♡ Bella's College Essentials ♡

It's official: back-to-school season is in full swing. Each and every Target and Walmart is flooded with eager incoming college freshmen accompanied by their frantic family members as they scramble to wrap up the last of their school and dorm supply shopping, while frantic incoming college sophomores, juniors, and seniors are holed up in their rooms as they scramble to get through the summer assignments that they only just now picked up (re: me). Whoever you are, whatever you may be doing to prepare for the coming school year, there's no doubt that you've dived headfirst into back-to-school mode. In honor of the occasion, I've conjured up a list of my personal top five college essentials.

Now, I know that some of my friends have already left for school, but even so, hopefully I'm not too too late in getting this uploaded, and hopefully it can provide some guidance for those of you who are still trying to get your packing done. I have a little bit of everything here to give you some supply inspiration, all of which will be linked within their individual sections, so let's get right into it!

♡SCHOOL♡

Let's start off with the reason for the season: school. As you may or may not remember from my room tour, color is extremely important to me and my organizational habits. Consequently, COLORED PENS are a must for me during the school year. Not only does writing your notes in colored ink as opposed to plain black or blue make studying a lot more fun and interesting, it also helps break down information so that going over it later is much simpler and easier. For example, I write vocabulary words in purple, so if there's a term that I'm having a hard time grasping, I can locate it in my notes quickly, or if I just need to study vocabulary words but not a whole concept, I can easily find all of them. 

These specific pens pictured are from the 36-pack of Staedtler pens that I purchased from Amazon and are undoubtedly my favorite pens ever. They write so smoothly and come in all sorts of colors; plus, they're super durable and last for a long, long time, so while they are pricier than some other colored pens might be, you're definitely getting quite a bang for your buck. 

♡FASHION♡

When you have to wake up and get dressed for an eight a.m. class three times a week, looking cute probably isn't the first thing on your mind, and I can definitely attest to that. That being said, fashion is still important to me, as well as just all around fun, so I like to have more than just my bedroom slippers to choose from when getting ready in the morning. Fortunately for all my fellow fashion-lovers out there, comfort meets style in the form of CHUNKY HEELS. Shoes with block heels such as this pair of heeled sandals from Boohoo provide a little (re: a lot) more support than "normal," skinnier/spikier heels, so no matter how much walking--or running, depending on how much time you give yourself in the morning--you're doing around campus, your feet stay feeling comfortable and blessed. 

Chunky heels are also a lot more casual than your standard heel, so they're 100% appropriate for the classroom. Then again, I'm also an advocate for overdressing wherever you go, so that's never too big of an issue for me to begin with. 😉

♡BEAUTY♡

Unless your dorm is literally the size of a shoe box, there should be enough room in there for more than one makeup palette. Even so, whether you're trying to save space or if you personally want to bring only one along with you, I implore you to choose a NEUTRAL-TONED PALETTE. Whether you're wearing jeans or a dress, whether it's night or day, whether you're wearing solids or patterns, your neutrals are always going to have your back. Plus, if pick up a palette that has pops of pink like the Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons palette, you're covered on the blush front as well. Pick a shimmery shadow for your highlight and a subtle brown for your contour, and voila--a full face from one palette! If you'd like to see a tutorial in a separate post, let me know in the comments!

♡DECOR♡

Because dorm decor is one of the most exciting parts of moving into college, I've picked two decor essentials for you guys: DECORATIVE PILLOWS and WALL HANGINGS. While there's nothing inherently wrong or bad or spooky about college dorms, as some back-to-school horror stories might suggest, the cinderblock walls and nondescript gray carpeting can make your home-away-from-home feel a little impersonal. I've found that these two specific dorm decorations help promote an overall homey feeling substantially. 

I showed these two pillows in my bedroom tour a few posts back, but these are the ones that I bought for my dorm last year when I was school shopping. I ordered the sequin pillowcase from Amazon (I had to order the pillow insert separately) and I picked up the furry one in store at Home Goods, but here is a similar one for such a good price that I currently am restraining myself from purchasing one. Having two or more decorative pillows that are different from each other but are still complimentary ties your side of the room together by adding a point of interest that draws attention as soon as you walk into the room, and also turns your bed into a comfy sitting/lounging area rather than simply just being the place that you sleep. 

Wall hangings are also extremely imperative to a fun and happy dorm because you can truly express yourself and your personality through them by hanging up pictures and motifs of the things and people you love. When it comes to putting up photos specifically, I really like using clothespins and wires, as you can see in the heart shaped picture frame that I got from Michael's and painted myself. This method allows you to add and switch out pictures as you take more throughout the school year. 

♡♡♡

I hope you guys found this list helpful and had fun reading it, and if I didn't name one of your personal college essentials, comment down below and let me know what it is! Thanks a bunch for stopping by again and visiting me here at La Salle Belle, and I'll talk to you again in my next post!

Milles bisous, 

Bella♡