feel unsafe in my car. At least in my car I have a chance of my live continuing on relatively the same path if I get hit.

        • Anon

          But you driving more makes other kids less safe. It’s a bad cycle – the roads aren’t as safe as we’d like so we drive more to protect ourselves, but more drivers equals more traffic and road rage and accidents and emissions and kids not biking independently and we’re actually not protecting anything…

    • Anon

      In D.C., I am constantly amazed at how STUPID scooter drivers are. I commute every day downtown right by the White House (hello major traffic) and scooter drivers – dudes in suits on their way to a meeting somewhere – are weaving in and out of traffic like it’s NBD. I once saw someone make a left hand turn from the turn lane on Constitution Ave (the eight lane boulevard that runs down the Mall) onto 17th like he was a car. A dude on a scooter. In 8 lanes of downtown traffic. Amazed, I tell you.

      • Anon

        Scooters, just like bikes, are suppose to act like cars in DC’s downtown. They are banned from the sidewalks

  11. Worry about yourself

    I actually really like the pearl detail on the heel, they look like something I’d wear to a nice brunch or daytime wedding. But I tend to like “old lady” stuff, so don’t mind me.

    • Anonymous

      Same, but I’d get all kinds of gravel and detritus in them in practice.

    • Anon

      Reminds me of my favorite lightbulb joke –

      Q- how many grandmothers does it take to change a lightbulb?

      A- don’t mind me, I’ll just sit here in the dark

  12. anon

    Anyone else having a nonproductive afternoon? I’ve noticed that I’m having a hard time staying productive at the end of the week. I’m fine M-W, and then just dragging the rest of the week. Not sure if it’s a burnout issue, or an overall energy issue, but my brain is just … done. Then I feel guilty for not being a stellar employee.

    • Inspired By Hermione

      I took today off because I leave on a red eye tonight and I’m both super chill and very anxious I’ll forget something. The last three days at work were insane but also I don’t feel like I did anything.

    • pugsnbourbon

      This week has been stressful both at home and at work and my brain is just toast right now.
      My plan for the rest of the afternoon is to refresh my to-do list, identify the low-hanging fruit, and crank out as many of those tasks as I can while listening to my favorite podcast. And then hang out with a friend tonight to decompress.

    • Anonymous

      I’m the same way, especially in the summer. Have been trying to fill my mornings so that I can sneak out early instead of just sitting at my desk on websites like this one! Do feel anxious about having to make up the billable hours by the end of the year though.

    • Senior Attorney

      I just got in from Italy late yesterday afternoon and I am dragging! Jet lag is real!

    • Vicky Austin

      Me too today. It’s raining buckets here and that’s not helping. I have great intentions, but you know what they say about those.

    • NOLA

      Today is the first day of our new fiscal year so everyone is back and the place is hopping. I had a two hour meeting this morning and am hopping from one thing to the next this afternoon. We’re in the homestretch before school starts and it’s showing.

  13. anon

    i’m sitting at a starbucks and overhearing some high school students discussing last night’s debate. it is kind of refreshing and gives me some home for the future

  14. KelSD

    Looking for recs for therapists and/or psychiatrists in the Bay area. My brother lives in Berkeley and is interested in going back on the antidepressants he used to be on several years ago. Figuring this out is a struggle (motivation and getting tasks like this done are tough for him) and I thought I’d see what the hive had to say. Any great docs you can recommend? Stories of hassle-free experiences getting meds? I’m not certain of his insurance, but I think he’s on some plan with Kaiser. Thanks in advance; it’s hard for him to accept help but I’m trying to do what I can from afar.

    • Anon

      He will need a psychiatrist to prescribe the rx. I don’t know Kaiser docs. I could not find a psychiatrist who took my insurance and would actually call me back in Berkeley. It’s very difficult. I ended up in Walnut Creek.

    • Anon

      Kaiser is an HMO, so it’s a closed system.

      He has to go through a Kaiser doctor, which will be referred to him through the member services number on the back of his insurance card. If he had Kaiser the last time he was on meds, it’ll still be in his Kaiser chart, but most likely they’ll ask him to come in for an appointment (with a Kaiser Dr, at a Kaiser facility) before they give an Rx (which he will most likely also pick up at the pharmacy in his Kaiser facility).

      • Flats Only

        Call Kaiser with him on the line. I wanted to go back on Prozac, and called them. I had to see a psychiatrist through their “Behavioral Health” department, but they were able to schedule me over the phone without a separate visit to my Primary Care doctor. They were compassionate and quick through the process, even though the previous prescription wasn’t on my Kaiser chart.

        • Anon

          I had kaiser for decades- my obgyn and pcp were always able to prescribe Prozac. Unfortunately, Kaiser has been cutting back counseling services the last few years. I went to a fabulous (private) dr in the peninsula for a few years, but that’s probably to far for him.

    • thehungryaccountant

      If he has the cash-flow and doesn’t want to wait, I’d recommend he look into some private or community practices as well (although I don’t have any personal recs). I was on a Kaiser psychiatrist wait-list in the Bay for nine months in 2014.

      All that time on the wait-list took a serious toll on my mental health. Expensive sessions with a licensed psychiatrist (while I waited for a Kaiser doc) would have been worth the investment in my opinion.

      • thehungryaccountant

        Also, if you have the time and ability- offer to help him with the process of finding the right practitioner. Asking hundreds of offices if they are taking new patients can be daunting and near-impossible while in a deep depression.

  15. Senior Attorney

    Spinning off from an anon above, what’s your favorite short and silly joke? Here’s mine:

    Knock, knock!

    Who’s there?

    HIPAA.

    HIPAA, who?

    I can’t tell you!

  16. Inspired By Hermione

    On my way to the airport and happened to check my email- found out that I won a case in a huge way. I work with low income veterans and just got one of my clients a 5-figure sum and also nearly doubled his monthly income. My work is tough but moments like this make it so worth it.

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