I am pale.  White, pasty, corpse-like, albino, pallid- that’s me.  It wasn’t always me, mind you.  See, once upon a time I sought solitude and relaxation in the warm bluish-white glow of the tanning bed.  Those of you who tan, you know what I’m talking about.  You get out of class completely drained (because the Sudoku was really tough today) and head to your car.  Maybe it’s raining, maybe it’s not.  Maybe it’s the middle of December, or maybe Spring Break is a week away.  It doesn’t matter.  The light at the end of your tunnel is florescent and comes with the scent of coconut oil.

I’ve been there.  Chasing happiness through monthly memberships and bonus lotion deals, fighting hangovers as you listen to the best of the 80s, 90s, and today, as you fake-bake your way to sun kissed bliss. You know tanning is bad for you (the warnings are everywhere), but you don’t care. You don’t do it that much. You won’t get cancer. And you look so much better tan!

So you keep on keepin’ on.

Well, what if I showed you what tanning does to those precious looks to hold so dearly? Would that change your mind?  Looks like it. Read More »

Finding it hard to make your health a daily priority? Can’t stick to that diet? Are you letting a day off turn into a few days? Or a few weeks? Join the club – I know I’m not jumping for joy at the thought of going to the gym either.

Take today, for example. I simply decided that I didn’t feel like sweating. I just didn’t feel that it was necessary… and I opted out of some much-needed gym time in favor of less perspiration. I guess you could say my motivation’s pretty low.

It’s not like we’re not trying. We set goals, make a plan; but after awhile that goal is hard to remember and it takes a bit more motivation than we originally thought… or more motivation than we feel we have. But that goal is important (why would you have set it in the first place?) so we must dig deep to reach it. Sometimes, real deep.

Whether your goal is to run a half-marathon, lose ten pounds, eat healthy, etc., here are some surefire ways to keep you motivated! Read More »

Wait, the Miss USA pageant happened?

Congrats, Gwen Stefani!!

The SATC ladies are closer than ever.

In a perfect world…..

Another Roman Polanski victim?

The perfect beach solutions for every body.

By now, everyone is looking forward to the summer. Thoughts of a pool, a raft and a cold beer are about the only things getting us through the hell that is finals week. But while I love me some summer sundresses and the prospect of a steamy summer fling, summer isn’t all rainbows and butterflies for me. Yes, this whiny girl with a Jew-fro has a bit of a bone to pick with summer.

Actually, I’ve got ten bones to pick. Not that I really understand what that little phrase means anyway. It’s sorta gross, right? Picking bones? All I can think about is that graveyard the hyenas hung out at in The Lion King.

Anyways, back to the list:

10. It’s really hot
Great for a day at the beach, not great for a day in New York City when you’re running late to your internship and have to stand in a 100 degree subway station (that always smells like pee) with zero breeze and you can feel the sweat start pooling on the back of your neck and between your boobs. By the time you get to work, your armpits are completely soaked through and you have to manually pull your thighs apart as they have molded into one thunder-thigh on the train. Read More »

There’s so much I love about drinking: it helps me forget about stress and schoolwork, it makes everything that happens so much funnier, and it’s fun to do outside when it’s nice out. (…and inside when it’s crappy out. And in the morning. And in the night. And on Mondays.) And those crappy Black Eyed Peas songs you usually can’t stand? Total fist pumpers! Not to mention the hilarious piecing together that happens the morning after.

All your problems seem to melt away when you’re on the dance floor with your girlfriends, double Long-Island in hand, but all that goodness doesn’t come without a price. And I’m not talking about the $65 bar tab you discover in the morning. Us experienced college gals know that sometimes the fun doesn’t last past last call. Alas, the downsides of drinking… Read More »

[Everyone’s got a morning after story and we wanna hear yours! Send it over to us and we’ll post it – anonymously, of course – right here!]

It all started with lime green spandex shorts. I thought they were the perfect thing to wear to the Glow theme party. And the St. Patrick’s theme party. But those lime green spandex shorts really only spelled trouble for me.

The first time I wore them, I ended up leaving Crack House (yes, it is as disgusting as it sounds) with a junior with whom I bonded over our shared love of Natty Ice. Coincidentally, he had a ton of it in his apartment. The next morning, I woke up with a throbbing headache on a bottom bunk. I barely remembered the night before, except that I had gotten horribly sick in his bathroom. Not. Cute. Read More »

If you’ve been a CollegeCandy reader for some time, you know we run our Intro to Cooking series every week, where even the most kitchen-shy co-ed can find easy, yummy recipes to please her suitemates (and sweet tooth!). Well, we’ve changed up the syllabus for Intro to Cooking: you’ll still get the fabulous recipes you love, but we’ll be including background nutritional info on specific ingredients that are must-haves in every college girl’s pantry.

This Week’s Ingredient: Bananas!

Gwen Stefani wasn’t kidding when she said her sh*t was bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S). What better food to give props to than these sweet yellow babies? In all honesty, if I had to pick exactly one food item to live on for the rest of my life, it would definitely be bananas. Why? At just 100 calories (per medium Cavendish banana, the bright yellow kind most commonly sold in American grocery stores), the banana is an excellent source of vitamin B6, potassium, fiber, and manganese. It is sweet, creamy, filling, easy to digest, and soothes stomach upset. Protease inhibitors in the banana reduce bacteria in the stomach while its natural composition activates the production of cells that line the stomach to protect it from painful acids.  Next time you’ve got a hangover, try a banana or two for breakfast and tell me if your stomach doesn’t feel ten times better! Read More »

I have a lot (and I mean a LOT) of stuff in my makeup arsenal. But as many shadows and brushes and primers as I’ve got, there are some that I can’t live without. Gems sent from the heavens to save the day and keep me lookin’ my best. One of those little gems is Rosebud Perfume Co.’s Rosebud Salve, which you’ve probably seen in those little boxes next to the checkout at Sephora or Ulta.

This stuff is so amazing and has multiple uses, which is amazing considering its only $6.  Sadly, some people are unaware of the many ways you can use this tin can of joy, so watch this video to change your life.

I’ve been in college for the past three years with one main goal in mind: to get my bachelor’s, get a graduate degree, and then get a job that would let me get involved in human rights advocacy. I have this grandiose plan that I’ll save the world.

One day, anyway.

Last month, though, I realized that the “one day” was what was holding me back.

My school hosted the third annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), and the weekend completely changed my view of my long-term goals, mainly by showing that they don’t need to be as long-term and far off as I’ve always assumed.

CGI U’s purpose is getting the youth active in changing the world by showing us that we don’t have to wait. We can, in fact, take action. I spent the weekend surrounded by 1,300 of my peers from all fifty states and over eighty countries around the world – other college students, just like me, who had a vision of making the world a better place, and were determined to try. Read More »

“Stolen” was definitely one of the most unique books I have ever read. When I read the synopsis, I knew I would like it: A girl is kidnapped and brought to the Australian outback and struggles with her feelings about her captor. I mean, I’m a nerdy psychology major and this one has STOCKHOLM SYNDROME written all over it. And it’s YA! Okay, I know it may seem like I just totally gave the plot away, but trust me, “Stolen” is so deep and cannot be summed up in a few sentences.

“Stolen” is written as a letter from Gemma to her captor, Ty. From the beginning, this approach put me at ease because it meant that Gemma eventually escaped captivity and was reunited with her family. I’m a sucker for happy endings and would rather not even read a book if the main character is going to die, especially after being kidnapped. Kidnapping is really one of my biggest fears (yes, I watch too many horror stories on the news) and a story about it makes me really uncomfortable, so I’m actually proud of myself for following through with this one, and happy that I did, too!

Gemma is a 16-year-old British girl on vacation with her parents when she meets Ty in the airport coffee shop. He seems very sweet, despite the fact that he is older and Gemma finds him strangely familiar and “safe.” She is flattered when he offers to pay for her coffee, but he also drugs it and sweeps her off to the Australian outback. Gemma awakens in a strange bed and an even stranger setting: desert and little vegetation for as far as she can see. It’s impossible to escape – she would die before she reached civilization. She has been stolen from her parents, from her life in London and brought to live with Ty. And then he tells her that she will be staying “forever.” Read More »