So here we have it, the final installment of Gala & my frolic around NYC! When Christina & I first starting thinking about shooting in New York there was one place top of both of our lists – The Brooklyn Bridge! Iconic the world over, nothing screams New York more than this structure… or the amazing views from it!

After a slightly hair-raising cab ride through China Town and over the Manhattan Bridge, we arrived in Brooklyn and proceeded to walk the 1.1 miles over the East River towards Manhattan.

The bridge was packed full of tourists, maniacs on bicycles (boy, they don’t slow down!) and commuters when we arrived, but with Christina, Marielle & Alie‘s magic camerawork you’d never have known it was so packed! At one point Gala & I were doing our ‘thing’ while about 25 tourists snapped away ferociously behind the girls! I wonder who they thought we were?

I Wore

♥ Vintage dress altered by Fur Coat No Knickers
♥ Jimmy Choo Tokyo hi tops
♥ Vintage fur coat from Frock n Roll
♥ Flower headband & vintage cuff from Lisa Harris Jewellery
♥ Vivienne Westwood handbag

Can we just please stop and share some love for the amazing dress I’m wearing? I found it in a vintage store on Venice Beach back in August and although I loved the lace detailing and the amazing blush pink colour it wasn’t at all flattering (you can see a before and after picture here!) However at just $40 I knew I had to have it! When I got back to the UK I went to see my girls at Fur Coat No Knickers to see if they were up to the challenge of making it into something beautiful for this shoot…and jeez louise did they!

The final dress was actually a combination of two dresses, the original bodice on my dress was unstructured and unflattering, but Emma & Laura found a satin gown that matched the colour of mine perfectly…and even better, it fit me! So they took this bodice and created a brand new skirt from the original tulle from my dress. They even added the vintage lace and applique details from my dress to the new one. Doesn’t it work wonderfully!?

Gala Wore

♥ Vintage dress
♥ Vintage marabou coat
♥ Flower crown by Whichgoose on etsy
♥ Frye boots
♥ Kate Spade handbag 

Shooting with Made You Look and Gala in NYC was like a dream come true. It was so much fun exploring the city with my girls!

But wait…there’s more! Gareth & I did a shoot as well (as you probably already know, I’m never one to turn down posing in front of the camera). We’re still waiting on the final photos from our couple’s shoot, plus the video that Marielle made, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled as I’ll be blogging them really soon!

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After the exertion of jumping around the rooftop, Gala & I decided a much more leisurely pace was required for the second part of our day. So we hopped in a cab with the Made You Look girls and headed towards the uber trendy West Village.

Oh and yes that is me… and no I didn’t have a quick dye job in between! I bought this sky blue wig on a whim from Stargazer when I was purchasing my regular round of baby pink dye. The hair is fake but considering it only cost me a tenner I think it actually looked pretty good! I have plans to buy it in other colours too… I’ll wear them when I feel like going incognito!

What could be more NYC than a West Village stoop? We did find Carrie’s (yes, the actual one they used when filming the outside scenes in Sex and the City) but there was a chain across it with a polite warning to stay off (!) However the road itself was pretty deserted traffic-wise so we had another little dance/pose-off in the middle of the street. I’d like to think SJP probably did the same thing in between takes…

A few of you were asking after I published part one of the shoot, which camera’s the girls use…well I asked Christina and she said, “For the shoot we shot on Contax 645, Contax G1, Hasselblad 500 cm, Polaroid Land Camera 330, Canon AE-1, Pentax 35mm, Canon 5D Mark II DSLR (2 of them – one for filming & one for shooting), Instax wide….& 3 iphones haha!”

I Wore

♥ Topshop Cutout Back Self Stripe Flippy dress
♥ Kimchi Blue black & glitter shoes boots / Jimmy Choo Tokyo hi tops
♥ Stargazer ‘Japan’ wig in ‘Sky’
♥ Sparkle & Fade Skull Cardigan
♥ ‘We are all mad here’ necklace by UntamedMenagerie on etsy

Gala Wore

♥ Topshop sequin dress
♥ Custom decoden glasses by Luxyloli on etsy
♥ Star headband by Janine Basil on etsy
♥ Michael Kors watch
♥ Forever 21 bangles
♥ Frye boots

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I’ve been obsessed with Made You Look Studios for as long as I’ve been blogging. Even in the early days they were wonderful to me and allowed me to feature their beautiful weddings as much as possible. Christina, Marielle & Alie are amazing girls, and when Christina and I started whimsically chatting about one day doing a shoot together I knew we’d make it happen somehow!

Fast forward a few years and the opportunity for me to travel to New York for a shoot with a make up company arose. I was over the moon and even more so when they said the Made You Look girls were shooting it! I think it took me approximately 20 seconds to reply and say I was 100% on board. Unfortunately these things don’t always pan out and the shoot was cancelled a few weeks before I was due to fly out. I was disappointed but I thought, hell, I’m going to New York now anyway and I wanna shoot with these girls damnit! So I emailed them to ask if they still wanted to come to New York (they are based in Bakersfield, CA) and shoot with me & Gareth and then me & Gala! I was overjoyed when they agreed. I’m a firm believer that things always happen for a reason and now we had completely free reign to create the shoot(s) of our dreams!

The day began with make up by the fabulous Regan. He works for MAC and is awesome at what he does. Plus, when he asked if I wanted to try pink eyebrows I knew we were onto a winner! Gala went for a more 60s inspired look while I opted for my trademark bright pink lips to match my brows!

For our first look we decided to head up to the windswept rooftop of our East Village apartment (Gareth & I decided to rent an apartment during our stay instead of booking a hotel. I loved it and the fact that we were in a non-tourist area, it almost felt like we were living there for 2 weeks!)

So, what do Gala & I do when we’re excited to be hanging out again? We pull silly faces and have impromptu dance parties of course! The elevators of Vegas were our practice run, but now the rooftop was our place to shine! Oh boy it was windy up there but I think you’ll agree it was worth it for these shots.

The Made You Look girls are masters of the camera…no, strike that…masters of a gazillion cameras! Each of them carried about 4 cameras each, and as we shot they were constantly changing up and shooting with a different one. Each camera had a different kind of film in it so all the shots are totally different. If you love vintage-looking photographs then these are the girls for you. No fake vintage photoshop edits here people, these are the real deal!

I Wore

♥ Nanette Lepore Jacy Pleated Floral-Print Skirt (seriously the brightest thing I’ve ever owned!)
♥ Zara t-shirt
♥ Upper Street Ballet Flats (designed by me!)
♥ Sparklebeast on etsy (Gala’s)
♥ H&M ring
♥ Forever 21 bangles

Gala Wore

♥ Vintage dress
♥ Bunny ears from a toy shop in New Zealand
♥ Michael Kors watch
♥ Forever 21 bangles
♥ Betsey Johnson ‘Starburst Polly’ shoes

PS: I told you things got a little bit silly…

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