The great Coco Chanel once said, “Everyday is a fashion show and the world is the runway.”

And if you, like me, wore a hideous school uniform every day these words haunted your mind and made you crave the freedom to wear the best and latest fashions. Personally, I wanted the chance to plan out my outfit for the next day and find earrings to match my shoes. I wanted to spend time doing my hair and make up.

And the only place that seemed to hold the answers to my prayers was Varsity. After all, there was no dress code and the flexible schedule meant I’d have all the time I needed to get ready in the morning, right?

Looking back, I think I was deluded. In the first week I used to wake up at least an hour and a half earlier than I needed to just so I could shower, dress, straighten my hair and do a full face of makeup before breakfast. By the fourth day, I realised my hair was too long to do every morning and chose to sleep for an extra half an hour. Then I slowly ran out of funky new outfits and decided to skip the twenty minute “Should I Wear This” process, opting instead to wear the first thing my hand touched. Then just hoping like hell it would all match. So from an hour an half earlier, I was now only waking up forty minutes earlier, thus the only thing that lasted past the first week was the makeup routine. The dangly earrings were replaced with simple silver studs and my hair returned to it’s old ponytail.

As the year dragged on I gradually got lazier. Things spiralled out of control from the day I decided to skip my foundation and just used a tinted moisturiser. It was like I’d triggered my own downfall. Eventually I found myself hastily slapping some eyeliner on in the car on the way to campus. Even my llipgloss had been downgraded from a rich wine colour to a mute neutral. All the glitz and glam had leached out of my life as Chem and Sociology crept in. The final straw was the day I showed up for an eight o’clock lecture with a frayed, oversized hoodie and a bare face.

The fashion gods must have noticed my struggle because they quickly intervened and provided me with a new saying to occupy my thoughts. This time from Yes Saint Laurent who said “The most beautiful makeup for a women to wear is passion. But cosmetics are much easier to buy.”

It was clear that I was passionate enough about my course to give up my craving for freedom to wear the latest trends. So I decided that instead of wearing a full face of cosmetics I’d wear passion. After all I am not the type of person who takes the easiest route…

Also considering the student budget I complained about yesterday who can afford to buy cosmetics when the free alternative is staring you in the face?

Until the next freebie arrives;
sweet dreams my fellow Broke Bellas.