I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!

I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!

When ShopStyle asked me to share my favourite best-kept secret spots in the city, I jumped at the chance. I NY, after all, and I pride myself on recommending places to tourists and locals alike!

Pretty much everyone I know has moved to Brooklyn in the last few years. Sometimes it feels like my husband and I are the last of the dinosaurs, gripping tight to our East Village existence! While I am a certified Lower East Side babe, I always enjoy spending time in the borough across the bridge.

Brooklyn drips with character. It is a truly unique place, chockablock with culture, and the people who live there bristle with hometown pride. From little old ladies to the germinating hipster contingent and everyone in between, people who claim Brooklyn as their borough are happy to be there.

These pictures were taken in Bushwick, against one of its many colourful painted walls. The street art that permeates the neighbourhood is bright and bold and fabulous eye-candy. As I pranced around, inflatable flamingo underneath my arm, we encountered some friendly drunks, wolf-whistling bicyclists, and a man who was joyfully yelling expletives. What an adventure!

I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!

The little slider above is an easy way of shopping my outfit — give it a try!

I’m so obsessed with my dress: I didn’t see the black or floral options when I bought it, but this royal blue slays. It’s so comfortable and easy to throw on that it has become a new basic. Plus, at only 20 bucks, it’s a total bargain!

I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!Sunglasses which match your lipstick (MAC Cosmetics Pink Poodle) are to be encouraged.

I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!Meet Frederico, our new Blogcademy mascot. Isn’t he the best?!

I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!I’m still using this Kate Spade handbag almost every day.

If I had to claim my 5 favourite places in Brooklyn, they would probably be Catbird, home of beautiful jewellery and homewares; Roberta’s, purveyors of the best pizza in the whole city (try the Bee Sting); Rent Patina, which has started to feel like a second home after this last week; Moto, for killer brunch and great live music, and dozens of random streets painted vivid colours in Bushwick.

Despite living in Manhattan, Mike and I have shared a lot of memories in Brooklyn. Two years ago, we were married underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and I remember when we were first dating, going on moonlit motorcycle rides to get ice-cream and look back at the skyline. Swoon.

There’s so much to see and do in this delightful borough that it seems only appropriate to wear heart-shaped glasses!

I ♥ NY: 5 Hotspots For Brooklyn Babes!

If you’re visiting NYC, don’t bypass Brooklyn. Give midtown a miss, and hop the L train for a kickass cultural experience.

Brooklyn, we go hard,

Photos by Shauna Haider and Kat Williams, my long-suffering loves.