Mother Proof Beauty Rules (They Never Fail!)

My Mother is full of some very unique wisdom and although her love of make up and all things beauty does not quite reflect mine, she has taught me many very important things over the years. Not to mention have I always had certain things ingrained into me by general life.
So I thought that I would share these and maybe spread the wisdom!

1. The Killer: always remove your make up before bed. (Sorry guys, but you know it's true...)
2. Try not to touch your face; what's on your fingers will go onto your face! (Wipes off jam smears...)
3. Plucking brows after a bath or shower is most definitely easier. 
4. Only put your conditioner on your ends (smother it on them if you will); otherwise your roots will become very greasy! You may in fact not need conditioner if your hair is naturally very soft. 
5. Applying body moisturisers/lotions is best when you skin is still damp. (Check your righteous butters if you don't believe me!)
6. A bit of cold(er) water can make your hair that much shinier. 
7. Use your face moisturiser on your neck too!
8. Old toothbrushes can be great for exfoliating lips. 
9. Always file your nails and never cut them; file in one direction, the same way every time. 
10. Never tug hair bands out of your hair, unwrap them. 
11. Always start brushing your hair at the ends. 
12. Do not stretch the skin around your eyes when applying or removing make up; this equals wrinkles!
13. Use your ring fingers (are they both ring fingers?) to apply product(s) to your face as it is the most delicate/gentle and will damage your skin less. 
14. Face creams and body creams are not the same. 
15. It's nice to let your skin breathe a little some days; it's okay to leave the make up!

I hope  that you've found these useful and maybe your mother's have told you these as well!

What are your fail-proof beauty rules?

xoxo

Revlon Lip Butters Only £5 (!!) | Offer

That's right my friends; your eyes are not deceiving you. Revlon's revolutionary and just simply amazing lip butters are only £5 currently at Superdrug! Their usual selling price is £7.99 so that's a £2.99 saving! You could get an MUA lipstick or two with that...
The offer is available in store and online, however I'm afraid I didn't look at how long until... so gogogo!

I don't think that I need to say any more on this one really...

Here is however a cheeky look at my ever growing collection of these bad boys...

From left to right, Creme Brulee, Peach Parfait,  Juicy Papaya, Tutti Frutti, Wild Watermelon, Candy Apple

What ones will you get?

xoxo

Divergent - Veronica Roth | Book Review

Hopefully some of you have also embarked on a reading challenge with me and I think that I've gotten off to a fairly good start! One week of the year down and I'm already one book down. Apparently I have completed 2% of my challenge! (From Good Reads). 

Divergent is the first instalment of what is simply called The Divergent Trilogy. It is the next big cult series following The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments. If you don't like these series' or are just thinking 'What!?', then this book is not for you.
The storyline is made up of a city which is split into different factions, upon which when you turn 16 you can then decide to stay in the faction you were born in or choose to join a different one, abandoning your family. The book follows Beatrice who embarks on this journey along with her brother Caleb. I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it had everything that you would want and expect. It had cliffhangers. It had violence. It had action. It had a bit of romance. I struggled to put it down to get out of bed in the mornings!
I would definitely recommend if this kind of genre is your type of thing. I now needneedneeeeed to read the next two books!!

Next Up: The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Let me know your thoughts!

xoxo

Seventeen Lip Crayon Kit | Sales Goodies

As Christmas takes over at Boots in the form of 3 for 2 gift sets, I peruse these aisles to spot things which I will then hope to God that they will still be there in the sales afterwards. This year, or in fact, last year now(!), I spotted this little set and thought: you my friends, will be mine in the half price sales.

The lip crayon sensation completely took over last year with all brands jumping on the Clinique Chubby Stick band wagon (which are a particular favourite of mine). Revlon had their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains, Bourjois Color Boost, L'OReal the list goes on. As I really enjoy these kinds of products I thought that four of these for a fiver (half price from £10 originally) were a complete steal!

I was sceptical about the more nude-y pink, but really loved the look of the red and the orange; as we all know these are my favourite colours for lips. However I have really enjoyed wearing the nude! Seventeen may have converted me...

From left to right, Nude, Red, Pink and Orange

I really like these; they glide on nicely, they feel nice on your lips and the colours are pigmented. They have nice glossy effect and although do seem slightly washed out than the packaging colour, for such a bargain I can't complain! I don't really have any downsides, just me being slight pedantic over certain aspects in that I really wish they had names! As opposed to just 'that pinky one', however I can't complain! The 'Hints and Tips' are also slightly having delusions of grandeur but here they are:

'How To create the Perfect Lips

1. Use a sharpened lip crayon to contour your lips, following their natural outline.
2. Colour in the whole lip, blending the colour evenly.
for more pout appeal, add a dab of clear gloss to the centre of your top and bottom lips, it cleverly reflects the light to create the optical illusion of fuller lips!'

I hope that you also got your hands on a pack of these babies; they were definitely a good find!

What sales goodies did you find?

xoxo

Box Swap | 2013

That's right, my friend Emily and I went a did a box swap. And it was such a good idea! We both really loved what we got the other and so of course, as it was beauty related, I needed to blog about it. It is also a really good idea for birthdays or even Christmas (that's right, get organised for this year!)

Emily's Box:

For Emily I chose some products that I really love and wanted her to also love! I went with the MUA Undress Me palette, an Essie Mint Candy Apple dupe which was by Sinful Colours, the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, Burt's Bees Mango Lip Balm and some of her favourite sweets: Percy Pigs.

I re-used a Glossy Box for Emily's box.
Sorry for the poor lighting here as well!

My Box:

Emily got me some lovely things; I was really pleased! Mine included some thermal socks, a lovely purple throw (so cosy!), a Barry M lipstick in 151; a beautiful red coral shade, a Glitter nail varnish, some earrings from River Island and the AMAZING L'Oreal Skin Perfection Water Cleanser. 

I hope this gives you some ideas for a box swap!

xoxo

Reading Challenge 2014

Last year, using Good Reads, I set myself a challenge to read 50 books. For me, I thought that this was quite a small amount and did consider setting it as 100. However, I only managed 35 and am quite disappointed with myself to be honest! I know that to a lot of you this may seem a lot and for some hardly anything!
This year though I am really motivated to get that goal reached and I hope that some of you will also set yourself a reading challenge. I have applied for the third year running to be a World Book Night Volunteer and this will spur on my motivation! I'm also going to be blogging about the books I'm reading/would like to read etc so I am going to be on top of my reading.

Currently I'm reading Divergent by Veronica Roth; it's looking to be the new cult classic after The Mortal Instruments series.
So far: 157/487 pages.

For some ideas on what books to read, take a gander at my Good Reads profile (nice sly little plug there...)

What will be your goal?

xoxo

Chapter 2014...

Now I know that, yes, I am a few days late to the band wagon with this post but I had to collect my thoughts on it (and look at other people's resolutions...); I didn't want to just babble down a load of things that sound nice on a blog but not really mean.
I definitely have beauty resolutions. I have life resolutions. I have blog (?!?) resolutions. I have book resolutions; (don't worry, I will write more on this one). I could go on. But I think that for me, my main new year's resolution is that 2014 will be the year of Karina. 2013 wasn't quite up to par on that one but this year will be the one where I really focus on myself, my work, my future (oh lordy) and really put myself forward.

There will be more to come on my resolutions, but for now I'll leave it here. However, I will throw in an inspirational quote to keep us all tide over. Tied over? I don't know, but you know what I mean.

Or maybe not...

xoxo

Cleaning Make Up Brushes || How To 1

It's a new year which means a fresh start and quite often, a spring clean. My spring cleaning has begun (and most probably ended) with the cleaning of my make up brushes. I know that this post is quite a common one, but I didn't think a blog posting about beauty could really get away without doing one.
So here is my little take on making those stained brushes clean again; or at least cleaner!

1. I ran a sink full of some warm water, whilst just rinsing off some of the less in-built mess from the brushes.
2. Squirt some baby shampoo into your water. 
3. Soak brushes in the water for only a little bit before then really trying to brush the first out of them.
4. I then got some kitchen towel and placing it in the palm of my hand, swirled the brushes around on it to remove the make up. Really scrubbing the bristles with your fingers helped to get some of that make up out which really did not want to move.
5. Leave to dry!

Before

After

 Obviously, the more often you clean your brushes, the less work you have to do with them! It seems that everyone has put 'Cleaning make up brushes more regularly' on their new years resolutions; perhaps I should too!

Have you put this on your resolutions?

xoxo