First kisses are the beginning of something wonderful. It’s the perfect end to a wonderful first date. It’s the promise of things yet to come. They give us butterflies like no other kiss can. Some people say everything you need to know is in that first kiss. But sometimes first kisses can be less than wonderful. They can be an awkward, uncomfortable and a horrifying moment that scars us for life (just speaking hypothetically…not like it’s ever happened to me…ahem) There’s so much pressure that sometimes we get so nervous and anxious we screw the whole thing up.

There are 100 ways to screw up a first kiss and many of them have plagued me over the years. From tsunamis of saliva to sudden sneeze attacks, I’ve compiled a list of how first kisses can be ruined in an instant.

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So you’re dating someone who is super cute, nice, makes you laugh…and then wham! He sucks in the sack. …Or if you’re not quite there yet, he’s bad at kissing. So what’s a girl to do when she’s used to a certain…ahem, level of pleasure in both areas? Work with him, of course!

If there’s no investment in the guy and you’re simply hooking up with him but he’s bad at sex, it’s your call to pull a Jay-Z and say, “On to the next one,” or stick around. Trust me, there are plenty of guys with enough experience to satisfy your needs. But remember, choose wisely and know the dude’s sexual history. Good sex is great, but good sex plus an STD? Not so much. However, if you actually like the guy and he’s more than a 2 a.m. drunken roll-around in the sheets, stick around and see what you can do!

Let’s start with kissing. I’ve dated a terrible kisser before! I’m talkin’ lips protruding as if I was Marge and he was Homer Simpson. Yep, pretty bad. However, his personality was amazing! We had that witty text banter down, he made me laugh all the time and I thought he was the greatest guy I’d ever been with. But as our relationship continued, I knew that whole kissing thing had to be worked out. Rather than say anything to him (guys can be pretty sensitive about that stuff), I just started kissing him how I wanted it. Maybe he was used to kissing his ex-girlfriend that way, but over time he adapted to my way of kissing and things just went along from there. Read More »

Somtimes, this is a better alternative.

You’ve been working your game all night, leaning in just enough to show off the magic that is your Victoria’s Secret Deep Plunge push-up bra. Your hair is perfect, your makeup is flawless and you’ve done your signature laugh-and-touch-his-arm move every time he’s said something cute and funny.

Now you’re just waiting for him to lean in and kiss those perfectly glossed lips.

You like this boy; every last thing about him. He’s got the same major as you, you have mutual friends, he wears really great jeans and he even watches The Hills. Could there be anyone more perfect!? You’ve been dreaming about kissing him since the moment you met him and now you’re so almost there. He’s ditched his friends to talk to you in the corner of the party for the last half hour, so you’re pretty much sure this makeout sesh is in the bag.

After screaming into each other’s ears over the “Put It In The Bag” blaring from the speakers, he asks you if you want to go outside to get some air. The butterflies in your stomach start jumping around in excitement. Coyly, you agree to go.

He takes your hand (swoon!) and leads you outside. Your knees are trembling, but you pull yourself together and follow him through the crowd.  Once outside, you begin to shiver. Not because it’s cold, but because you just know he’s going to kiss you and you’re at once nervous and excited. Read More »

I’ve hooked up with quite a few people in my time on this planet. I won’t share my number here, because that’s nobody’s business but mine and the unfortunate roommates who had to listen as I added more boys to the list, but let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of romps.

My “number,” however, only reflects about 75% of them.

Why? Well, because there are some that just shouldn’t count. Like the guy who couldn’t keep it up, or the one who left while I was sleeping and I wouldn’t recognize again if he was lying in my bed completely naked. Or the one who referred to my lady parts as “Taco Bell” (as in, “Yo quiero your Taco Bell”) and was immediately asked to leave.

Why should I count someone who likened my vajay to a Chalupa?

We all have those guys or hookups that just shouldn’t count. And by “count” I mean “never happened and I am going to drink heavily so I completely block it out.” I asked the CollegeCandy writers to tell me which guys didn’t make their list. Where do you draw the line? Read More »

I’ve had quite a few first kisses.

They are always exciting and romantic and make me weak in the knees. Well, the ones with people I like, at least. I’m not counting those drunken makeout sessions with some creeper who attacks you out of nowhere while you’re enjoying a night out with the girls.

The first kiss is a pivotal moment in any relationship. After waiting forever (be it weeks, days, minutes…), wondering if he/she wants to kiss you as much as you want to kiss him/her, your lips finally meet and it’s all fireworks and passionate background music.

….Or slobbering sounds and teeth knocking into eachother.

Yeah, we may all want that romantic first kiss scene that we’ve seen in all our favorite movies (Slumdog Millionaire) and TV shows (Full House…with the “ooooo”s coming from the fake live audience), but there are a lot of really bad kissers out there. And somehow we keep finding them.

The question is: is a bad kiss enough to turn you off completely? Does a little (ok, a lot of) drool cancel out the great conversation, cute eyes and fact that he actually brought you flowers? Or is that something that can be worked on?

[The following post is courtesy of our homegirls over at YourTango. Well, their male perspective. They’ve been through it all and know just about everything about love, so we thought we’d bring their expertise to you. Enjoy!] 

I am an aficionado of the kiss. No other act is so simple and so intimate. The light suction, the flick of the lip, the playful nibble, the deep advance and retreat of the tongue—a good kiss is like jazz, an improvisation of melodies, flirtatious staccatos, and passionate brassy crescendos. A good kiss is a rapport enacted physically, like sex, but more erotic.

Many women don’t realize this. I’ve been surprised at how many treat kissing like it really is “first base,” just a step towards something better. And when I meet such women, I face a dilemma, like being a music lover who discovers that a new friend has bad taste. Do you break it off, or do you educate? And if you educate, how do you give lessons without giving offense? Read More »

I’m sitting here reading this article about kissing and it is making me really wish my boyfriend wasn’t 1,000 miles away so I could just make out with him.

Like, a full on seventh grade make-out sesh.

I love to kiss. Which, I suppose, why a poll of 1,000 college students at a New York City school, mentioned here, isn’t really mind blowing.

Apparently we, as women, like to kiss. And we think it’s really important to boot. We use “kissing as a way of assessing the recipient as a potential partner, and later to maintain intimacy and to check the status of a relationship.”

While guys “were more willing to have sex with someone without kissing, to have sex with someone they are not attracted to and agree to have sex with someone they considered to be a bad kisser.”

Men also placed less importance on kissing as the relationship progressed. I would imagine since they putting their importance on the bumping and grinding.

The article said that men preferred “wet, tongue kisses” but didn’t say what the ladies liked. I’m guessing it’s a mixture of the tender kisses we like all the time and the passionate (and, err, wet?) kisses that come with sex? Read More »