Maura Higgins celebrates her 31st birthday in the Maldives with pals

The Irish model jetted off to the sun with her pal and fellow Love Island star Lucie Donlan earlier this week.

Taking to Instagram, Maura shared snaps of her luxurious getaway.

“Name me a better birthday eve…” she captioned a snap of the girls alongside their pal Laura Stanford.

The picture shows the bikini-clad beauties sitting on a beach shore, holding drinks and posing for the camera amid a backdrop of clear waters and white sand.

After enjoying a day relaxing in the sun, the gal pals headed to sunset yoga.

To mark Maura’s birthday they enjoyed a poolside breakfast of fruit, pancakes, pastries and orange juice, before heading to a spa for more relaxation.

A birthday is not the only thing Maura is celebrating, the Longford lass recently signed up with world class modelling agency Elite Model Management.

The former Love Island star is said to have left her old management company, Off Limits entertainment, whom she signed with after she shot to fame, in a bid to move away from reality TV.

Elite Model Management also represents many high-profile models such as Adriana Lima and Kendall Jenner.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday to reveal the exciting news with a photo inside Elite’s London office, Maura wrote: “Here’s to new beginnings."

Maura is also currently starring in Ann Summer's Christmas campaign.

She appeared in a video for the launch in which she roller blades through a room full of models - showing off the skills she learned while appearing on Dancing on Ice.

Maura posed in a figure-hugging bodysuit with sheer and criss-cross ribbon detailing, before changing into a sexy Santa outfit.

She wore her brunette tresses in a crimped style and wore a festive slick of red lipstick to complete the look.

With only more modelling roles on the horizon, Maura is not short of things to distract her after her romance with Giovanni Pernice came to an end after just four months of dating.

It has been reported that Pernice was the one call time on their romance citing his commitment to the BBC show, Strictly Come Dancing.

Rumours began to swirl that they called it quits after they deleted all traces of one another from social media.

Confirming the end of their romance, Giovanni said: “Firstly, great relationships with great people can come to a natural end. This has been the case for me recently. There was absolutely no wrong-doing and this should be the end of any speculation."

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