Any irelia mains out there?

I'd recommend watching how high-ELO streams tend to play her since it can be rather difficult to describe play-style accurately in words. I personally like IreliaCarriesU, Voyboy, and SoloRenektonOnly.

You generally want to start with Q (against ranged) or E (against melee), taking W at level 3. Doran's Blade, Doran's Shield, Corrupting Potion, and Cloth Armor are all decent starting items depending on how you want to play.

I would generally recommend playing passively early, focusing on farm and experience. Try to keep the minion wave near your tower against stronger laners, using your Q and W to last-hit as necessary. However, you can use your E and an autoattack for short trades to poke them down.

As you grow more familiar with Irelia's limits, you will know when to play aggressively/passively and what your power-spikes are.

Irelia can out-trade most opponents once she has Sheen and several levels in W or E. You want to Q to a nearby minion (to get the reset) and attack them with W active, using Q when they get outside your basic attack range or as additional burst damage before W deactivates. After they are low, engage again and use your ultimate for sustain and additional burst damage.

I mostly play Irelia as a back-line diver, so I tend to prioritize durability (to survive) and CDR (to stick to targets). My typically build will look something like the following:

Alternatively, my build will look something like the following if I plan to split-push:

The order the items are built in will obviously vary and there are certain items I will build situationally as necessary.

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to answer them. It can be hard to provide advice when you don't really know what the person is looking for.

Lets start with, what skill are you maxing first, and what is your first item on an average lane opponent?

i max e depending on the lane, otherwise i max w, and my normal starting item is corrupting potion

Its quite odd actually, because with midlane irelia, i do fantastically but in toplane i suck. Maybe its because I just suck at toplane?

if you're dying too much, irelia has very little trouble farming under tower, and an early point into e can save you a ton.