Los Angeles From Above: An Afternoon At The Griffith Observatory

As you read this I will be most likely somewhere over the Atlantic looking forward to seeing London Heathrow Airport for the first time in 10 months. Los Angeles, it has been amazing, and thank you for giving me one of the most incredible years of my life. (But don’t worry, I still have one last photo diary and a round up of my ‘Summer Holiday’ here left to go online as far as Los Angeles orientated content is concerned!
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While when I first arrived here back in September I spent my first few weeks doing the ‘tourist’ thing, there are some things I was saving for my last few weeks. I went to see a couple of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame when I arrived, for example, but Kathryn and I did almost the whole thing last week; so much more fun with two! Saturday found us, after a quick lunch in Los Feliz taking the shuttle up to the Griffith Observatory and its famous panoramas of the city. I’d only seen a little of LA at night from the rooftop bar of The London Hotel on the Sunset Strip back in November, so this was the very first time I was really able to appreciate how truly vast the city is. This journey up into the hills was pretty bittersweet for me, too. I can’t wait to see England again, but it reminded me of what an amazing and unique city I was leaving behind.
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I think the observatory must have one of the best views of the Hollywood sign in the city; while you can catch glimpses of it from the higher rises of LACMA, from Sunset Boulevard and from a distance driving into Beverly Hills, it seems so clear from up here. Just something you have to see in the city, tourist or not!
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I simply adore the print of this skirt from the Milly for Banana Republic collection I picked up on a shopping trip to Beverly Hills a few days before. The whole collection is fantastic actually, really not something you should be missing out on if you live in the US and you are therefore able to shop there. My necklace is something I picked up in the J.Crew sale in Santa Monica, and my sunglasses and tee shirt were both gifts from PR’s; the sunglasses are by Alexander McQueen and were sent to me by Sunglasses Shop, and the tee (which is fantastically soft, by the way) was courtesy of Splendid. Of course you all recognise the strap of my favourite Hobbs handbag (readers have said they’ve used it to help recognise me while out shopping in Central London!) Unfortunately it is starting to get a little scuffed, so will need replacing at some stage.
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This is my best friend Kathryn, by the way, and the person I have been galavanting around the city with over the last few days. I know I’ve already talked a lot about her (when you’ve known someone for the past 10 years and you are only 20, it is hard for them to not be a massive part of your life!), but I don’t think I’ve ever posted a picture of us together, so those of you who don’t read our beauty blog don’t know what she looks like! At the beginning of her Los Angeles visit we did a photo shoot together with the amazing Nicole, so I should be posting some of the profile shots we took around Venice for The Glossy Guide soon. She’s the one, along with her superior technology of an iPhone 5 to my iPhone 4S who is responsible for the amazing panorama shots in this post. Oh, and her dress is by Monki and her sunglasses were a gift from TOMS’ wonderful PR team.
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Finally, if you want to see a little more than these photos, I took the opportunity to shoot my first every Instagram video up at the Observatory, so you can view that here. If you are looking for the best view in Los Angeles when you next visit, I think I have found it for you. The Griffith Observatory is well worth a vist for the view alone (there is a museum type exhibition too), and I’m actually quite sad I did not get a chance to go up there at night. 

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