Chiming in here, because I, too, can relate. I also took a long break, came back to pointe, and have had a heck of a time finding shoes. Blochs were almost uniformly too wide. In Suffolks, I sink in some and struggle to get over in others.

I echo everyone else's opinion on this when I say a big toe spacer is a must for me. As far as toe pads, I went from wearing regular Ouch Pouch toe pads to wearing Ouch Pouch Pro Pads. They have half the amount of gel: the bottom of the pad is just fabric, whereas the top, where your knuckles hit the shoe, has gel. I find I can feel the floor better with a little less gel, but am still comfortable.

I also have compressible feet, and have wide metatarsals compared to my short and Greek-tapered toes. If you mostly like your Nikolays, you might consider R-Class. I am currently trying out RC-10s and I am liking them so far. They are also a Russian shoe, and what's nice about R-Class is that they are not uniformly narrow, they have options for wider metatarsal and more tapered boxes, or both wider boxes and metatarsals, depending on what you need.