Beauty Advice for the Undergrad

So, as you may know, I'm graduating at the end of this week. So, I'm pretty much an expert in all things collegiate. Recently, over on my other blog, I made an Advice for the Undergrad blog post. So I figured I should also write up a beauty/lifestyle advice post to go along with it. And that's what this is. So, here we go:

1. Try out lots of different styles. When you're in your late teens/early twenties stage of life, it's totally acceptable for you to wear cheetah print leggings with huge neon green t-shirts. Why? Because you're figuring yourself out, that's why. If you spend 98% of your time in sweats with your school logo on it... that's fine, but you're kind of missing an awesome opportunity to wear whatever the heck you want just to see if you can pull it off. Now, part of this is just not letting it bug you what other people think of you. Basically, if you're walking around in a cocktail dress made out of aluminum foil and you keep thinking do I look like takeout? You're going to look like takeout. But, if you're walking around in a cocktail dress made out of aluminum foil thinking that's right I bet you wish you had a cocktail dress made out of aluminum foil, people probably won't even think twice about it. "Is this true?" You ask. I don't know, but it's nice to think of life that way, isn't it?
2. You need three different levels of getting ready in the morning. 
• The first is "I have an hour and a half before I have to leave for class, SO:" at this stage, you spend a little time on your hair. Flat-iron it, curl it, do whatever to make it look nice-ish. This is the day you want to put together a nice outfit. Maybe you want to try out that hot aluminum foil cocktail dress trend that all the cool kids are rocking. Maybe you want to wear a three piece suit. I don't know. You do you.
• The second is "I have forty-five minutes before I have to leave, SO:" at this stage you brush your hair, you wear coverup, mascara, and foundation, and you put on real clothes. By "real clothes" I mean not your sweatpants. Seriously, who are you? The One Tree Hill boys in season one? 
• The third is "Oh shoot I have to be at school in fifteen minutes, SO:" at this stage, you throw on some coverup and finishing powder, you incorporate part of your pajamas into your outfit, and you braid your hair once you get to Intro to Sociology. 
3. You need three different levels of eating breakfast in the morning. Eating breakfast is non-negotiable. Seriously, it's not cool/mature/chic to skip out on breakfast. You haven't eaten for around ten hours, so you need to break that fast. And since you care about your sanity, you need to break that fast with something a little more than just "coffee." 
• The first is "I have an hour and a half before I have to leave for class, SO:" make yourself a proper breakfast. Like, a breakfast sandwich, a banana, and a glass of milk. 
• The second is "I have forty-five minutes before I have to leave, SO:" make something quick that you can eat while you're getting ready. Like, oatmeal. Or cream of wheat. Or a bowl of cereal with banana slices. 
• The third is "Oh shoot I have to be at school in fifteen minutes, SO:" grab a poptart and a water bottle and scarf that down while you're mad-dashing to class. 
4. Dress up for presentations. You're probably going to have to do a presentation for every class. And when you do, you want to look presentable. I'm not saying you have to wear a ball gown. I'm not even saying you CAN'T wear jeans. I'm saying: wear a button down shirt, or a simple dress. Brush your hair. Don't show up in sweatpants. Don't wear a graphic t-shirt. Wear something you would wear on a job interview or a date. And if you would wear sweatpants and a stupid graphic tee on a job interview or a date? Don't. What's-a matter with you?
   
   This is what I wore to one of my presentations this past year.

In my "Advice for the Undergrad" blogpost, I had a lot more tips than just four. So, in part, I feel like I've let you down by not coming up with twenty awesome beauty tips for the college student. But, ultimately you can boil my beauty advice to just this: take care of yourself, try new things, find out what you like, and then wear whatever you like without really caring what other people have to say (or sneer) about it. Unless what you like is sweatpants, in which case... don't JUST wear sweatpants. Seriously. Unless you are super cute, you can't get away with wearing sweatpants every day. I mean, yeah, you can "get away" with it, but you can't "talk to me" if you're only ever going to wear sweatpants.