"Palo Alto" by James Franco

Shout out to Nerea for the coolest mug

In a nutshell

From a freshman trying to impress a girl to a high school coach getting together with a student or a young boy in possession of a gun, Palo Alto follows the (mis)adventures and life experiences of an extended group of troubled teenagers as they "experiment with vices of all kinds and struggle with their families and one another". 

Thoughts (2/5*)

As somebody who loves James Franco, I was really excited when I got his book. Plus, stories about troubled teenagers? Sounds good to me. Unfortunately, it's not what I was expecting as the stories (except for maybe one or two) are all about the same thing: teens getting high/drunk, partying and overall swearing an awful lot. I don't know how life is like in Palo Alto, but I would guess some teenagers can be troubled in other ways than driving into a wall because they're wasted. After reading two of the short stories, there was nothing surprising or any shocking twist in any of them.

The main problem is that it's hard to tell these stories apart. He uses different narrators but they all sound the same to me. I'm not saying Franco is a bad writer because I really don't think he is - in fact there's a story that stood out to me, April in Three Parts, which was the one I enjoyed the most. I want to think it's because it's the only one that's got a solid plot, where his characters actually do things and things happen to them and there's a story to tell. That's what makes me believe he's got the potential to write a good, maybe great, novel; where both his characters and their stories can be properly developed.

I read Palo Alto a couple of months ago but I thought it'd be a good idea to post my thoughts on it now that the trailer for the upcoming film based on the book, starring Emma Roberts and James Franco himself, has just come out. You can watch it here.

If you're a bookworm like me, befriend me on Goodreads!

 Tania x

Review: MUA Lipsticks

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Laura from Vanilla Kingdom texted us all excited telling us about an Spanish makeup website called Maquillalia. It turns out they sell stuff from a lot of different brands (Essence, NYX, China Glaze...) and obviously we just had to pick up some stuff. 

Seeing as the MUA lipsticks were only about 1'50€ each, I picked up three of them. Yes, three. I figured that if I wanted to try any new lipstick colour, it would be better to go for a cheap one, that way I wouldn't feel bad about wasting my money on something I was probably never going to use again. 

These are my picks! Shade 16 Nectar, Shade 6 and Shade 14 Bare.

I am obsessed with the first one, Nectar. For some reason it does look quite orange on the pictures but once you put it on it's a lot more of a pinkish peach than a bright orange and it has quickly become one of my favourite lipsticks to wear on a daily basis. The Bare one is great too, maybe a bit too pink for me (I just don't think I can pull off baby pink lipsticks), but I quite like it. I'm not so crazy about the pink one, though, but only because I dislike the fact that it's quite shimmery. Not sure if that was mentioned on the website -I didn't see it! However, I do like the colour, so I'll try to wear that one with a lip gloss on top and we'll see if that helps a little or just ruins it completely. 

The only problem I've had with these MUA lipsticks is that my lips are quite dry in general and they only seem to dry them out a bit more, so I would recommend using a good lip base/balm underneath or whatever suits you best and you're good to go. They don't last forever and you might have to touch it up every couple of hours or so, but hey, what more can one ask for?! :)

 What's your favourite MUA product? Do you own any MUA lipsticks? Do they do the job for you?

Tania

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