I was on Love Island and these are the hacks to survive the villa, says Rachel Finni
LOVE Island's Rachel Finni has shared useful beauty tips on how to survive in the Majorcan villa.
The 30-year-old appeared on the ITV2 reality show as the first black bombshell ever last year.
She took to Instagram last night and shared advice on how to handle the long hours filming in the sunshine, and what to pack for Love Island, in a post titled "to my melanated beauties".
Rachel said sunscreen is a necessity because "you never film in the shade so you will catch that sexy sun.
"Especially when it’s a challenge you can be filming for up to 5 hours in direct sunshine and heat. YES. Hours!!!! (with shade breaks).
"You may think hats can help and they do but the camera crew and we as an audience need to see your face.
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"Hats will be coming on and off so much they won’t serve much purpose."
Another tip she said was to "buy foundation up to 3 shades darker than your skin tone.
"I know this is pure common sense and something I didn’t do myself but I was so focused on making sure I had enough bikinis, sexy outfits and shoes, I couldn’t even walk in!!"
Rachel admitted that make-up was available in the villa but it wasn't the right tone for her skin.
She said: "There were also a lot of comments about me not taking advantage of the products we had in the dressing room.
"Well…whilst I WISH we had the full range of foundations and concealers, the ones I only ever seemed to find had a red undertone instead of yellow - therefore would have never worked for me.
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"And now stupidly…I realised I never even thought to ask.
"I felt like they were already being ‘generous’ enough just having me on the show. 🙄"
Rachel had previously slammed Love Island for "ticking boxes" when they picked her to be a bombshell.
She told YouTube star Murad Merali that she was "told by people at ITV" that she was brought in due to "lack of diversity".
When she entered the villa she was made to choose between Chuggs and Brad who she hadn’t expressed interest in to producers while in isolation ahead of the show.
She also said, referring to co-star Kaz: "I was on the show with another amazing black woman, who I love and still talk to.
"Tell me how many scenes you saw of me and her on the show together?
"I have a decent relationship with Kaz, but you never saw us on air together."
She claimed the one time they were asked to go for a chat together was after they had "a little disagreement" and producers wanted them to fight it out on camera, but they settled their differences without arguing and the scene "never aired."
Rachel ended up picking Brad over Chugs, but later regreatted the decision when it was clear he had been playing a game to keep his spot on the show.
Speaking about why she cried multiple times, she said: "One thing that may have encouraged my sadness is that you don’t know anyone, we’re all strangers.
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"You can’t pick up the phone and text your mum, you can’t call your friends. You’re stuck.
"There were days in that villa I was by myself because everyone else was in their couple or the person I was with wasn’t interested."
ITV responded to Rachel's comments, with a spokesperson telling The Sun: "ITV has a commitment towards accelerating change in terms of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation across both its workforce and its on screen talent and contributors, as part of its Diversity Acceleration Plan.
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"Diversity and inclusivity are key priorities for us as a broadcaster and we are always looking to improve representation on screen and behind the scenes.
"We would take any suggestion that any editorial decisions are made based on race very seriously indeed and would refute this in the strongest possible terms."