7 items every fashionable college girl needs to take with her

Fashionable college girls come in all types and sizes. Some will carry their stuff in a huge backpack due to having heavy and big textbooks; others will get away with a clutch because they can take notes on their smartphones. No matter what type of bag you have, however, there are 7 items a fashionable girl must carry with her at all times in order to keep her looks nice and neat.

First comes a small mirror. The mirrors in the toilets on your campus are likely to not shed a good light on how you really look, so with a small mirror you can detect the need for upgrades of your looks anywhere. They are also handy when you want to see how a dress, skirt or pair of pants fits around your butt when you are out for shopping. 

The second necessity is lip balm and/or lipstick. Throughout the day, your lips get dryer and dryer, at least, mine do. In order to keep a comfortable feeling on your lips and to keep them smooth, make sure you have lip balm with you for emergencies. When your lips have had their hydration boost, you can colour them with lipstick. Even if you wear no make-up at all, lipstick can boost your whole face by drawing the attention to your lips instead of to your sleepy eyes or grey face.

Third is a hairbrush, especially on windy or rainy days. With a hairbrush you can save the day by making neat pony tails or just brush your strands so that they look tidy again. My hair is of the type that frizzes as soon as there is a little, gentle breeze, so a hairbrush is definitely a must-have for me! And although umbrellas might keep your head dry, they do not guarantee a messed up hairdo. 

Fourth is hand cream, especially during the winter season. Most hand soaps on campuses tend to easily dehydrate the skin of my hands, so for me the season does not matter, but during winter, there is nothing wrong with treating your hands every now and then. They are available for all skin types and in all price classes, so there is always one you can afford. 

Fifth item that must not miss in your bag is toothpicks. While chewing gum is easier to use and might look less gross for others, picking your teeth is usually more effective. For example, chewing gum does not remove that annoying little crumb between your front teeth, and it also does not help you get rid of that spinach leaf between your teeth, so toothpicks are necessity number 1. They are also far more effective in removing plaque, which can eventually cause cavities. If you then wish to go for a fresh breath, chewing gum is the next step. 

The sixth necessity is a pair of sunglasses. Where I live, the weather can change over the minute, so I have experienced that I walked through my city with squeezed eyes. Since that not so cool experience, I always check whether I have my sunglasses with me. Needless to say you need to carry them with you in a generally sunny climate! Sunglasses are ideal as well when you want to hide sleepy eyes or dark circles.

The seventh and last item you must have with you all the time as a fashionable college girl is a killer bag. Even though you might be one of the girls who needs to carry huge textbooks and binders, you can still add a cute clutch or envelope bag to your backpack. I personally feel like I am pulled to one side when carrying heavy books in a shoulder bag, so I combine my sporty purple backpack with either of the bags in the picture below.

What do you think of these must have items for fashionable college girls? Do you have them all with you already or do you value additional items as must-haves in your bag(s)? 

Finding your pair of glasses

During high school, the classrooms were so small that you could take a seat in the back of the room and still see clearly what happened in the front of the room, given that your teacher had a readable handwriting. In college, however, the average classrooms are bigger and arranged so that those with not-perfect-but-decent sight either need glasses if they want to attend and follow lectures from farther back in the room or need to find a seat in one of the front rows. Others might have worn glasses for longer than they can remember. I belong to the latter category and I am also the kind person who does not manage to squeeze contacts onto my eyeballs.

So, imagine you are at the optician's shop. You know you need a pair of glasses because otherwise the lectures become very tiring for your eyes and for you. The glasses themselves won't really be the problem: the optician will find which ones are most suitable for your eyes. It's the frame that results in endless considering, trying, deliberating, and weighing one frame against the hundreds of other frames.  Fortunately, glasses today are considered a valuable accessory that can really add something to your outfits. There are countless styles and colours of frames so that there is always a frame that looks good on you. I figured that the fashion-conscious college students could use some advice.

First, look at the prices. Not only at the prices of various optician shops and their price reduction actions, but also at the deals they have with insurance companies. If you get your glasses at a place that does not have a deal with your insurance company, where they sell haute couture designer frames only, while you really have bad sight without glasses, the price might go up into the hundreds of euros. On the other hand, it has occurred to me that I had to pay nothing at all for my glasses due to a nice action of the optician shop, combined with a deal with my insurance company.

Now you have decided which optician shop fits your budget best, it is time to find out which frames they have and how these frames look on your face. It might be helpful to take someone with you for this part of the task, especially if you have very bad eye-sight. For example, without my glasses I can see sharp for only 10 cm / 0.1 yards, so I am highly dependent of what others say about how the frame looks on me. In order to decide what looks good on you, you need to take into account several things:

• The shape and the size of your face. Each frame looks different on each face. Sometimes, a very subtle difference in the shape and size of the frames can make the difference between looking stupid and looking great. If you happen to have a very small face, like I have, you might want to point this out to the optician who is helping you. He or she is likely to know which frames in the shop are fit for your face without referring you to the children's glasses.
• Your complexion. Just as you buy clothes and make-up adjusted to your complexion, you also need to find a frame that matches with your complexion. Again, a subtle change in colour or tint can make a major difference for how the frame looks. I once tried a frame that was black on the outside and very deep, dark brown on the inside. Just a second later I tried a frame that was black both on the outside and the inside. The second hardened my face far more than the first.
• The colour of your eyes. Glasses in general tend to push your eyes to the background. It is therefore often advised to allow yourself some heavier eye make-up if you wear glasses. However, you may as well get a frame that matches very well with your eye-colour and even enhances it and thereby does not push your eyes to the background. 
• Your clothing style and personality. It's the same as with clothes: people will notice when you feel uncomfortable with what you're wearing. This even goes for your glasses, so make sure that you have a frame that fits your personality and clothing style. Obviously, if your glasses mismatch your clothing style, you won't feel comfortable about wearing them. Also, if you, for example, very often wear purple, it might be wise to find a purple frame, too, so make sure everything matches.

Last but not least, don't be afraid to ask the optician for help. As I pointed out in the first point, they are likely to know which frames they have in store for your face size. These people sell glasses and advise clients about the purchase of glasses and frames every day. Sure, some will have a better sense of style than others, which is why it is important to take someone with you in case you have very bad eye-sight. The last time I bought new glasses, though, I was helped by someone who managed to find a few frames that made my heart skip a beat and that were not too large for my face. 

So, these are some things to take into consideration next time you need new glasses. I apologize if you just bought new glasses and, after reading this, come to the conclusion that you bought the wrong frame. If you found this post and want to show the world what you got, don't hesitate to comment and insert a link to a photo of you with your glasses on. Of course, you are also free to share your thoughts on glasses in general and what you think of this post. 

Why we'll never have so-called perfect skin and skin care rules - also for guys!

I think we have all had moments when we wished we could have flawless and smooth skins like the main characters in TV-series or the models in beauty advertisements. Forget it. You will never get that, and I will explain you why. However, there are a few rules that can help you get your skin naturally smooth and healthy. They will be given after the reasons why our skins just cannot look like those on TV and fashion/beauty adverts. 


Firstly, the people on TV and fashion/beauty ads have likely had a facial before the cameras were turned on. They have also been in the make-up seats for at least 60 minutes and the average college student does not have so much time when lectures start at 9.00 AM. On top of that, this make-up and the hairdos have been done by professionals and, while I believe some college students can do amazing things with make-up or hair, we are no professional make-up artists or hairdressers. And this is only the beginning.


There is something else that makes the skins of celebrities stand out from ours: perfect lighting and angles. If a top model has a few pimples on the right half of her face while the left half looks fine, the camera will not zoom in on this right half or the light technician will make the light fall on the model's face so that the pimples are hardly visible. However, we cannot always control how others see us and we cannot always control the lighting in the lecture rooms. If this nice guy or girl decides to sit beside us on the side which has the most pimples, we can hardly tell him/her to take a seat on the other side of us, especially if that seat is already taken. So, face it: we will not always be seen in the best possible lighting and from the best possible angles.


Last, but not least (and I am convinced we all know it although we hope it is not true): airbrush and Photoshop. These technologies can remove pimples, freckles, unwanted fat, and anything that is not desired on a certain photo or in a certain scene. They may also add a close to unnatural shimmer to the model's/actor's face and hair. I personally could not believe that modern technologies were used for such purposes until I saw this. These photos showed me how modern technologies are used in order to make people look better on pictures. Check the 'before'-shots and you will find out that your skin might not be so bad after all.


So, now you know why you will never reach the perfection created during photo sessions and film recordings, it is time to find out what you can do to keep your skin in a healthy condition. The guidelines are simple, in my opinion, and they do not demand the use of make-up at all, although they may require some discipline.


Rule number 1 is that you should wash your face twice a day. This is more than just splashing some water in your face when you wake up; you better get a face cleanser that actually kills bacteria, too. Especially if you like to wear make-up, water alone is not likely to wash away everything you put on your face. The leftovers of make-up may clog your pores and so cause pimples (this also goes for other types of 'dirt', but make-up is a good pore-clogger, too). In addition, I like to scrub my face once or twice in a week. A scrub peeling cleans your skin a bit more thoroughly and gives a fresh gloss as it removes many dead skin cells.


Rule number 2 is easy, as well. Now you have washed your face with more than just a splash of water or you have just come out of the shower and the skin on your face may feel a bit strained. Time to bring out a nice cream or oil! It will depend on your skin type which cream or oil works best for you. Those with a more sensitive skin might benefit from buying organic and natural skin care products, but it really depends on what ingredient your skin is most sensitive to. A good cream or oil hydrates or nourishes your skin so that you don't get lines in your face from dehydration, nor do they cause a pimple outburst from being too fat for your skin. Some brands have creams that go for both day and night; others have separate creams for day and night. As soon as you notice lines under your eyes, a cream for your eyes might be needed. When you are in your twenties, the lines you may spot in your face are not wrinkles, but lines caused by your skin not being nourished/hydrated enough. They do, however, give you an idea of where to expect wrinkles by the time you are old enough to have and how they look on you. If you are unsure about your skin type, do not hesitate to ask the lady at the shop where you like to buy your skin care products.


Rule number 3 is another easy one. It is probably a predictable and lame one, as well, but I want to mention it anyway, since skin care does not only rely on what you do on the outside: live healthy! I define living healthy as getting enough sleep; eating many fruits and vegetables and leave the meat alone every now and then; drinking water and maybe fruit juices; going out in the fresh air for at least 30 minutes on a daily base, and work out. This work out is not necessarily a boot camp or fitness session at the gym; it may also involve hiking in the forests nearby your town or going out for shopping. Living healthy also includes catching sunlight with moderation. Too little sunshine will keep your face pale and pimples will never disappear (trust me: they hate sunlight like vampires!); too much sunshine will make you look like sunbathing is your #1 occupation, it speeds up the ageing-process, and it increases your chances to get skin cancer.


So, these are the basics of skin care for students. I follow all of these myself and since I know how much Photoshop and airbrush can do - even to a skin - I am actually much more content with the state of my skin.