Self-care will forever be our favourite hobby but we appreciate that recharging and putting yourself first looks different for everyone. Each week, we'll be asking the celeb lot to share their ideal self-care Sunday routines, the hard-working beauty products they recommend to their friends and which TV show they're currently binging…
This week it's all about Ella Barnes, a professional dancer and model from Kent who entered summer Love Island as the final bombshell. After a, erm, 'messy' love triangle with Mitch Taylor and Abi Moores, the 24-year-old left hand-in-hand with Mitch only for the pair to call it quits weeks after leaving the show.
"I'm fine, I'm happy, I'm thriving," Ella tells heat, "I'm loving single life, it's probably the best time to be single coming fresh out of Love Island."
Since leaving the show, Ella has already worked with huge brands including PrettyLittleThing and Shein, however, explains to heat that she wants to use her new platform 'to influence people rather than only promoting clothes'. We love to see it. 👏
Ella B chats exclusively to heat about surprising show secrets, make-up bag essentials and how she manifested Love Island (no, really, she did!)
On life after Love Island
"Life has been amazing, like the best ever, I can't lie. Everyone has been so nice. Going on the show, I knew it was big but I didn't realise how many people actually watch it and how many different kinds of people. I thought it was more of a younger audience but I'll go down to my local pub and there's an older woman who could be my nan saying, "Hello, I watched you on Love Island, you were amazing!" Honestly, everyone is so lovely in person. I can't lie, life has been good."
On surprising show secrets
What was the most surprising thing about appearing on Love Island that we would never ever guess?
"One thing for sure is I didn't realise how close the beds were in the bedroom. Obviously, there are so many people and the bedroom looks bigger on TV. But literally, there's a chest of drawers between each bed and you can hear people kissing, you can literally hear everything!
"You also have to wear your mic everywhere and cameras are everywhere. There's no privacy in that place. Even going to the toilet, there are cameras and you've got your microphone. So when they say you're filmed 24 hours a day, you literally are. There's no point you're not on camera even on lunch they don't turn the cameras off, and you're still being watched."
On self-care Sundays
What does the ultimate self-care Sunday look like for Ella B?
"Self-care for me is making myself feel good. So if I typically was to wake up on a Sunday and thought, "Right, I want to self-care", I'd get up early, have a coffee and I'd go to the gym to make myself feel good. Then I'd come back and I'd definitely have a nice bath and I love having sea salts for muscle therapy. I would light a candle and I'd get my music on to make me feel good. I'm all about motivation so when I want to make myself feel good, I always go to the gym and then come back to relax and listen to some chilled R&B."
On skincare favourites
"I actually really struggle with my skin. Before Love Island, my skin was actually really good but since going on there, obviously wearing make-up, all day in the sun and all night and coming out of Love Island where I've got events every single day, my skin's not been breathing and I've really struggled with my skin.
"I struggled with it in my teenage years but it was fine, then since this whole experience it definitely has broken me out but I think it's not even that I'm stressed, it's just adjusting to a new lifestyle.
"Recently I've discovered Kiehl's and I swear by it and it hasn't been breaking me out. The moisturiser is called Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream and my friend actually put me on it and it's amazing. Recently, I purchased their Avocado Eye Cream and if you haven't got it, get it because it is incredible. Those two things have really changed my skincare for sure in the last month or so."
www.lookfantastic.com
On budget beauty buys
"In terms of make-up, the NYX Professional Makeup Micro Brow Pencil. I've used it for years and I literally love it. It's a dupe for the MAC one. I also love the NYX Butter Gloss.
"Then before a night out, I use the Garnier Summer Body Moisturising Lotion and it's a gradual tan moisturiser. I always use that and everyone always to me, 'You look really brown" or 'You look really glowy' and it's just that moisturiser. I've honestly been using it since I was 17 and I used it a lot in the villa!"
www.boots.com
On make-up ride-or-dies
"Obviously, we had Boots fill up the shelves all the time, so in terms of what Boots had, I loved the Fenty Lip Gloss in shade 'Fu$y'. That's incredible, I literally loved it. All of us girls were trying to fight for the Fenty Gloss Bombs because there were only a couple going around. But definitely that in the villa.
"In terms of my own make-up, a lot of people are asking me what foundation I use and even to this day it's the Too Faced Born This Way Foundation. It's full coverage but it's got no oil in there so it's good for stopping breakouts. I really like the NARS blush in Orgasm and also the cream Fenty blush. I like to use a cream contour and blush and then I set it with the powder version so it stays put and is pigmented."
On her Love Island lip combo
FYI, Ella is a qualified make-up artist, so we need to know: what brilliant beauty wisdom did she teach the rest of the girls?
"Jess [Harding] was literally asking me for tips all the time! We all pretty much used my lip combo whilst we were in there because everyone loved it. It's the Morphe Lip Liner in Sweet Tea, the Morphe Lipstick in the shade 'Wifey' and the Fenty Lip Gloss in shade 'Fu$y'. Everyone always wanted my lip combo in there!"
On stealing products from the villa
The Boots beauty stash on Love Island is known for being mega. Which beauty bits did Ella nab for her suitcase?
"I got a carrier bag, I was just taking everything! I took a few of those Fenty lip glosses. I took a Weleda Skin Food which actually I use underneath my foundation and it gives a really nice glow, so I definitely recommend that. They also had a Fenty highlighter which I took, which is incredible and the Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Powder in 'Pound Cake' which I'm still using now. There were body lotions, Liz Earle skin tonics, I took loads of stuff, to be honest.
"I'll tell you what we were all fighting over in the villa, even the boys. It's the Got2B Glued Hairspray. The boys loved it, especially Mitch with his quiff. But all the boys were fighting over it and the girls used to hide it in the dressing room but they would find it. It was the only thing that would keep our hair intact in the humidity.
"There would only be one can, we'd always ask production for another one but you couldn't get it in Spain. Towards the end of the series, there was none left, but when people were coming over, like chaperones, they would grab us a bottle!"
On daily wellness habits
"I always have to have a minimum of eight hours of sleep or I get really grumpy. So for me, it's definitely sleep and a coffee and then I feel ready for the day. They're like the two things that get me in a good mood. If I haven't had sleep or I haven't had a coffee in the morning, I'm not awake."
On manifesting Love Island
"The Secret has definitely changed my life, I swear by that book. I've even got two versions of it in my room. I'm really into manifestation.
"I fully manifested Love Island, my lock screen was the villa, and my Home Screen on my phone was the fire pit with the people around it. Every night before I used to go to sleep I used to envision myself walking in. Everything I thought about was Love Island.
"When I spoke to my family when I was going through the process, I spoke it into existence. So I would be like, 'So when I walk into the villa, this is what's going to happen.' I used to just speak it, speak it, speak it like it was already happening, not 'If I go on Love Island' but 'When I go on Love Island'.
"Like, 'You know what girls, I can't go on holiday with you because I'm going on Love Island!' I would just speak it into existence and every time I'd look at my phone, I'd be looking at the villa so I would automatically just be thinking about it constantly.
"Then I got told I was going to be a bombshell, but I was waiting and waiting and obviously being the last bombshell. I was kind of hesitant whether I was going in or not. So literally before I go to sleep I'd watch Molly-Mae's entrance video, Ekin-Su's entrance as a bombshell. I used to watch them on YouTube three or four times before I used to go to sleep, so when I did go to sleep it would be in my mind. So yeah I was fully manifesting and the reason for that was reading The Secret. I know a lot of people will think, 'Oh, it's not true.' Trust me it is, because it worked for me."
On wise advice
"Everything happens for a reason and what's meant for you will never pass you by. I always live by that. If something happens that I don't like or I'm upset about, my mum always tells me, 'Everything happens for a reason and something better is going to come along.' Whether that's love, whether that's in work, or anything in life, everything does happen for a reason and the universe is doing it for something better.
"For me, I was supposed to go on winter Love Island and was upset, but then I went on in the summer. So everything in my life recently has worked out for the best."
Quickfire round:
What show are you currently watching? I'm watching Sex Education on Netflix, it's so good.
How do you like your cuppa? I have two spoonfuls of coffee, sweetener and oat milk.
Go-to loungewear brand? Probably Mars the Label, I have so many of their tracksuits.
Favourite face mask? The Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Bubble Face Mask.
Go-to takeaway order? Wing Stop, I'm such a sucker for it, I love it.
Favourite candle? Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir.