Oh, Coachella, the home of bralettes, braids… and blisters, according to Love Island star Montana Brown. 

Speaking to fans on her Instagram, Brown spoke out about the realities of attending the California-based festival, admitting it isn’t all as glitzy and glamorous as social media may make it seem.

“Can I just say for all you out there wondering whether to save up the dollar bills and buy a ticket to Coachella I need to address some things,” she said in a post published to her account on Monday.

“YES I took some nice pics and the acts were AMAZING,” she added, “but I also had blisters from my shoes, you have to walk like an hour from the Uber drop off to the festival itself, it smelt like gerbils and I bought some loaded fries for about £20.”

Brown continued: “Then at the end of all that when you finally get to the cab… you gotta pick sand and dust out your hair and nostrils.”

The annual festival, which is hosted across two weekends in the desert outside Palm Springs, California, is famous for attracting some of the biggest names in the music industry, as well as being home to some of the most daring festival looks of the year, which are widely shared across social media.

On Instagram alone, the #coachella tag is currently home to over 4.4 million posts, filled with pictures of smiling festival goers posing in front of palm trees and hazy sunsets.

But, as Brown has revealed, the things you see on Instagram don’t always tell the whole truth.

In the caption of one picture, which saw her posing in the middle of the desert, the TV personality wrote: “Stones in my shoes and prickles on my bum from getting changed in a bush to get content…”

This isn’t the first time Coachella has faced criticism. Festival-goers have previously been called out for their cultural appropriation for inappropriately wearing bindis and native American headdresses.

The owner of the festival, Philip Anschutz, has also been criticised by the likes of supermodel Cara Delevingne, after it was revealed he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to conservative groups, including anti-LGTBQ organisations. 

Fans of the Love Island star have praised the posts for their honesty. They follow Brown’s recent apology for contributing to Instagram’s “perfection myth” in the wake of the death of her friend and fellow Love Island co-star, Mike Thalassitis.

Although a lot of us would still love to trade places with Brown, her honesty has given us something think about when it comes to how we portray our lives on social media.

“[I] had a wicked time and the people I’ve been with have made the trip,” the star added. “But just thought you should all know that it’s not as glam as it looks.”

Image: Getty