Girl Online

Last month I pre-orded Zoe Sugg's new book Girl Online from Book World and yesterday afternoon I started to read it and I finished it last night so I thought I would share some of my thoughts (without spoilers of course.. well I hope you don't count them as spoilers because I don't)

I used to read a lot of teen books (obviously because I was a teenager) and I found myself cringing at points in this book because of how cheesy and teen it was which is a given because that is Zoe's audience and I am now nearly 21 years old. I'm not saying this was a bad thing, it was still a really good book overall, in my opinion. (But sidenote: this has made me want to find some older books)

Who doesn't love a dreamboat cute boy in a story? Especially when he is from NEW YORK (the #1 place I want to travel) and he is into MUSIC which is even better and just has this cool vibe. Yeah boys in books are just great as well as curse because they are perfect but purely fictional and do not exist for me to ever fall in love with them (rude). Penny and Noah's little romance had me squealing throughout and I sometimes had to stop for a moment so my 17 year old heart could SINGGGGG from the cuteness overload (read the sing bit like this for it to not sound so strange.. or maybe it still is). I also finished the book at about 1:30am holding it against my chest and grinning like a child from ear to ear. Turns out I'm not completely soulless and the romantic fire inside of me isn't completely out.

I also loved that it's also set in Brighton - another place I'd love to travel to. Little details and special spots of the place add a nice little touch and as a fan of Zoe, know that she likes those little things in real life too and a lot of Penny's characteristics and likes reflect on Zoe herself. Little shoutouts to #TeamInternet were nice.

From the blurb and if you follow the world of YouTube or Zoe in particular, you generally know that the story revolves around Penny who writes a blog. You would also know about all of the controversy lately regarding the negative comments that people leave on daily vlogs, particularly those of Zoe and Alfie and they themselves have voiced their thoughts on the matter. This is repeated in the book so Zoe is very clearly sending the message that it isn't nice to leave mean comments online about people you do not know and that she really isn't having any of it. It sucks that there are people out there in the world who still find it in themselves to continue with mean comments because the rest of us are sitting here like YES OK WE GET IT ALRIGHT. Which is all I could think when I was reading it in the book but that's just me.

There is another controversy that has just recently come up after it was announced that Zoe broke all the records as a debut author etc etc (you've heard and seen it all I'm sure - if not, Google is your friend). That controversy is that the book was written by a ghostwriter as well as Zoe herself (again, Google or any social media is your friend here). Shock Horror. Not. I don't get the big deal. Of course she didn't write the whole thing herself. Penguin came to HER and gave her the chance to write a book. She hadn't already written one and showed it to a publisher, which is often the case with books. But most importantly the whole time that this book writing has been going on, Zoe has made it very clear that she has had help the whole way. She never said she wrote the whole thing 110%.  She was always mentioning it in vlogs as well as going to meetings about the book. The characters and the story were all hers, she just needed some help along the way to put her ideas to paper in the best way possible, as most of us would. The world and mainstream media need to calm down and get off the poor girl's back. Kind of ironic that the moral of the story is to be nice to people online and Zoe is now taking a break because of all this stupid unwanted attention.

So overall I did really enjoy this book and it makes me want to get back into reading. I'm on uni break after all so I don't really have an excuse. 

What do you think of the controversy now surrounding the book? Have you read it? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Zoe's YouTube
Zoe's Website/Blog

emma

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Loreal Paris Skin Perfection

I've heard quite a lot of good things about Loreal Paris' new line of skincare. Skin Perfection is targeted at women who are in their 20s and 30s. There are four items currently in the range including a serum, day moisturiser, magic blur and BB cream, which are also meant to help improve skin quality.

I recently ran out of my usual day moisturiser so decided to pick this up to try out and luckily it was on sale at Priceline at the time. This moisturiser claims to tighten pores, smooth skin texture and even the skin tone. 

I've been using this for a few days and have been loving it so far. It's really moisturising and my skin is looking and feeling great! I'm excited to try out the other products from the range.

Have you tried any of the Skin Perfection products? What do you think?

emma

Sparks in Blue

DRESS | White Fox Boutique

SHOES | Lipstik

BAG | Sportsgirl

TAN | Loving Tan

Last night I went to the Ivy in Sydney. I've been there twice before on a Saturday night but never on a Thursday. Going to a club is not my usual Thursday night activity but entry to the Ivy can be quite pricey but it is free on Thursdays and my friends hadn't ever been so why not? 

I'm obsessed with this dress from White Fox - especially the cut outs on the shoulders. It's also great that they provide express shipping in Australia because I ordered it on Tuesday night and it came Thursday (the day I needed it). These heels are also some of the comfiest heels I own - my night never ends in pain! 

Before I went to Hawaii and got a real tan, I was regularly using fake tan so I decided to do it again this week, for this night and my friend's 21st on the weekend! I've tried a few different brands but Loving Tan has become my #1 favourite. I use the mousse in medium and leave it on over night - I might try out the dark formula when I get my next bottle.

PS. Such an amazing dress for my 100th post!

emma

State of Serendipity

I am done with uni for the year so I am finally back to the blog! You may have noticed some changes though..

The name

I have been wanting to re-name my little baby for a while now but could never really think of anything until I finally thought up State of Serendipity! With that also changes the URL - http://stateofserendipity.blogspot.com.au/ Let me know what you think of it! It's a bit hard with Bloglovin' when you change URLs and names as you can't change completely everything on there but I hope it is still linked and you guys see this post and my future ones. Let me know if you have had any experience with this or if you have some tips!

The layout

I've tested and trialled different ways of changing Blogger layouts over the years but I finally decided to just buy one I really loved the look of. I got it from this Etsy store, she has other gorgeous layouts for both Blogger and Wordpress. Making a new header is on my to-do list.

I guess that's really the main points I wanted to get across. My aim is to turn this blog around this summer and make it the best it can possibly be. So time to get down to business and begin!

I also decided to make an Instagram specifically for the blog, separate from my personal one which you may already follow. I don't have any photos yet (there will be soon!). It is @stateofserendipity - still a work in progress in itself. Leave your Instagrams below, I need some accounts to follow!

I'd love to know what you think about the changes I've made or of anything you'd like to see in the future!

emma