EVER wondered what it might be like to pretend to be someone else for a day?

I’ve often believed that my life should be much more glamorous than it is. And in all honesty I’m often rather put out that it isn’t! ;-)

Yes I’ve been fortunate enough to experience an odd insanely glamorous moment from time to time but on the whole, I’ve got to face the harsh fact that working as a freelancer and being a mum to a toddler is, on the whole, rather unglamorous.

So when an opportunity popped up to take part in a boudoir photo shoot with a difference, naturally I was more than a little delighted.

The difference? Well the shoot was an ‘icon’ shoot, in which I would basically do my best to become someone else for a few hours. To look like someone else. To channel their glamour for the day. To look like a favourite iconic female figure of mine.

My friend and extremely talented photographer Helen from Masque Photography asked me to choose someone I would love to look like and immediately Sophia Loren and Monica Bellucci came to mind.

I’ve always adored the sass, sexiness and full on, unapologetic glamour of Italian movie stars and Italian women in general. The way in which they ‘own’ their beauty. Their sex appeal which just oozes from every pour. Their confidence. The way in which they dress, always feminine, always bold, always magnificent.

And most importantly, how they age! No disappearing from the limelight here, no, no, no! These women wear their age with pride, proud as peacocks, defiant and fierce. A lesson we could all learn from I believe.

After a little deliberation and advice, I finally settled on Monica, whom – for those of you who don’t know – is an actual real life goddess. I’ve said it before and yep, Im saying it again, this Italian screen siren and model has to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. So no pressure at all, as you can imagine.

Helen and I decided the shots we would attempt prior to the shoot:

And this, is how we got on!

With a little (scrap that), a LOT of help from the amazing make up artist Vicky, a sensational wig from Celebwigs.com (which was funnily enough called Kate!) and some Monica inspired clothing and lingerie.

I’ll be honest, imitating Monica wasn’t easy.

And as I began posing for the shots, I certainly began to have a few doubts. However as Helen clicked away I soon began to really enjoy myself. It was a hell of a lot of fun and seeing myself literally be transformed with the help of much make up wizardry was brilliant, if a little weird at times.

Yes some of the shots were tremendously difficult to do, yes many of them didn’t work out quite as we’d planned or hoped and yes I will happily admit that I am definitely no ‘Monica’.

But, when Helen showed me these shots, unedited last week, I did feel pretty damn proud. Of having a go. Of bringing out my inner sexiness. And of trying my best.

I adore these photographs. I love how the shoot made me feel. And I enjoyed trying to capture the essence of this magnificent woman who just screams ‘sex’ in all of her images. It boosted my confidence and made me feel fantastic.

At the end of the shoot, after hours of pretending to be someone else, I ditched the wig and Helen very kindly took a few shots of me as myself, albeit with much darker brows and full on eye makeup.

And that’s when I had a lightbulb moment.

It suddenly dawned on me, that even though I had enjoyed every minute of ‘being’ Monica, I was actually far happier in my own (less glamorous but still rather wonderful) skin.

Somehow attempting to do justice to a breathtaking ‘iconic’ woman had actually resulted in me doing justice to myself. Helping me to own the skin I am in, and learning to truly love it, freckles an’ all.

I like to think the screen sirens themselves, would be pretty damn proud of me for that.

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A huge thank you to Helen for doing such a wonderful job with these photos and for making me feel totally at ease. Please do check out her amazing work, by visiting her website or giving her fabulous Facebook page a like.

Thanks also to the kind folk at Celebrity Wigs who very kindly sent me the wig as a gift for the shoot! What an experience! x

With love (and Monica-esque pouts)

Kate