College Candy

It may only be early November, but the holidays are approaching fast.  Just like your major term paper due this semester, holiday shopping is something best approached far in advance. And though I can’t help you research West African history, I can give you a few suggestions on what to get your loved ones this December.

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Was Ashley Tisdale even alive when this stuff was in fashion?!

It’s always Halloween at Michael Jackson’s house.

Cheating could kill you. Really.

False eyelashes are fabulous (and not as difficult as you think!).

Gwen Stefani and baby Zuma. So. cute.

The Humane Society should have something to say about this, right?

Linda Hogan is creepy.

How to use Wikipedia intelligently.

Learn what you are really craving.

Croc bags that even you can afford.

Budget friendly (dorm) decorating!

Bill Clinton supports Barack Obama.

[My first foray into Blik Graphics...so cute!]

Back in August I showed you how to do a little dorm decorating without screwing up your walls (you do want to get that deposit back, don’t you?) Well now that you’ve got one wall decorated, what are you going to do with the other three?

Enter Blik Graphics, the perfect dorm room/rented apartment/ my-parents-would-kill-me-if-I- wrecked-my-bedroom-walls solution. Blik makes cute, stylish decals that are easily removable and don’t damage your walls or pull off the paint. Most of their designs are meant for one-time use (i.e. once you pull them off you can’t use them again), but I recommend trying their Re-sticks, which, as the name suggests, can be used over and over again. That way, come June, when you’re ousted from your dorm room, your decals can come with you! I usually stick mine on wax paper to prevent them from getting messed up in transit. Read More »

Going away to school is intimidating enough. You’re in a place you know nothing about, and if you’re far enough away from home, you probably don’t know anyone who goes there. You’re pretty much dumped in a completely foreign surrounding and told to hit the ground running. If you’re lucky, in some places the ground is made of nice recycled tire mulch. More realistically, though, it’s dirt with a few twigs and stones. And sometimes the ground is cement.

Obscure analogies aside, the only thing more unnerving than being in a place you know nothing about is being assigned to live with a person you know nothing about. Even if your school was nice enough to give you your roommate’s contact info earlier this summer, your conversations haven’t gotten much further than who is bringing the microwave. It can be a scary experience walking into your dorm, laden with boxes, and seeing a room that probably isn’t much larger than your bedroom at home…with another person smiling at you from their bed.

But it doesn’t have to be so scary. Roommates are one of the most awesome parts of going away to college, and I found that having a roommate my first year who was actually a year above me helped a lot. But for all you incomin’ freshmen, that probably isn’t the case. Still, no worries. Here are five awesome ways for you to break the ice with your brand new bud. Read More »

Besides all the sucky-ness that moving has to offer, it does have on hell of a silver lining: DECORATING!That’s right ladies – whether you get to trick out a house, apartment, townhome or dorm, you get at least one special private room that will reflect your amazing style. Not only will your boudoir be your locale for sleeping (or not sleeping, wink wink!), it will be where you study, get ready, pre-pregame, watch trashy TV, and lie in bed doing nothing.

No doubt it will be as fabulous as you are, but in case you needed some help getting started, here are some of this years’ hottest decorating trends. Read More »

A newly-decorated dorm wall–for cheap!

Alright girls, it’s now officially Back To School Season. Does the thought of dorm décor make you sweat worse than the Summer heat? Do the prices in the PB Teen catalog make you woozy? Fear not, because Sarah is here to make it all better. I went to boarding school, so I’ve got double the dorm years under my belt—that means I’ve got double the tips, tricks and shortcuts to transform your dorm from cinderblock cell to palatial pad (without spending your Summer savings). So put away the lava lamps and movie posters, and let Sarah be your guide.

We all know that those PB Teen and Teen Vogue “dorm makeovers” are a sham. Why? Well, for starters no college student can afford a $200 duvet cover or a $50 pillow. We’re lucky if we can afford to eat lunch. And second—I don’t know what college these kids are going to, but at my lovely institution there is no way in hell we could ever paint the walls, swap out the furniture or even put nails in the wall (have you ever tried to hammer nails into cinder block? Not. Fun.) Read More »

Consider this… would you rather express your style with a pair of earrings that no one can see or a gorgeous umbrella that all the damp people around you admire?

Let’s be honest: anyone can pop on a necklace, carry around a $500 hobo bag, and call it a day. To be a true pioneer of style, you should learn to strut your stuff in truly unique ways that no one will copy.

Regarding bags, why not go for one that is actually supposed to carry stuff rather than just look good? True, you can stuff an awful lot of crap into a hobo bag, but laptop bags are a great way to rock some style while keeping your computer safe. And if you’re going to walk all over town or lug your textbooks to class, you can customize a backpack for a really cool and personal look. Read More »

There are few things I enjoy more in life than having a tiny brown peacock on the palm of my hand.Henna, or mehndi as it’s called in Hindi, is the perfect compromise between a temporary tattoo and a permanent tattoo.

Temporary tattoos will flake (yuck) and wash off within a day, and permanent tattoos will never wash off (which is terrifying enough in itself), but henna stays on your skin for one to four weeks before fading away. It’s beautiful, it’s painless, it’s natural, and you can do it yourself.

Yep! You heard that right. Even if you have no artistic ability, henna is very forgiving, and most designs are abstract enough that you’ll be able to pass off almost anything as something gorgeous.

First, you’ll need the henna. Most Indian grocery stores stock it, so just do a quick Google search to find the store closest to where you live. It’s cheap—you shouldn’t have to pay more than $5 for the powder you need. You can also buy it online. The Henna Page has an entire list of retailers that will ship henna.

Henna cones are also available, but I find the quality in a pre-made cone isn’t as good as what you can get from mixing your own henna and making your own cone. Read More »

Or in my case, what to do with that tiny box some call a studio I will be living in for the next year?

All joking aside, getting your first real apartment, or even just your first room whether it’s in a dorm or shared apartment, is very exciting. This is YOUR space. The place you will call home and go to relax after a long day.

So, I think it is important to put energy and time into decorating it right. That does NOT mean you have to put tons of money into this project.

I have been doing some research into how to cheaply and efficiently decorate a space as I am preparing to move into my first real place this weekend and felt CC readers would appreciate some tips during this fall transition time.

One article I read offered some important tips to keep in mind such as, remember to declutter because nothing ruins a great look like a bunch of junk, pay special attention to display surfaces to keep a minimum of 2-3 things on them, and play around with paint in order to spice up a space quick.

The most important philosophy from this article: Spend time — not money — decluttering, painting, and accessorizing to give your place some attitude.

So, once you are on the fun part, accessorizing, is it possible to find some cheap, yet stylish, places to explore? The answer is YES! Read More »