Small Fish in a BIG Pond: The Mode Media Bankruptcy Drama

Here's the thing: I blog because I have a genuine and slightly obsessive love for the beauty industry. Since I was young I've loved makeup, the art of painting faces and the ability to transform myself day to day to suit my desires. The beauty industry is not short of bloggers, and I am a very very small fish in a very big pond. Sometimes I kick myself for not having the guts to start Girl Loves Gloss sooner, when I was younger and probably appealed to a larger audience (because a 23 year can make almost anything look good, I swear) but I love the insight I have now as a 33-year-old woman and how makeup has played a part in my journey to get here. I remember when I signed with Mode Media in June 2015 I thought I had 'made it' - I was going to be monetizing Girl Loves Gloss and my social media outlets with advertising and the occasional sponsored post, and the prospect of making a few bucks (and oh boy, do I mean a few) felt like a great milestone with hope of many more in the future of this blog. 

Nailed It : The Ten Spot Beauty Bar

Last month I had the very lucky fortune of being treated to a gel mani courtesy of the The Ten Spot nestled right in the heart of Yaletown here in Vancouver. This is just one of the latest beauty bar locations opened in the franchise created by Canadian delight Kristen Wood - The Ten Spot has been busy lacquering tips and waxing bits over in the Toronto area since 2006, and making a name for itself as THE place for manis pedis and waxing in magazines all over the nation since then! Besides getting a one on one skin consult and intro into an exciting skincare brand The Ten Spot is now carrying (more on that in another post!) I got a chance to chat with Kristen herself, swap fave lipstick shade details and walk out with gorgeous nude gel polish on my nails and a new found appreciation for the glory that is a gel manicure. 

Noteworthy Vol #1 | 5 Things Worth Reading and Watching This Week

Noteworthy is a new series where I catalog interesting things I find on the grand interwebs each week to share with you all. Some with be beauty, some fashion, others fascinating newsworthy tidbits I discovered that I thought we worth sharing. So without further adieu, here are 5 interesting things worth reading or watching this week...

Sunday Savings | Finding Great Deals Online with Groupon Coupons

SPONSORED by Groupon Coupons

Instead of my usual Sunday Steals/Splurges posts, I thought I'd do something a little different this week and go with Sunday Savings. I've collaborated with Groupon Coupons, to bring you all some epic deals I found available. The site makes it super easy to shop your favourite stores whilst listing all the available coupons and sales so that you can shop savvy, as well as gives you the option to subscribe to individual retailers so that you are notified with a new coupon comes along. I went through and found some great deals from stores and products I already know and love to share with you!

Retail During the Holidays

Posts here on GLG have been a little slim lately, not for lack of ideas (I have SO many great posts coming, I swear!) but for lack of time. It's that old story of having a day job, and in my case that day job is in retail. If you've ever worked in any sort of service industry or retail (and everyone should be made to work a Christmas in retail once in their life in my humble opinion) then you'll know that familiar dread that comes this time of year. For many of us, the joy of the season is simply squashed a bit by working in retail, and regardless of what you do or don't celebrate there is only so much Christmas music a soul can be forced to listen to. If you don't read the rest of this post, that's fine but I'll leave you with this: Be nice to those who work in retail, hospitality, service industry, etc especially this time of year. You'd be surprised the last time they might have heard a 'Thank You' or a simple 'You too!' when they wished you Happy Holidays (or Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah or whatever the hell else... it's not about that people! It's the thought!) If you have worked in such type of job industry, you might commiserate with me on some of these things... 

The Aveda Institute | My Experience

A couple of weeks back I was invited to head down to the Vancouver Aveda Institute to check out the facilities and enjoy a wash, cut and blow dry. If you've read Girl Loves Gloss for a while you know that I've struggled with my hair in the last couple of years, mainly with the texture changing, it thinning noticeably and weird cowlicks popping up that never were there before. So when I was asked to come in, I almost wanted to say, "Really? You sure you've got the right girl?" but then I reminded myself that not everyone has an amazing head of hair, and that my struggles might touch someone else out there, so I gave it a go.

My Teenage Beauty Wishlist Come True | Hard Candy Nail Polish

If you were a teen or older in the 90's you'll probably remember the original Hardy Candy Nail Polishes. They came in a slew of candy colours, complete with a very 90's appropriate plastic/rubber ring on the neck of the bottle that generally corresponded with the shade. In fact, if you read one of my early posts about teenaged beauty loves  you might remember me mentioning them. Imagine my surprise when I made a random trip to Walmart the other day and found out that Hard Candy had re released a bunch for their 20th anniversary!?

The 'Soundtrack To My Life Tag'

The other day the lovely Holly over a Bloomin' Rouge shared a great idea for a post called Soundtrack To My Life, and being the absolute music nut that I am, I had to jump on the bandwagon. I've always been one of those types that can remember the lyrics to songs from the first time I hear them. I associate music with times and places and memories from my life, and can still hear certain songs play in my head when I drive down certain roads. Some think it's weird, I'd call it a gift. 

Here are some of songs that kind of make up the soundtrack of memorable moments in my life, take a peek (and listen!)

Five Favourites | Beauty Bloggers

If there is one thing I love almost as much as talking about makeup and beauty, it's reading about it from other awesome bloggers. I think blogs are such an important way to communicate about products (hence my involvement in it!) and really help connect the average consumer with the product in a (mostly) unbiased way. Here's a shout out to some of my favourites:

Inner Beauty | Beating Summer Bloat

As someone who isn't as thin as I would like to be, I know all too well how uncomfortable it can be to fit into summer clothes when the weather is hot and I generally feel 'puffier' than usual. This time of year when the temperatures rise, the last thing you want to feel is bloated, so here are some tips for keeping things feeling good on the inside, and looking good on the outside.

Weekend Round Up | The Best of April 5th-17th

Rounding up my favourite looks, post highlights and products I've got my hands on this week. Here's some of the best for April 5th-17th 2015.

Weekend Round Up | The Highlights of March 22nd-27th

Rounding up my favourite looks, post highlights and products I've got my hands on this week. Here's some of the best for March 22nd-27th 2015.

Weekend Round Up | The Best of March 15th-20th

Rounding up new product releases, post highlights and products I've got my hands on this week. Here's some of the best for March 15th-20th 2015.

#DearMe | Thoughts for My Younger Self

Me at 20 years old in 2003 on the left, and me today, March 8th 2015

In honour of International Womens Day 2015, I thought I would post some thoughts I wish I had known as my younger self. Youtube has been promoting it's #DearMe campaign, asking women to share their thoughts for their younger selves to help reach out to the young female population and promote the mantra : it gets better. 

Currently Reading...

I thought it might be fun to take a step away from my usual beauty banter and talk about some of the pages I've been turning lately. At any given time I have about 13 books on the go, but these three are hanging around on my windowsill by my desk taunting me to read them. 

If They Wrote It, I'd Read It

Left-Right: Caroline Hirons, Anna Gardner, Lisa Eldridge, Wayne Goss, Nic Haste and Sam Chapman

With the trend of Youtubers getting book deals lately I couldn't help but think of some of the youtubers/bloggers that I enjoy so much I would honestly go out and buy the hardcover for. These folks all have something really special to offer, and if they wrote it, I'd read it.

What 2014 Taught Me and Resolutions for 2015

You can classify me as the type that doesn't 'do' resolutions normally, but I was thinking tonight about this last year and some of the same thoughts kept popping into my head which naturally led to some things I want to continue and some things I want to change for 2015. 

THE TEENAGE CHRONICALS | The 90's Part Two

Last week I mentioned how much I love a bit of #throwbackthursday over on Instagram, and so I took a walk down memory lane to the 90's, or rather my teen years. It was a rough decade in my opinion for beauty and fashion, but hey, I could catch myself saying that again in 10 years. Here's part two with a bunch more 90's cringe worthy goodness...

GIMME SOME LOVIN' | The Blogger Love Tag

This afternoon when I was playing a little catch up with my BlogLovin feed, I came across the lovely Fee's post, The Blogger Love tag, and it not only was it enjoyable to read, but it helped me find a couple new blogs to read. Bonus! I thought it might be fun to give it a go here and join in with the beauty blogger community a bit.

RESOLUTIONS | 2014 Beauty Edition

I'm not normally one to make New Years Resolutions, mainly because I feel like it is setting yourself up for certain disaster. This year though I decided to write out a short few beauty related in my Wunderlist app as more of a, "gee, I'd like to accomplish this" in 2014 list. Time will just have to tell which ones get crossed off my list!