Film Review: The Immaculate Room

Typically, it’s always a challenge to have a movie with only two actors carrying the film for a good portion of it, especially when the setting doesn’t change. From the very beginning, a couple, Kate (Kate Bosworth) and Mikey (Emile Hirsch) are contestants in a strange game in which they agree to spend 50 days living in a white room. If they manage to do that, the couple will win $5 million dollars, if for some reason one of them chooses to leave the room prior to 50 days, the prize money drops to $1 million.

The room has the chilly aesthetic of a chic art gallery, and with no form of entertainment whatsoever, the couple must learn to live with boredom for 50 days. We soon learn that Kate views the money as a means to put her mind at ease after spending a life worrying about her finances, while Mikey comes from a wealthy family and it’s still unclear why the money would mean much to him other than to be supportive of his girlfriend. For most pre-lockdown people, staying in a room for 50 days would’ve seemed like an easy feat, but as lockdown made us all realize, being confined is actually much harder than it looks.

Hirsch is animated as Mikey, as he explains what he would do with the money if he were to win, or how to kill boredom he begins to read the tag on his shirt in different accents. Bosworth’s performance is more contained as her character Kate tries to keep herself together with daily affirmations. It isn’t until the addition of external people that she gets triggered and her balance begins to tilt. The couple’s shut-in world begins to shake the moment Simone (Ashley Greene Khoury) enters the room, which sparks jealousy and tension to rise between the couple. It doesn’t take long for the ugly emotions to surface for it to bring things to a head.

The film begins with a study on boredom and if it’s possible to be driven mad by it, but it quickly devolves into the malice of greed and how far would one go to keep the prize in question. Again, for being a film that focuses mostly on two characters and one location, the script was interesting, although this film is less Squid Games than I had anticipated and ends on a positive note.

The movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Deacon: Just a Kid EP

To today’s youth Deacon Phillippe could very well be the Calvin Harris of Gen Z, but he also has the good fortune of inheriting leading man looks from his actor parents Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon.

If you’ve ever been to a party in the Hollywood hills, then at some point of the night someone will start playing EDM tracks – and this EP is reminiscent of that in beats and style, making for easy dance music that you can sway to while clutching a White Claw (props if it’s Black Cherry). However, if you happen to listen to this EP at the end of the night, coming down from the dance high and driving down Sunset Boulevard at 2am, then your experience will be completely different.

A careful focus on the lyrics and you begin to notice a theme of loss and heartbreak that give these songs a deeper meaning. California Reaper is moody and dark the whole way through. A Love Song is likens love to extracting a knife out of someone’s heart, while Breaking Away lulls you into thinking it’s gonna be a ballad but then morphs into the most personally intimate track on the EP – and perfectly describes the numbness of going through the motions but being detached from everything when you’ve experienced too much pain that they only way not to fall apart is to break away.

There’s no doubt that Deacon has talent and the capacity to convey emotions through music, so it’s interesting to see the direction his music will go in the future. In the meantime, I think this EP is best experienced while you’re gilded like Cassie in Euphoria, crying into her mirror as dozens of flowers surround you, or dancing your heartbreak away like you’re Robin in the club knowing that you’ll be dancing on your own.

You can check out the EP on SoundCloud!

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Review: Pili Ani Self-Care Night Recovery Oil

What It Is: Face Oil

What It Does: Smooths the appearance of wrinkles, neutralizes redness, and minimizes the appearance of pores.

Active Ingredients: Pili Fruit Oil, Elemi Oil, Calendula, and Lavender

Verdict: A lot can be said of face oils and often I’m not a big fan of them if they tend to be too oily or have an odd lingering scent. Fortunately, this oil is neither of those things. The oil is soft but never greasy and is quickly absorbed by the skin. The hint of lavender is so subtle that it’s never annoying. All in all this is a very effective oil that hydrates and leaves your skin feeling well nourished and supple.

Price: $80

Where To Buy It: https://www.piliani.com/

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Book Review: What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

The dead don’t walk. Except sometimes they do.

PLOT SUMMARY

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves. Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

GRADE: A

REVIEW

This novella is a retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and let’s just say that the author blew it out of the park. Everything that made the original creepy is expounded on and one can’t help but like the protagonist, Easton who finds themselves at the house because an old childhood friend wrote them about this sister’s slow demise. The book is moody and dark, and you’re quickly wrapped up in the mystery and eeriness. However, there are moments of comedy when Eugenia Potter, a British mycologist is in the scene. She was by far my favourite character, and couldn’t wait for her to show up. If you love Poe and love dark gothic mysteries, then do yourself a favour and read this now!

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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5 Steps on How to Stop Shine on Summer Days

Photo by Shiny Diamond on Pexels.com

Having oily skin, I’m always battling against shine, because there’s a difference between dewy and an oil slick. But summer days tend to bring shine even to those that have dry skin. So here’s a guide on how to have amazing shine-free skin on the hottest summer days.

STEP ONE. – CLEANSE CORRECTLY

Use a cleanser that doesn’t strip your skin of your natural oils, making your skin work overdrive trying to replenish them. Instead, choose a mild cleanser like Glossier’s Jelly Cleanser.

STEP TWO. – CHANGES TO EVERYDAY MAKEUP

When summer rolls on by one need to choose the makeup that isn’t as heavy on the skin. So skip the full coverage foundation and go for something lightweight, such as a tinted moisturizer. Some amazing tinted moisturizers are Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint or Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint. Both of these come with SPF.

STEP THREE. – USE MATTIFYING PRIMER

One of the ways to keep the shine at bay is to use a mattifying primer prior to applying anything else on your skin after cleansing. Some of my faves are Milk Makeup Pore Eclipse Mattifying Primer and NYX High Glass Face Primer.

STEP FOUR. – MILD TONER

Use a mild toner when trying to keep skin shine-free. Some of the best mild toners are Fenty Fat Water and Origins Zero Oil Toner.

STEP FIVE. – EXFOLIATE SKIN

Exfoliating skin twice a week truly helps with keeping skin looking healthy and shine-free. Kiehl’s Oil Eliminator Exfoliator is the best choice for this.

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Review: Ofra Liquid Lipstick in Canyon

What It Is: Liquid Lipstick

Active Ingredients: Vitamin E

Verdict: Initially I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this shade because I’m incredibly pale and in the tube, the lipstick looked dark brown. However, I’m pleasantly surprised by the shade did not appear dark on me when I tried it on. In fact, it gives a very ’90s terracotta/brick feel to it and it actually flatters my skin tone. Now for the formula, it’s lightweight and non-drying, and long-lasting. However, it does leave lipstick traces on glasses when you drink or if you kiss someone. But it doesn’t bleed or smudge otherwise, and since it has a doe foot applicator, it means that the application is precise. For everyday lipstick, this is ace.

Price: $20

Where To Buy It: https://ofracosmetics.com/

Wearing the shade Canyon
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3 Horror Books with Haunted Houses

Haunted homes are one of my favourite tropes both in horror movies and books. Here are three books with haunted homes that are bound to give you chills!

THE LITTLE STRANGER BY SARAH WATERS

One postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country physician, is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. Its owners—mother, son, and daughter—are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED BY JOHN BOYNE

This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
 
From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past. Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.

KILL CREEK BY SCOTT THOMAS

At the end of a dark prairie road, nearly forgotten in the Kansas countryside, is the Finch House. For years it has remained empty, overgrown, abandoned. Soon the door will be opened for the first time in decades. But something is waiting, lurking in the shadows, anxious to meet its new guests…

When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween night in one of the country’s most infamous haunted houses, he reluctantly agrees. At least he won’t be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek.

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Book Review: The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart

His lips touch my stomach, each wound, each scar.

Order on Amazon!

Release Date: March 15, 2022

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Price: $11.99 (hardcover)

PLOT SUMMARY

It’s been three months since The Night on the Bathroom Floor–when Lily found her older sister Alice hurting herself. Ever since then, Lily has been desperately trying to keep things together, for herself and for her family. But now Alice is coming home from her treatment program and it is becoming harder for Lily to ignore all of the feelings she’s been trying to outrun. Enter Micah, a new student at school with a past of his own. He was in treatment with Alice and seems determined to get Lily to process not only Alice’s experience but her own. Because Lily has secrets, too. Compulsions she can’t seem to let go of and thoughts she can’t drown out. When Lily and Micah embark on an art project for school involving finding poetry in unexpected places, she realizes that it’s the words she’s been swallowing that desperately want to break through.

GRADE: A

REVIEW:

This was a gut-wrenching journey that vividly depicts the difficulty of dealing with an anxiety disorder while also dealing with people in your life that have attempted suicide. Lily’s world isn’t the same ever since her sister Alice slit her veins – but she’s trying her best to keep up a happy facade at school. But it all quickly crumbles the moment Alice returns home from rehab. In the midst of all this, she meets and falls for the new boy Micah – who also stayed at the same rehab center that Alice did after he tried to take his own life.

The reader can’t help but cheer for these very broken souls and yearn so much to see them heal and find some solace in the darkness.

Told from Alice’s POV and her poetry, this was a very emotional read that I simply couldn’t put down, in fact, I read it in two days. I highly suggest this book if you want to read a very raw yet ultimately uplifting story. However, there are many trigger warnings for those who suffer from depression, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and anxiety.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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Review: Beautaniq Beauty Raindrench Serum

What It Does: A soothing and hydrating serum to keep skin soft, smooth, and healthy-looking.

Active Ingredients: Niacinamide, Vitamin B5, Hyaluronic Acid, and Zinc.

Verdict: This serum is excellent if you’re looking for a serum that targets the following concerns: pore minimizing, removal of dead skin cells, and hydration. I like that the serum is thick, and not watery, so it makes it easier to apply, and it leaves your skin feeling plump, smooth, and not oily. This serum is suggested to wear at night, and it makes sense when you have such powerful ingredients that would benefit from penetrating in your skin at night when the skin does most of its repair. Zinc, one of the ingredients used in the serum, helps acne-prone skin to remain pimple-free as well as helping with aging skin. For the price point, this serum delivers and I recommend it if you’re looking for a night serum.

Price: $24

Where To Buy It: https://beautaniqbeauty.com/

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Book Review: Teen Killers in Love by Lily Sparks

AN UNCONFESSED CRUSH IS NOTHING. IT IS AN AIRELESS VOID THAT WILL SUFFOCATE YOUR HEART QUITE COMFORTABLE.

Pre-Order on Amazon!

Release Date: August 9, 2022

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Price: $18.99 (harcover)

PLOT SUMMARY:

The Teen Killers Club is on the brink of destruction, with one faction pitted against another in a deadly game of survival. Erik and Signal are part of the group who’ve had their “kill switches” disabled, and the others are under orders to hunt them down—or meet their own demise. Now, Erik and Signal have to find a way to neutralize the others’ switches and clear Signal’s name. In the middle of a manhunt that is going viral and turning them into an internet-age Bonnie and Clyde.
 
Erik and Signal are both Class As—the most dangerous and manipulative criminal profile—but Erik is the ultimate Class A, with ten kills to his name and a secret in his past that will change everything.
 
As if being hunted down wasn’t enough, Erik is determined to get Signal admit that she loves him. But Signal is hellbent on crushing her own growing attraction.
 
It’s a race against time to save the Teen Killers Club from its worst nightmare—having to kill the friends they need more than ever.

GRADE: B+

REVIEW:

I’m not gonna lie – I loved the first book of this series because it had such an interesting plot – teen killers sent to a camp of sorts to learn how to better fight and kill so they could be used as human weapons. Plus I really loved the characters Signal, Erik, and Nobody. So of course when book two dropped I absolutely had to read it. Now, while I enjoyed book two because I simply love the characters, for some reason I couldn’t get that motivated by this book’s plot. I don’t know if this was because of uneven pacing where it was fast-paced for so long and then suddenly stalled at the climax. But I found reading this sequel felt a bit like a chore. I don’t know how I feel about the ending – as it seems like there might be another sequel, and I will read it solely based on my love for the characters, but I really hope that the plot will have better pacing and hold my interest more than this one did.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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