THE EYE MAKEUP REMOVER SHOWDOWN

I've fallen in love with a new mascara, the L'oreal Miss Manga Rock Waterproof. It gives loads of volume and length and it holds a curl like a steroid fuelled 20 year old Arny. The only downside is that, being a waterproof mascara, it's a righteous douche canoe to remove. Of course this presented an opportunity, an opportunity to have a bit of a makeup remover showdown – a fight to the death if you will.

AUGUST FAVOURITES

August has been a strange month. I've basically been living out of a backpack, moving between houses. We've technically moved into the city, but as both Jaseface (boyfriend) and I have still been working on the island we've been staying... not in our new house... because that's how we roll. The whole living out of a bag thing has been surprisingly fun though. For one thing it's actually been quite freeing not feeling tied down to so much stuff. It's also meant that I've been forced to really enjoy what I've had with me. The things that made it into my bag got a lot of love over the past month. Starting with...

EMBRYOLISSE LAIT CREME CONCENTRE

I want to start today by apologizing to you guys. The past month has been total chaos. We've moved house and still haven't yet managed to unpack. I feel like I have so much stuff I have to get done and at the same time I'm trying to enjoy the last of the short summers that we get here. As a consequence I haven't had the time and energy that I would like to have had to put into Bloomin' Rouge. I know everybody says "you do you, post as much or little as you like." But it's important to me to be regularly producing fresh content for you guys. I'm sorry that I haven't been doing that. It will probably be a few more weeks of madness and then I should be back in the swing of things.

5 BEAUTY PRODUCTS I WISH MY PAST SELF HAD HAD

There are many things that I wish I could go back in time and warn myself about. For example, don't bother killing yourself over grades or don't date that giant douche nozzle or don't cut off all your hair when you dress like a boy and don't have any boobs. You know, those types of things. But this is a beauty blog and you probably haven't come here to hear my life woes. Instead I'm going to tell you about all the beauty products that I wish I'd known about years ago, the ones that rocked my world when I discovered them.

5 MAKEUP BITS TO TRY

In the past few months I've gone a bit crazy trying out new products. I should probably cool my jets for a bit for the sake of my bank account. On the bright side I've found a lot of fantastic products, many of which have made their way into my daily makeup bag. I'm having trouble waiting until the next monthly favourites to tell you guys about them. So I'll just tell you about a few of them for now.

HART & STONE JEWELRY

Where to begin? A few months ago I got an email from a very lovely lady, Emily McPhee. Emily is the founder of Hart + Stone, a jewelry line based out of the West Coast of Canada. She offered to make me a couple of pieces from her line. I was unbelievably excited by the offer. I should explain why.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR IPHONE PHOTOS LOOK PRO

As I'm sure you've all heard a million times before, photography is a major part of blogging. It's what initially draws people to your blog. For that reason you want your photos to look beautiful and professional. A DSLR camera with a nice lens is obviously the easiest way to achieve that. I'm very fortunate to have been able to invest in a nice DSLR, however, I'm aware that not everyone has the budget for that. And, honestly, there are some things that a phone camera just does better. So, in keeping with the photography theme of my last post, I wanted to show you guys how you can get your mobile photos looking in tip top shape.

PHOTOGRAPHY: CORRECTING LENS DISTORTIONS IN PHOTOSHOP

It's time to get picky with it. I think if you want your blog to get noticed for its photography, which, let's face it, we probably all do, you have to be anal about the details. People often register the details without really consciously noticing them, if you catch my drift. They make all the difference. So I think it's important to train yourself to consciously notice little imperfections and to correct them in the editing process. One of those imperfections is lens distortions.

THE PERFECT AM & PM CLEANSE & MOISTURIZE

In the past year I've tried a fair few cleansers and moisturizers. I've tested the waters, grazed the lands, soared through the skies on an eagle's back, and I think I've come to some conclusions. I've landed on my favourite AM/PM cleanse/moisturize duos and, well lads and lasses, I'm here to share them with you.

DANIEL WELLINGTON CLASSIC SHEFFIELD

A short while ago Daniel Wellington approached me and asked if I'd be interested in doing a post on one of their watches. I've been fairly obsessed with those watches for a good solid year. Liiiikkke I ogle pictures of them on Pinterest more often than I ogled the cast of Supernatural back in the day. So you can imagine I was happy to accept their offer. They gave me the option to pick any watch and, surprise surprise, I chose the *Classic Sheffield Watch in Rose Gold.