By Sophie Beresiner

A much more reasonable call time heralded the start of our second shoot day. This time the location was at the coastal beach guest house The Meydan. We swapped Heidi for Leah, and watched her effortlessly pull off (not literally) the most unforgiving swimwear with extreme dignity-a must with a lot of Emirati eyes watching for nip-slips; a serious no no in this country.

Our shoe collection and House of Holland Sunnies had some new mega fans in the shape of makeup artist Val Garland and Leah. And assistant Espe. and yes, me also. Must remember to put my credit card back in the freezer upon my return...

The clouds were not quite on our side today so we spent time waiting for the sunny intervals to get the right light and mood for the story. Photographer Marcus also spent some time up a precarious ladder in the middle of a pool, with wet feet and a very expensive camera in hand, so when we wrapped there was a unanimous and urgent need for a relaxing Sundowner to reward the team and unjangle our nerves.

Dubai is a bit like the Vegas of the Emirates, with imposing sparkling skyscrapers jostling for attention alongside malls with indoor ski slopes (complete with penguins, naturally), and the most incredible hotel foyers I've ever seen. Gold and marble fountains weren't quite the backdrop we quaint Europeans had in mind to accompany our quiet night out, so we opted for a team wrap dinner at an Iranian restaurant in a Souk-style mall. Very good food, excellent company and two beautiful beauty shoots under our belts, we're ready for the flight home tomorrow and can't wait to go to print. Make sure you catch our spring and summer issues with more behind the scenes from this trip, How-To makeup videos from Val herself and your all-you-need-to-know summer beauty guides.

Our Pool Shoot Playlist:

Team by Bon Iver

Sugar Baby Love by The Rubettes

Warm & Easy by The 2 Bears

Waterfalls by TLC

Majorlazer by Get Free (feat. Amber)

Ready Or Not by The Fugees (Aphrodite's Dubplate Rerub)

And see what happened on ELLE Beauty Shoot Day 2

Fancy jetting away? Or just want to daydream about sunny beaches? Check out ELLE's Travel section here...