You haven’t quite perfected your skin care technique just yet. Your T-zone seems to stay slick, your nose speckled with black heads and your cheeks dry. What gives?

Well your entire approach to cleansing could be to blame. Washing that sweet face and removing makeup before you hit the sack is a start. But a weekly deep cleaning is essential to keep your skin looking fresh and feeling fantastic.

So prepare your face for the fall weather with this fabulous skin cleansing regimen:

Creamy Cleanser

Wash your face with a gentle, creamy liquid cleanser. But don’t apply it with your hands. They’re just not clean enough no matter how many times you wash them. Put the cleanser on a cotton ball, and then apply. Be sure to rinse with warm water. Hot water can aggravate the skin.

Tender Toner

Once you’ve thoroughly rinsed off the cleanser, use the toner over your face and neck. It removes the last traces of cleanser and restores the pH balance of the skin.

Smoothing Scrub

To remove the buildup of dead skin cells that cause breakouts, exfoliation is key. Smoothing the skin’s surface will also allow your facial products to be absorbed evenly. Look for a product with fine abrasives and only use it a few times a week.

Simple Steam

Gently steam your face once a week for five to ten minutes to open your pores. Bring a pot of water to a boil, place a bag of chamomile tea in and let the mixture brew and cool. Once it’s cooled enough, put a towel over you’re a head to keep the steam enclosed and expose your face to the vapor.

Mighty Mask

To tighten and refresh your face, clay, gel or mud masks are best: clay for oily skin, gel for sensitive skin and mud for combination skin.

Major Moisturizer

Moisturizers should be used every morning and evening in order to maintain young, healthy looking skin. Keep your pores clog-free with oil-free and non-comedogenic versions.

You’re always up for experimentation. So this semester, why not go both ways?

The footwear fare this season lets you go vintage and modern, sporty and sassy, splurge-tastic and budget-friendly. Talk about finding your sole mate.

Recycling has never been so glamorous, with designers pulling a rewind and reinventing shoe silhouettes from the 60s, 70s and 80s for vintage-meets-modern looks. This season, Betsey Johnson footwear collection marries 60s polka-dot patterns with modern platform heels for splurge-worthy kicks. Give your feet some love. And they’ll work wonders when paired with a casual pair of jeans, or bring added pizzazz to an already perfect party frock. Or score the look for a steal, thanks to Newport News, who carry a bevy of vintage/modern hybrid shoes of their own in the $25-40 price range, including vintage-inspired leopard print sling-backs that make a rally for the season’s animal print trend.

What’s that? You prefer sneaking around?

Lucky for you, sneakers have made their way into the fashion realm with stylish fashion-forward facelifts. Designers like the ink-meets-fashion purveyor, Ed Hardy, the very designer responsible for the tattoo-tee trend lauded by celebrities like Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, has taken it to the street with a line of footwear adorned with his tattoo moniker. The line also includes everything from slip-ons embellished with skulls to skate shoes emblazoned with tattoo rose-designs. JUMP shoes have answered this season’s call for versatile footwear with its line of cool Japanese-inspired sneaker boots and ballet flats. Who said you couldn’t have it all?

They protect and support you, and they’ll never say no when you ask them to join you on the dance floor. This season, you and your shoes are the perfect pair.

And if the shoe fits …

Girl meets boy. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Boy and girl go home together.

Yes, male/female interaction in college is usually that simple. But what happened to actually getting to know each other before any physical contact ensues?

Apparently dating is out of the question since it seems to be non-existent in the college vocabulary. So scratch that. What’s a girl to do when she doesn’t want to get-it-on immediately? Here are a few how to snag a fella the old-fashioned way.

One Strong Cocktail — Sipped, not Chugged

Alcohol is usually what gets you in trouble in the first place. So pace yourself. You’ll look posh, save money and give the guys a chance to buy you more drinks and ask you out.

Girls with Fervent Will Power = Girlfriend Material

Don’t have sex with him … right away. Wait it out – it’ll make him want you more. And once you do ‘do it,’ it will not only be more meaningful, but most importantly HOT!

Three’s Company

Try to go out with no more than three girls. Girls who travel with entourages of 12 intimidate guys. So make sure you’re approachable.

Being Shy won’t get you Dates

If you see a guy being a wallflower at the party or party, don’t be afraid to strike up the conversation. And if it’s too loud, let your body do that talking and get him out on the dance floor.

Give him your Number

If you’re into him, exchange cell phone numbers digits. But wait for him to call! Guys love a chase, so don’t let him catch you just yet.

Anorexia and bulimia aren’t the only disorders spreading rapidly throughout our college campuses. Recently, researchers found that one in five students at two Ivy League schools are self-mutilators. That means that 20 percent of these competitive coeds are cutting themselves in an effort to relieve stress or cope with low self esteem.

“Cutters” claim to feel a rush. What they are really feeling is a boost in their endorphin production in response to the injury.

This stress reliever is not only physically destructive, but it is also short lived and leads to intense feelings of shame that can take years of therapy to heal. It is also significant that the study’s subjects were attending competitive schools; experts claim that self-mutilators often do so in response to stress. However, some speculate that many cutters have been victims of previous abuse.

Cutting is a serious addiction that can take years to relinquish, but there is hope for students who cut. Programs such as S.A.F.E. (Self-Abuse Finally Ends) treat patients with counseling and behavioral therapy.

Twenty percent is an astounding number. So if you know someone who might be cutting, please, help them stop.

Outdoor sex brings you back down to earth — literally. And Tracey Cox, author of Quickies: Sizzling Spontaneous Sex, tells us how to make it sexy and keep it clean.

Quickie Essentials: Outdoor Survival Pack

A cheap, two-person tent: it triples the outdoor possibilities, and with the flap open, you’re not losing the feel.

A blanket: protection for those bottoms, knees and other vulnerable parts from hard, scratchy or wet surfaces.

A waterproof mini-vibrator: for bringing her to orgasm in public places. If you’re not within earshot of others, you can get away with murder.

Travel lube: buy handy travel-size sachets or tubes. Make sure it’s water or silicone-based — less irritating and more staying power!

Sunscreen: you’d be amazed at the tan marks produced by just 10 minutes, with your panties around your ankles.

Insect repellent and anti-itch cream: waving your hands around to deflect pesky flies or mosquitoes dilutes the sexiness. So does madly scratching till you bleed.

Compact mirror: to check the damage the quickie’s done to your hair. Bits of your coif sticking up and pieces of twigs sticking out are usually what give people away.

A credit card/cash: to pay for a cab in case you have to get out of there fast.

A drink: not only do you get a headache from dehydration, no saliva means dry kisses and terrible oral sex.

I have been with this guy for a few months, and we started having sex, which is quite good. But the other day we went into a sex shop together to look for some toys, and he suggested I try wearing a strap-on to pleasure him!? Do some men like a woman to use one or could he possibly be gay and afraid to come out of the closet?

I find it ironic that a lot of the questions I get asked by girls are about their man’s sexual behavior, which is almost always … strange. Nonetheless, that’s what I’m here for, so here are my thoughts. I believe that you may be right about your guy’s preference, but he hasn’t gone Lance Bass quite yet. I’m sorry, but I don’t know a straight guy that would even suggest anal penetration like that. Curiosity is one thing, kinky is another, but taking it from your girl’s strap-on is just not heterosexual. Though I’ve never been tempted to engage in such an act, I hesitate to think what he’ll say if you bring this up as a question of sexual preference. It blows my mind to think that a heterosexual male can walk into a sex shop, skip over the toys to please you and jump to pleasuring his anal cavity. Contact me in a few years when People magazine runs a story on his shocking homosexual lifestyle while you sit back and say “I knew it.”

You know what they say: Beauty comes from within. And obviously your mug is simply gorgeous because of the nutrient-rich foods in your diet. So what are you eating to make those tresses so shiny, those teeth pearly white and that skin glowing?

Vitamin B is a sure thing when it comes to making dull hair shinier. So get some “B action” from eggs, milk, green veggies and poultry. And thanks to silica, a mineral found in raw oats, cucumber skin, onions and bean sprouts, your mane is as elastic as ever.

Did you know that certain foods actually help whiten teeth? Munch on some crunchy apples or celery. They can help clear stain-causing substances away from tooth enamel. An apple a day does really keep the doctor away.

To keep that supple skin looking dewy and refreshed, drink water … lots of it! Good old H2O not only hydrates you, but it also flushes out toxins.

What else can you eat to maintain those good looks? Lots.

Dry skin? Don’t fret. Just have some fish for dinner. Oily fish like salmon is packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which are a fantastic source of nourishment and hydration for your skin.

Suddenly breaking out? Zinc and calcium have been proven to reduce acne. Get your pimple-killing zinc from oysters, turkey, seafood, eggs and milk. Also, calcium isn’t just for your bones anymore. Eat low-fat cheese and yogurt to help keep your skin pimple-free.

Too much sun? Grab a Vitamin E-rich peach or a handful of blueberries. This super vitamin is notorious for easing the redness and swelling associated with sunburns.

What a delicious beauty regime.

It’s no secret that one of the rites of passage in college is the freedom to have sex whenever and wherever you want. And lots of it. With a somewhat flexible schedule and access to your own personal residence (no matter how miniscule … at least it locks), you can get freaky at any time of day.

Just scan your dorm halls in the a.m. for walk-of-shamers and sexile victims, and you can confirm what you probably already suspected: that college campuses are super-saturated with sex.

However, a recent study conducted by the CDC shows that some college students are just saying no — to sex. Many cite their religious affiliations, fears of sexually transmitted diseases and “just not having met the right person yet” as their reasons for abstaining. Not everyone is getting it on after all.

This even reigns true in the most unimaginable of places: fraternities. When a frat brother at University of Idaho was asked to comment on his virginity, he explained that as many as half of his frat brothers were celibate. Impressive.

So those of you who are just saying no — no need to feel like an outcast from the orgy of college sex. There are other people out there who are waiting, too.