Since tomorrow is the biggest shopping day of the year, I thought I would do a feature on one of my favorite non-beauty subjects that’s vastly under discussed, foot support insoles. I am pretty obsessed and since I really like my heels, I have them in almost every pair I own in some form or another – a ball of foot cushion, back of the heel cushion, ¾” insert or a full insert for boots, which I always get ½ size too big so they fit snug.

But what Santa could really bring me this year that I’ve searched high and low for is a pair of ball-of-foot inserts for us stiletto wearers. It’s always the same, after about 2 hours of standing in sky high heels, shifting back and forth, my feet are done. And I’m not one of those that will take off my shoes before the night is over and carry them. They only come off when I’m in the door, home.

So that’s been my hunt for a long time now - something that lets me get hours of wear out of a nice pair of high heels without the pain. 

So in my quest in making all my shoes comfy, I’ve tried many different brands - Foot Petals, Dr. Scholl’s, Kiwi, Spenco, Stiletto Hardware and others. From what I’ve experienced, the material these companies use is either rubber, poron (Foot Petals) or some kind of space age material they claim will make you feel like you’re walking on clouds. 

Every few months, there seems to be some kind of development in the area of shoe support with the different brands like this new Technogel collection from FOOT PETALS. It’s a 3-dimensional shock absorbing gel that will relieve stress and pressure on parts of the foot. And they’ve used this light grey-ish material for all their inserts – the Killer Kushionz (3/4 insole), Tip Toes (ball-of-foot), Heavenly Heelz (back of heel), Hot Heelz (for the bottom of the heel) and Amazing Arches. I found that these Technogel ones are a step up from the gel supports I’ve used in the past from random brands and certainly from their original Poron ones (I’m not a huge fan of their Poron ones) but if you wear anything past 3 ½” heels, you better bring a pair of flats with you for the end of the night. More on that later!

When it comes to full inserts, like what I put in my sneakers and boots, I turn to the DR. SCHOLL’S line. They just came out with these 'For Her' Cozy Cushions, which are two plush layers of faux fur to keep tooties warm and perfect for any pair of boots. Gotta love anything that makes your feet feel pampered, right? And of course there is their Active Series for athletes that I have in both pairs of sneakers. And my last recommendation from the brand, which also comes from the For Her line, is the 'For Her' High Heel Insoles, which I have in my work shoes. Work shoes = about 2” high.

So when you’re shopping tomorrow and your feet are getting tired from whatever shoes you decided to wear, I have one recommendation, make sure you have a pair of KUSHYFOOT Flats to Go! tucked in your purse. Don’t look for these for overall foot support though but more for overall foot relief!! They come in 6 different prints/solids and for $9.99 @ kushyfoot.com? You just can’t go wrong.

Foot Petals Technogel prices start @ $8.95 for a pair and up @ shoes.com.

Dr. Scholl’s prices start @ $9.99 for a pair and up. See drscholls.com for locations to purchase. 

Disclosure: Samples of these items were provided for review purposes.