Last time I looked this up, my recollection is that under the hood you need a safety pilot, without a hood you just need a "competent observer", eg a 19yo son with reasonable mental faculties and eyesight would do fine.
So the answer to your question is "yes", but tell ATC (and perhaps the club from whom you're hiring the plane, if you're really concerned that there might be an insurance issue) what you're doing. I put "self-positioned ILS if convenient" or somesuch on the booking out form then ask politely, nobody has said "no" to me yet. And I don't look out of the window until minima, unless ATC or the observer alert me to something I should be looking for/at.