The Circle’s Manrika Khaira talks quitting her day job, self-care and her go-to Aldi moisturiser

We love a bit of self-careand all this time at home has really given us an excuse to look after ourselves inside and out. Each week, we'll be asking the celeb lot to share their Sunday self-care routines, because taking care of yourself is more important than ever.

This week it's all about The Circle's Manrika Khaira, who is easily the most entertaining part of our evenings as season three airs on Channel 4. The OG #geezergal is hilarious, sassy and is 'playing the biggest game' and tbh, we are HERE FOR IT.

It is a gameshow after all. You get that 100k cash prize, hun.

She's also big news on TikTok, with 357k followers who can't get enough of her #relatable content and 'sassy GRMs'.

Manrika chats exclusively to heat about the power of Law of Attraction, her skincare favourites and how she likes to spend her ultimate self-care Sunday.

On trolling

The 25-year-old admits that she has had more than her fair share of trolling on social media, but has developed a thick skin and tries not to let it phase her.

"I already had a bit of platform this time last year, so I’ve had a bit of time to develop thick skin. I’m okay, I had a bit of a tough weekend last weekend, but it is what it is. I always live by, ‘you can’t take anything personally from someone you’re not personal with’. People are going to get invested with what I’m doing in life or what they see online and I’ve kind of just accepted that. I’ve got brilliant management, I can’t praise them enough. I’ve got support elsewhere as well and I kind of know what to expect, so it’s not too much of a big deal for me.

There’s so many messages that I get at the moment, a mixture of good and bad, but I don’t get time to read them all. Every time I go to refresh, there’s just a hundred new ones, so it’s just not worth me reading my messages at the moment, anyway. I’m just trying to keep positive in the bubble I’m in and I know my family and friends support me."

On self-care routines

Manrika shares how self-care is definitely something she's trying to factor in to her busy life.

"I’ve got a TikToker friend who’s called Vick (@vickaboox) who’s all about self-care and she forces me to have my self-care days! I have to physically force myself to take time out because it does help to just have some time to yourself.

So one day a week at least I’ll have a hot soak, I’ll put the laptop in the bathroom and I’ll watch Netflix. I’ll put a face mask on and a hair mask. I know we’re in a pandemic and my sort of self-care is where you just look after yourself a bit and make yourself feel good. I’m working from home because of what I do, it’s so easy to just stay in your pyjamas all day. So I motivate myself to get up, get myself ready, order a Starbucks breakfast which is one of the things I love doing, I just have a day where I think about me."

On skincare must-haves

You can keep your fancy-shmancy La Mer, as it's all about Aldi's Lacura skincare range for Manrika, who is ob-sessed with the budget supermarket line. An absolute icon if you ask us.

"I have a day cream that I absolutely swear by and it's from Aldi and it’s £5. I do get a lot of stuff sent from brands, but I swear by this cream. It’s the Lacura Q10 Renew Day Cream and it’s amazing. I do like to do things on a budget, the only thing that is expensive is my foundation, everything else is drugstore. You can do just as a good job with stuff from Superdrug or Boots with the stuff you can buy from Selfridges."

As for the rest of her go-to products?

"I also use an exfoliator and a face wash, my exfoliator is the Clean and Clear Exfoliating Daily Wash the oil-free one. Then my face wash is Lacura again and it’s the [Pro Vitamin B5 Wash {href='https://www.onbuy.com/gb/face-wash-gel-lacura-refreshing-soap-free-with-pro-vitamin-b5-150ml~c8180~p22761013/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' class='add-referrer-link'}) and it’s for all skin types. It’s soap-free, I try to use stuff without too much perfume or anything in it.

My other go-to cream is a Garnier and it’s the soothing Lavandin Anti Age Day Cream .It’s from their new range, they sent me a little box at Christmas. I absolutely swear by that too."

"I don’t have a specific skincare routine, I should, but when I have tried to have a skincare routine in the past, I find that my skin has got bad so I just stick to what I know! I also use the Lacura Micellar water to get off any excess make-up, I just swear by Lacura, I should really get a brand deal with them, tbh!"

We absolutely would love to see it.

On #extra facials

"I’ve had a Million Dollar Faciallast year, I think it was in between the period that beauty was allowed to be open and that did wonders, because they get rid of all your dead skin, don’t they? You know when you’ve got a bit of patchiness on your skin, it just takes all of that away. I would definitely go for something like that again if I was to have a bit of self-care."

On her ride-or-die make-up bits

Her make-up looks incredible on The Circle and it's all down to her trusty products that she uses time and time again. What's more, it's all mostly drugstore. A girl after our own heart.

"I literally use the same seven products whether I’m going out or staying in, so I use a Nars Foundation and that’s the Radiant Longwear Foundation, I useDupe Shop's primer, which does a really great dupe for Smashbox Photo Finish.

"My concealer is from NYX, it’s the Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Concealer in shade ‘Natural’. Then I actually use the Revolution Foundation Stick for contouring, I feel like it gives you a warmer brown tone. I then buff that in and go over it with a NYX Matte Bronzer. My blush is from MAC and it’s in the shade 'Peaches'.

And just like the rest of us, Manrika is easily influenced by the latest product to go viral on TikTok.

"I’ve actually started using a new mascara recently, I saw it everywhere on TikTok, it’s theSky High Mascara.My followers wanted a review on it and I’ve stuck by it ever since. My lip liners and lipsticks are all from MUA and are like £1 or £1.50 each. That is all I wear on my face every single day."

"I baked my face a lot on the show, that was the Revolution Banana Powder. I only do that I need my make-up to stay on all day. When the clubs reopen in June, we’ll be baking so much to make sure none of that sweats off!"

On sleep

"It’s taken me so long to get my sleeping pattern in check. A couple of months ago I was going to sleep at four am and still waking up at nine or ten o’Clock it was awful . But now, I obviously watch The Circle till 11 and go straight to bed. I’m not the healthiest person I’m not going to lie, I will sit in bed with a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and a cup of tea. There are nights where I’ll be sat in bed and text my brother, ‘do you want a McDonalds?’"

"My diet is balanced but I wouldn’t say I eat a strict, healthy diet because at the end of the day we’re in a pandemic and I need to be happy about something!"

If you're looking for a new posh wax melt, Manrika recommends small business KLH Wax Melts.

"I do like to light candles but we keep them downstairs. I’ve got a good friend who has a wax melt business, she sends us the most beautiful wax melts which are all perfume inspired," Manrika tells us, saying she loves to support small businesses.

"She’s a small business and we all live on a council estate, so when it comes to stuff like that, we get it from who we know around here, rather than ordering from big businesses online, we support our own. Everyone on this estate uses KLH wax melts, so whenever she has anything new it’s so exciting."

On the Law of Attraction

Manrika believes in the Law of Attraction '100%!" and shares how the power of positivity has helped her be where she is today.

"I was in a dead end job in January last year, my energy was just so negative all the time, I always had the ‘half-empty’ mentality. I don’t know what clicked in my brain, but I just needed to change the way I think. I started to take more risks. Before I was like, “I can’t do that” or “what if this happens?” and then I was like, “actually, f-ck it!”"

Manrika ended up quitting her job and moving into social media.

"I was in recruitment and don’t get me wrong, the company I worked for is absolutely amazing, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do. I feel like if you’re in a job and you’re not excited to go to work in the morning, which is a lot of people, you need to find something else to do. We only have one life and we spend so much time in your place of work, if you’re not happy there, it’s going to affect the way you feel outside of your workplace. We only get a weekend and some people don’t even get that."

"It took a long time and I had a lot of hurdles to get over, because financially, I’m a big support in the household. I support my mum a lot. It was a big decision and that was the only reason why I had to think about it. The main thing was being able to support my mum, that’s my main goal and aspiration in life, to make she’s alright before I am. I had to just take a risk and I did. Then slowly everything started to come to me, all these opportunities started to come to me. I just changed my mindset and started to think positively and not care what people thought. I didn’t want to stop doing things because of other people. As soon as I got over that, god my life changed, honestly it really did."

"Don’t get me wrong, I still have my negative days now, I have days where I don’t want to do anything and I question my whole life. But that usually is around my period and I sit there and think, ‘I’m a sad bitch today, my period must be coming!’ I always put myself back in the position I was 12 to 18 months ago and I’m so grateful for where I am now. I’ve been able to change my family's life and that’s been crazy for me."

On the book that's changed her life

"So I actually read Grant Cardone’s The 10x Rule and although it is about sales, it’s also about the way you think about things. Every decision I make, I completely analyse it before I make it. I have a reason behind everything that I do and I think everything out very cleverly before I make any decision, because you’ve got to."

"If I’m having a disagreement with somebody, I’ll always sleep on it and analyse the situation. This time last year I would have just bitten someone’s head off, but you’ve got to think about things clearly."

Quickfire round:

Show you’re currently binging? Jane the Virgin

Go-to cuppa? A strong tea with two sugars, but it’s got to be really strong though.

Go-to loungewear brand? It has got to be Boohoo.

Favourite face mask? Probably a Garnier one, I always go for them.

Go-to takeaway order? Chinese, all day everyday A bit of salt and pepper chicken always.

Favourite candle? KLH wax melts 100%.

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On finding make-up dupes

Manrika loves Dupe Shop for finding a good make-up product at just half the price. Genius.

"They dupe a lot products so you don’t have to spend loads of make-up. They sent me a dupe for the Smashbox Primer and it’s incredible. They also do dupes for all your expensive palettes like your Anastasia Beverley Hills and bits like that for literally like £10 or £12. A brilliant, brilliant website."