New Balance 420 Sneakers review

New Balance 420 sneakers are apparently deemed a bit of a cliché  particularly ones of the red variety. Well, they've already made it to the Sh*t bloggers wear list so I guess I've finally joined the "trendy" crowd for once. I was a little worried that the shoes will be bright like *this is hurting my eyes* kind of red but no, it has a blue undertone (true to life color in my photo) which complements my *I haven't seen no sunshine in light years* skin.

I live in a pretty conservative part of England where gilets, tweed, waxed parkas and wellies are the norm. Not bright red sneakers with an italic N on the side. Suffice to say, I'm an anomaly in this medieval town. Shucks. I wore them for 3 days and no one, I mean NOT ONE SINGLE friend noticed the neon sign on my feet. Until today. We talked excitedly about how to nab these elusive sneakers. Ahhhh.......finally, a woman after my own heart.

These beauties run small. I normally wear a UK 1.5 (US 4 to 5). I bought the smallest size available - UK 3.5  (US 5.5/ EU 36) and all I needed was a thin insole and it did the trick. I could easily go down to a UK 3 from the kiddies' selection but I'll be pushing it at 2.5 (US 4.5).

Verdict: The curved soles make me feel like I'm walking on air. The suede uppers are more water resistant than my Stella McCartney for Adidas sneakers which tend to get soaked within seconds if I accidentally step on a shallow puddle. You won't have a problem fitting into these 420s if you have narrow or medium width feet. It's nice to add a cheerful color to my rather bland color deficient wardrobe. Too bad I can't click my heels and be magically transported to the Maldives just to escape the dreary weather here.