“Would you ever go on Love Island?” is a question often jovially asked amongst female friendship groups and the answers are usually met with the giggles.
For me, I’d never do it. Not just because I’ve got a boyfriend, but mainly due to the fact I couldn’t be bothered to look like I’ve walked out a PrettyLittleThing advert 24/7.
When it comes to makeup and all things beauty, I’m incredibly low-maintenance. If I do decide to crack out the foundation and eyeshadow palette I’ve had for about six years, then I’ll make sure it’s only a 20-minute jobby – at most.
READ MORE: Love Island ‘surgery trend’ can ‘add years’ to stars’ unnatural looks, says surgeon
Check out the latest Exclusive stories from Daily Star
But for many women watching the reality dating show, they are influenced by the female contestants that grace the screen. And this year Love Island has come under fire for casting women who ‘all look the same’.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Plastic surgeon Dr Nyla Raja revealed to Grazia that she receives 40% of new patient requests on the evenings when Love Island airs. Female clients would even request that treatments be based on the features of particular contestants.
And it’s the same on the makeup front too, says celebrity makeup artist Lauren Linford.
So what is all the fuss about when it comes to the ‘Love Island look’?
Well, I decided to try and find out by getting professional face painter Lauren, whose clients include ex-islanders Kady McDermott and AJ Bunker, to transform me into a Love Island bombshell…
*Scroll to bottom to find out*
(Image: Layla Nicholson)
And it’s safe to say I barely recognised myself, seriously.
Lauren started off by giving my face a quick cleanse and moisturise so she had a blank canvas for the Love Island transformation.
She then began to fill in my eyebrows with a brown pencil to make them look less sparse and more sharp. Legend has it that you need a strong eyebrow to be able to the pull the lads in the villa.
Eyebrow definition is important to shaping the face, says the Hertfordshire-based makeup artist. Lauren admitted that if the eyebrows go wrong, then it can set up the rest of the look to fail as they are integral to balancing facial features.
The artist then went on to ‘carve’ my now filled-in eyebrows with concealer to make sure they were sculpted correctly before priming my lids ready for the eye makeup.
(Image: Layla Nicholson)
Despite shimmer and glitter being synonymous with glamour, Lauren says that the tide is changing when it comes to the definition of glam.
Recent makeup trends have steered away from shimmery dramatic lids and instead, people focus on the skin – including contouring the eyes.
She says this look has been peddled by the makeup style of Kim Kardashian which has translated onto our screens via Love Island, but just with a heavier version of it.
During the appointment, Lauren told me: “Watching this Love Island, I noticed that a lot of the girls are more skin-focused with contour and don’t have any shimmer on the eyes.
(Image: Layla Nicholson)
“The makeup trend on the show right night is definitely going with the Kim K look, but with heavier skin makeup – which obviously is crazy to me as they’re in a hot country, if that was me I’d sweat it all off.”
Lauren used a number of beige-toned and soft brown eyeshadows to create a sleek look that lightened the inner corners of my lid and chiselled the edge of them with a darker colour.
Though going for a glam look, the artist admitted that she’ll be using no shimmer whatsoever. Lauren shared: “So the Kim K look that Love Islanders love uses eye contour. It’s where you do a lighter inner corner, but you keep it quite matte.
(Image: Lauren Linford)
“No shimmer, no glitter, nothing like that. You Ombre it out, which is quite effective – especially in photos – it gives you that snatched lifted eye effect, known as the ‘cat-eye’ effect.”
Once she meticulously blended the eyeshadow, Lauren went in with an off-black eyeshadow to create a wing. This further added to the feline-esque style heavily seen on celebrities and reality TV starlets at the moment.
She also used a black eyeliner to fill in my waterline and blended it out under my eyes to complete the sculpted ‘eye contour’ trend.
Oh, and some false eyelashes from none other than Molly Mae Hague’s collaboration with Tatti Lashes.
Lauren says the lashes from the ex-islander are the most popular amongst her clients.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Emma Grede)
The makeup professional revealed: “Anything Molly Mae is always so popular, my clients always get excited when they hear her name.
“My clients requests for makeup always have been influenced by Love Island. I always find when people come to me, they don’t even have to say, I can always tell it’s been influenced by the show.
“Some people have come in and said ‘I really like how she’s done her lips’ and they’ll show me pictures of the Love Islander.
“Quite a lot of people have said how they like how Jess does her lips in Love Island. She wears more of the pinky tones.”
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The all-important task of getting the eyes right was ticked off the list by Lauren who then moved onto my skin. This is where the magic of makeup really comes in.
She used a trio of concealer, foundation, bronzer and blusher to sculpt my face to give me that glowing villa complexion. And the illusion of seriously snatched cheekbones that fit right into the current cast of Love Island.
Lauren contoured my nose to give it a thinner and more defined appearance, it’s like a quick nose job without the weeks of bruising and the hefty price tag.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Then it was on to one of the most important parts of the Love Island look, the lips. The lips of Love Islanders have been a massive talking point this series – not just because of the flirting spilling out of them.
Noticeably the women all have juicy pouts, whether that’s achieved by the wonders of makeup or surgery or perhaps they were born with a pair of pouty smackers.
To transform my lacking lips, Lauren used a darker lip liner and a lighter gloss to create the illusion of a larger pout to emulate the style of the Love Islanders.
She then spritzed my face with setting spray to make sure the makeup doesn’t melt off in the Majorcan villa…or the wonderful British summertime.
My bad roots and thinning hair wouldn’t quite cut the preened to perfection Love Island look, so a blonde wig gave me the look of voluminous extensions like the Love Islanders often wear.
(Image: Lauren Linford)
Now, Lauren certainly did a brilliant job at transforming me into a Love Island lookalike.
I almost felt compelled to find the nearest permed, pecked and prattish lad and attempt to pull him for a chat.
It’s like I’d been possessed by a Love Islander and forgot who the urchin was underneath all the eye contouring, fake lashes, lip liner and long blonde wig.
Despite the glamorous makeup being the go-to for many of the islanders and those inspired to look like them, I’m not going to be jumping on the Love Island look anytime soon.
(Image: Lauren Linford)
And that’s because I literally couldn’t go through the effort of bombshelling myself for any occasion. It’s no question that Lauren’s a miracle worker, but I’ll be sticky to my sickly Victorian eyebags and dried-up Carmex for now.
However, it’s safe to say, if I was heading into the villa to shake up things in the final week, then I’d fit right in with the plumped lip and contoured babes.
If you want a quick Love Island look fix, then Lauren is on standby to transform anyone into the makings of a Majorcan villa bombshell.