Tag: review

Children of the Corn Remake

Ella

*Some spoilers to follow but I do not give a summary of plot*

So I finally watched the new Children of the Corn and as someone who not only saw the original but every single sequel this one was weak as hell. It’s basically like if you take the first 10 minutes of the original and make it the whole movie but then also jump to the last 10 minutes. They also changed the name of He Who Walks Behind the Rows turned him into this pathetically weak He Who Walks nonsense which makes me livid and they made him a completely different entity. Removed all religious/cult like themes from the storyline, which oddly made it less believable. It clearly made the kids less successful and it was the beginning of neutering He Who Walks Behind the Rows. In the original he’s a demon or perhaps even Satan himself and completely unkillable. The kids being part of a cult also meant wherever they went he went and allowed his work to be spread all over (hence 6 sequels). In this one he’s a corn monster that’s easily killable. All the characters are unlikable. All of them. The CGI made some scenes absolutely comical. Also pretty disappointed that a bunch of kids die in the first 10 minutes of the movie, the death of a dog is described, and a hog is also killed. And if you know anything about the original, the majority of the other deaths in the movie are surprisingly tame. There’s a lot less gore than the original. My other big pet peeve is the main character lighting fuel on fire, the fire should have also traveled back to the car that was still dripping gas everywhere and also probably to her since she was coated in it but instead just travels to all the places she’s been as if fire can only travel in one direction.

I give it 1 star for the miraculous feat of making me dislike literally every character and think most of them deserved their fates. But honestly just skip it. Go watch the original and then if you enjoy the original watch the sequel Isaac’s Return. The original and all the sequels are currently available on Max.

What are you putting on your face?

Ella

Skin care ingredients are subject to trends and fads like anything else. They’re the big buzzwords used to market new products and they’re often the reason we select the skin care and beauty products we use. And while we, the consumers, might know what the big hitters in our favorite products do, or at least what the companies say they do, how often do we actually know what all the other little ingredients do? Are they good for us? Are they dangerous? What do they even do?

We know the good ingredients we want based on trends or well known benefits, and we typically know the big bads to try to avoid (sulfates, parabens, micro plastics, etc)

Hyaluronic Acid, for example, is a highly popular ingredients great for adding moisture to the skin making it great for dry, dehydrated, or aging skin. But it can be found in everything from high end serums and creams to dollar store sheet masks. It’s really all those other seemingly random ingredients that determine it’s quality. And since most people don’t have an education in esthetics, aren’t a skin care geek, and might not have the time to thoroughly research each individual ingredient, it can be difficult to know which products are really worth your hard earned dollars.

I’ve always tried to mention the important ingredients of a product in reviews, and those are pretty important. But between my previous love of skin care ingredients, and my new understanding of them (who says you don’t learn practical stuff in school?), I’ve decided to add two new features to the site. The first is that going forward, ALL ingredients will be listed in reviews and more information about the featured ingredients of each reviewed product. The second will be a built in skin care ingredients wiki. You’ll be able to click on any ingredient in the list and be taken to a page giving you everything you need to know about it. It’s uses, if it’s good or bad, who should avoid it, and products it’s found in. I hope this will become a useful tool to help enhance my reviews and to help you make the best informed decisions about which products to use on your skin. Your skin is your body’s largest organ after all.

Because I believe in the importance of these features, I will be adding the ingredients list to all existing reviews on the site whenever possible. While updating these reviews most of them will be set to “private” until updated. So if a particular article you’re looking for has disappeared it will be back up shortly!

Also coming soon will be more skin care related content, including what products you should be using for your age, foods and lifestyle habits for great skin, and so much more!

Renpure Solutions Vanilla Mint Cleansing Conditioner

Ella

I’ll be honest. I’d never tried a cleansing conditioner despite their popularity in the last several year. A major concern was that it wouldn’t adequately clean my hair and that I’d end up with a greasy mane instead of soft and touchable. So on a whim I picked up this trial size packet of Renpure Solutions’ Vanilla Mint Cleansing Conditioner and decided to see if skipping shampoo could possibly be as good as people say.

I have normal to dry hair that breaks easily and is sensitive to harsh products, including most shampoos. I strictly use sulfate, paraben, and phthalate free products on my hair and this was free of all three as well as dyes making it extra gentle. It is however packed full of nourishing ingredients such as coconut oil, keratin, and shea oil. It smells amazing! I was also very happy that it doesn’t test on animals and the packaging itself is recyclable. It’s also safe for color treated hair so I chose to use it following my most recent hair dye experiment (read about it here).

The application process was pretty simple, more or less like a deep conditioning treatment. You simply apply a generous amount to all of your hair and leave in for 3-5 minutes. I applied it to my hair and went about the rest of my usual shower-time routine and it actually shortened the time I was in the shower considerably.

Day 1- After showering my hair definitely felt just as clean as if I’d just finished using a traditional shampoo and conditioner. When it dried it also looked just as clean. On the downside, as I typically use volumizing shampoos, my hair seemed a little limp and lifeless. But not bad at any way. It didn’t strip any color from my hair, which was impressive because semi-permanent dyes seem to have a tendency to fade even with just water. My hair was easy to brush through and felt so soft!

Day 2- The next morning, roughly 24 hours post shower, my hair still looked pretty decent. It wasn’t quite as “clean” as my hair typically looked 24 hours after using my normal shampoo, but it was decent enough to leave the house as it was without dry shampoo. Later in the day I did add a little dry shampoo before going to hang out with friends. My hair was still incredibly soft but not yet greasy and was very manageable.

Day 3- The third day was not good. I can usually go three days without shampooing my hair with my normal products, but not so much with this. My hair overnight had turned into a grease ball. Now, in a pinch it could have been easily fixed with a bit more dry shampoo, but I opted for just hoping in the shower and finishing off the packet of cleansing conditioner.

Overall I was really impressed. Not quite impressed enough to ditch my shampoo completely, but this might be sneaking it’s way into my winter staples. It’s not quite what I’d want for summer, as I don’t think it’ll work quite as well when it gets hotter around here. But I think for that certain part of the winter when my hair turns into a dry, static mess, this will be the perfect fix. I was also pretty impressed by the fact that I was actually able to get two full, very generous, applications out of one packet. I have rather long hair, about to the middle of my back, although it is on the thinner side, but typically trial sized packets of a similar size usually get me only 1 use.

If you’re looking for a cleansing conditioner I’d definitely recommend checking this one out for yourself!