Let’s not be superficial about this…

I would like to take the next nine months as Beauty Columnist to make some changes, to really nurture this little section of the paper and develop it… much like something else which happens over the course of nine months, but before you shriek and drop the paper with alarm, I am not in fact with child.

Rather, every so often I would like to take the focus away from fun stuff like make up and hair styles and glittery nails, to talk about – cue cheesy Miss Universe one-liner – beauty from the inside out. There. I said it.

I believe that we can get more out of this beauty column by widening our focus from the face to the bigger picture: it’s beauty in a bigger sense. And once again, before you roll your eyes, I’m not going to lambast you with how to be a better person, or a good citizen. Screw other people: look after yourself. ‘Wellbeing’ is the name of the game, because actually ‘being well’ is bloody difficult to do alongside university. It often doesn’t make the checklist and can fall far behind essay deadlines, reading lists, foraging for something to eat in the god-forsaken fridge, and trying to maintain a social butterfly status.

Added to this, uni plays havoc with your looks, your body, and thus your confidence. Both the academic and the social spectrums can have damaging effects: early mornings after little sleep, rushed meals in the library, too much coffee and staring at a computer screen all day can be just as troublesome as an excess of late nights, cheap booze, and the morning-after food binge. Dominos may, depressingly, be the Fallowfield food du jour but it doesn’t do a lot for your waistline or indeed your pores. And before you start heckling and throwing rotten tomatoes at me in the street like some seventeenth century killjoy, I am not for a second saying we should abandon these debaucheries or marathon library sessions altogether. Indeed they are an integral part of student life. I am, however, suggesting that we should take time to look after ourselves and allow these concerns to move up on our list of priorities, before we emerge exhausted, hung-over, and out of touch with our minds and bodies.

So welcome to my column! Where wellbeing – or Beauty in the Bigger Sense, as I will dub it – will live harmoniously alongside the more sparkly aesthetics of beauty, which, fear not, will also feature heavily. In between bouts of beautiful beauty stuff, I will be writing on food, fitness, health, sleep, and a whole host of other things to make you feel better and ultimately look better. Because no amount of make up, hair spray or perfume can hide someone who’s not looking after themselves: if you’re putting junk in, you can’t conceal the junk that’s coming out.