Entertainment
We spent a year testing the best red light masks. We found 5 we love and 2 to avoid.
How to choose an LED face mask: Look at wavelength first
There are some ways to tell that a red light face mask won’t be effective before you buy it and use it for a few months.
Wavelength is the first factor anyone will tell you to consider. You want to find products that emit light within the therapeutic window, or the range of wavelengths that can be effective when treating common skin conditions. There is now an abundance of evidence that specific wavelengths of red light can be effective for:
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Reduction of fine lines, dark circles, and crow’s feet
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Improving skin texture
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Fighting wrinkles
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Boosting collagen production
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Reducing inflammation and redness
To be effective, the light coming from the mask must penetrate different layers of your skin. There are optimal wavelengths for each type of light a face mask emits, and any reputable brand will put their mask’s wavelengths front and center in the listing. These carefully chosen ranges are strong enough to penetrate your skin, but gentle enough to avoid over-activating delicate face skin.
Red light does its work in the middle layer (dermis) of your skin, requiring wavelengths between 630 and 633 nm to reach past the top layer. There, red light stimulates cells to produce rejuvenating proteins like collagen and elastin, evening out surface redness, and preventing scarring or post-pimple red spots.
The Shark CryoGlow’s Better Aging routine combines red and near-infrared light.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable
The Shark CryoGlow’s Skin Clearing routine uses a special sequence of red, near-infrared, and blue light.
Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable
Most red light masks also use near-infrared red light therapy, which requires longer wavelengths to travel further than regular red light. Near-infrared light between 830 and 850 nm reaches into tissue under the dermis to further stimulate cell turnover, firm skin, and heal deep-seated spots or stubborn dark circles.
Blue light operates on the top layer (epidermis) of your skin, so its ideal wavelength is shorter than either red light standard. Blue light at 415nm has an antimicrobial effect, ideally killing the bacteria that cause acne before a breakout starts. If hellbent bacterial acne makes it past the blue light phase — or if you’re also dealing with hormonal or cystic acne not caused by bacteria — red light swoops in to neutralize inflammation and speed up the healing process.
The thing is, most mainstream LED face masks hit those wavelength marks. So, how do you choose between masks if their wavelength numbers are all the same?
The importance of irradiance
Irradiance is another major element that determines whether or not a red light mask actually works. While wavelength refers to the length the light can travel, irradiance refers to the amount of light energy that’s actually reaching your skin per session (not just the intensity of light being generated at the bulb). If wavelength numbers are correct but irradiance is low, the mask will still be kind of a dud.
Irradiance is officially expressed as milliwatts per square centimeter. The optimal irradiance range for a red light face mask is pretty wide (anywhere between 30 to 100 mw/cm²), though many brands don’t directly provide that number.
Most brands do note the length of each session, which is one way to quickly gauge irradiance without getting into calculations. Dr. Mamina Turegano sums it up best on her YouTube account: “Higher irradiance means more effective energy delivery per minute of use.” Longer sessions don’t automatically mean that results will be more powerful — a mask with sessions that last for less than 10 minutes has higher irradiance than a mask with sessions that last for 20 to 30 minutes. Since a mask with lower irradiance needs to sit on your face for longer, you might be less likely to keep up with wearing it.
Are bulb count and bulb placement a big deal?
The number of bulbs and the placement of bulbs inside the mask can also impact efficacy, especially if you’re expecting results on a specific area of your face. Masks with more bulbs packed evenly across the face will provide more even coverage across every inch of your face than masks with more sporadically-placed bulbs. Some masks provide more light sources overall by emitting both red and blue light simultaneously from every single bulb, like the Shark CryoGlow. This would be a better option for full-face acne prevention than masks with blue and red LEDs only concentrated in certain spots, like the Dr. Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite.
What red light masks work?
Of course, you probably didn’t come here for a science lesson. You want to know which red light masks Mashable’s testers used and loved.
After trying out 10 different products, we ultimately found five that we can recommend. These masks delivered visible results for our product testers.
Remember: Consistency is essential for the best results (or any results). You’ll need to wear your mask consistently for at least 1-2 months.
Entertainment
The Odyssey cyclops was inspired by one of historys goriest paintings
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey draws from the literature of antiquity, but there’s an art history reference in the film that’s relatively more recent. And deeply gory.
In a major moment from Homer’s epic poem, Odysseus (Matt Damon) is heading home from the Trojan War with his men when they stop by an island for food and supplies. It’s here they find themselves trapped in the sheep-filled cave of the mighty Polyphemus (Bill Irwin), a towering cyclops who casually changes up his daily diet of homemade artisanal cheese for a bloody feast of weary Ionian soldiers.
The Odyssey‘s production design of Polyphemus is terrifying and weird: a colossal, awkward, human-like form with twisted facial features including a solitary, rotated eye. Snatching up Odysseus’ crewmates like popcorn, the cyclops stands for a moment crunching on a newly headless man, his bleeding body limp in the creature’s hand.
It’s this moment that art history nerds (hi) might connect with a familiarly gory scene, of a wild god feasting upon a torso: Francisco Goya’s early 1820s masterpiece, Saturn Devouring His Son.
Francisco Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son.”
Credit: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images/ Getty Images
Nolan has confirmed the cyclops was inspired by the 19th-century Spanish artist’s famous work, which depicts a violent moment from ancient Greek myth. As detailed in Barry B. Powell’s Classical Myth, Zeus’ dad Cronus (called Saturn by the Romans), was the leader of the Titans, powerful beings who sired the Olympian gods. Cronus’ mum Gaia (Terra) and dad Ouranos (Uranus) had a prophecy that he would be overthrown by one of his divine children — Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, or Hades. So, what did Cronus do? He ate them.
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In fact, Cronus threw back his kids whole, which is important later in the story (Zeus, who was born in secret, managed to get his dad to vomit up his siblings and they indeed rose up against the Titans). But in Goya’s painting, Saturn/Cronus has not eaten his brood whole. With those wild eyes open, he’s ripped the head and arms off one of his children and is snacking away on the torso like a baby with a teething rusk. It’s pure madness.
And this is exactly how Nolan has Polyphemus feast on the Greek soldiers in The Odyssey. Like a child. A wild child of gods. Which, incidentally, is what Polyphemus is — the son of sea god Poseidon and oceanid or sea nymph Thoosa.
It’s no wonder Nolan had Goya’s gruesome visual on his mood board. Back to the original ancient text, Homer’s description of the cyclops’ feast (translated by Emily Wilson) is just as grisly, as he writes, “Leaping up high, he reached his hands towards my men, seized two, and knocked them hard against the ground like puppies, and the floor was wet with brains. He ripped them limb by limb to make his meal, then ate them like a lion on the mountains, devouring flesh, entrails, and marrow bones, and leaving nothing.”
Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens also did a horrifically figurative version of Saturn Devouring His Son earlier in the 17th century, a moment of infanticide and child cannibalism which can’t really be unseen.
So, when you’re watching The Odyssey, think of Goya’s bloodthirsty, paranoid Saturn and one of the most gory snackscapades in art history.
Entertainment
Grab a lifetime Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus license for just $54.99
TL;DR: Save $195 and own Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for $54.99 with a lifetime license for one Windows PC — no recurring subscription fees.
Monthly subscriptions make sense for some software. But if you use the same Windows PC every day and simply want Microsoft Office installed and ready to go, paying once can be the simpler option.
That’s what makes Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus worth a look. You can currently grab a lifetime license for $54.99 (reg. $249.99), giving you permanent access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Access on one Windows PC.
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The important thing to know is that this version uses a device-linked license, not one tied to your Microsoft account. That’s the trade-off that helps keep the price lower. If you’re buying Office for a computer you plan to keep for a while, that may be a perfectly reasonable compromise.
You’ll also avoid recurring Microsoft 365 payments while still getting the productivity apps most people use every day. Whether you’re building spreadsheets, writing reports, creating presentations, or managing email, the core experience is designed for long-term stability.
It also includes Dark Mode and is built to perform well on a wide range of hardware without requiring an ongoing subscription.
If your goal is simple — a full Office suite on one Windows PC with no recurring fees — this is an easy way to get there.
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Get Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for a one-time $54.99 (reg. $249.99).
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
R-Rated Director’s Cut Of The Worst X-Files Movie Is Streaming In Less Than A Month
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Possibly no TV series ever made has had such a meteoric rise and epic fall as The X-Files. The early seasons captivated ‘90s audiences with a potent combination of sexy lead actors and stories about alien abductions and government conspiracies. The franchise arguably hit a high point with the first movie, The X-Files: Fight the Future. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Later seasons got progressively worse, and David Duchovny eventually left the show for good. He came back for the worst revival in television history, one that followed up on some of the revelations of the second movie, The X-Files: I Want To Believe.
Whereas Fight the Future advanced the complex mythology of the series, I Want To Believe was modeled more after the series’ monster-of-the-week episodes. Unfortunately, the monster was weaksauce, and the film’s vestigial ties to some of the stupider lore really dragged it down. But could this failed film be one good edit away from being a banger? Chris Carter seems to think so. Last year, he teased that he was working on an R-Rated director’s cut of the film, one that brings it to bloody life like never before. Now, fans will be able to judge for themselves: The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn will begin streaming on Hulu on August 14.
Somehow, Mulder And Scully Returned
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a movie where Mulder and Scully have long since left the FBI; she’s a doctor, and he’s a hermit. But when an FBI agent gets kidnapped, and a Catholic priest starts seeing her in psychic visions, the Bureau gets Mulder to consult on the case because of his prior experience with all things spooky. Unfortunately, the PG-13 movie was a flop: it has a 32 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences alike. It also earned only $68.4 million against a $30 million budget, with its box office likely suffering because it premiered only one week after Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
It’s a movie so bad that most X-Files fans would rather forget that it exists. However, when Chris Carter appeared on David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast last year, he said that he was working on an R-rated director’s cut and hinted that it would premiere on streaming. “Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” he said. “It’s not just doing a director’s cut to do a director’s cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.”
It’s Alive!
For better or for worse, the teasing is over. Previously, the new cut (titled The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn) was set to debut on Disney+ in June, but it got quietly yoinked off that streamer’s schedule to make time for some last-minute tweaks. Now, the movie is set to premiere on Hulu on August 14. While Carter is excited to show us his original vision for this flawed sequel, it’s not yet clear how it will differ from the theatrical version. It’s also not clear what the weird new title is about, though many think it’s a hint that Carter has, Frankenstein-style, cobbled together a new film out of assorted footage that had been left on the cutting room floor.
Will this director’s cut from Chris Carter leave fans screaming “it’s alive,” or will we just want to burn the movie with fire? Like Mulder always says, the truth is out there. And we can find out together: The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn premieres on Hulu on August 14. Here’s hoping it can help to erase the stink of Season 11 from our collective minds!
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The Odyssey cyclops was inspired by one of historys goriest paintings
