5 Beauty Trends We’re Loving Right Now
2022 has been filled with exciting new trends and fun, updated versions of old trends becoming popular again. From makeup looks, to hair styles, to nail polish, every aspect of beauty has had several big trends so far this year.
While it’s been hard to narrow down our favorite trends so far in 2022, we managed to pick our 5 favorite beauty trends that we hope continue into the second half of this year!
Clean Beauty
Similar to “no makeup” makeup, clean beauty looks are characterized by simple makeup and slicked back hair. Like so many other trends, this sleek look was made popular by TikTok.
To achieve this look, focus on skincare that makes your skin clear and dewy. Then, keep your makeup simple. If you want to include color, keep it limited to just one part of your face, like including a red lip. The rest of your look should be focused on neutrals and be as natural as possible. Finally, for your hair, the slicked-back bun is a popular style that can be done on hair of almost any type or length.
Colorful Eyeliner
The antithesis to the clean beauty looks is 2022’s focus on bold pops of color. While these pops can be in either your makeup or your nails, one of 2022’s favorite ways of adding something bright and fun is to use colorful eyeliner.
This neon eyeliner trend was made popular by the iconic HBO show, Euphoria, where our favorite characters rock bold clothing and makeup choices. If you want to try this trend in real life, but don’t have Maddie’s confidence, no worries! You can start small by lightly lining your eyes with a fun color like blue or purple. Or, if you want to go as bold as possible, you can use several different colors of eyeliner or use one color in an intricate design that sweeps your lid. Our favorite thing about this look is that it’s fun yet versatile!
Nail Art
In the same vein as the colorful eyeliner trend, 2022 has seen fun nail art explode in popularity. Gone are the days of simple french manicures or nails that are all one color. Now, people love expressing themselves through their nails with bold color choices, intricate designs, patterns, and nail stickers!
We love this trend, because everyone can make it work for their style. Whether you are more feminine or you prefer daring designs, think of your nails as canvases on which you can create whatever suits your personal style!
All the Layers
With shows like Stranger Things releasing new seasons or the 90’s coming back in full swing, it’s no wonder that nostalgia is strong in the beauty trends that we’ve seen so far in 2022. One such trend is layered hair.
Think of the 90’s when curtain bangs were popular and “the Rachel” reigned supreme. This trend is versatile, fun, and works with so many different hair types and lengths. There are also so many different ways you can incorporate layers into your hairstyle! You can add face-framing layers if you want to keep things simple, or you can add lots of layers throughout your hair if you want to fully embrace this style. The choice is up to you!
Dewy Skin
A staple part of the clean beauty look, dewy skin is a trend that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. This trend puts the emphasis on skincare as a priority to solve and prevent any skin problems as opposed to using makeup to cover up and hide those problems.
Dewy skin is fairly self explanatory. The goal is to have your skin look healthy and glowing as if you had just applied your favorite moisturizer. This is emphasized by wearing makeup with minimal coverage that doesn’t cake or flake in any way. To help achieve this look you can also use highlighter to add just a bit of shine that will make you look like you’re glowing from within.
From bold colors to skincare to layered hair, we love the trends we’ve seen so far in 2022, and we can’t wait to see what the second half of the year brings! Let us know in the comments below what your favorite trend has been and what you hope becomes popular in the fall and winter months!
4 Tips for Editing Your Book on a Budget
If you’re an indie author, you know there are many pros to self publishing your book. You have the freedom to write about whatever you’d like, you get a bigger percentage of royalties, and you have control over every aspect of the publishing process. However, there’s no denying that there are cons to self publishing, as well. The biggest con is that you don’t have the support that publishing traditionally provides.
One of the biggest pain points that this lack of support causes comes up when it’s time to edit your book. Traditional publishers have their own in-house editors, which means there’s already someone available to help you put the finishing touches on your book. But when you self publish, finding an editor is all up to you. And that can be daunting, especially if you don’t have a ton of money to spend.
So how can you successfully edit your book while not breaking the bank? Whether or not you’re looking for a cheap editor or want to make the edits yourself, there are some simple tips and tricks to make the editing process easier and cheaper for you!
Divide Up The Editing Process
Sometimes, indie authors will choose to edit their own books without the assistance of an editor in order to save money. If you’ve found yourself in that boat, you may be a little overwhelmed at the idea of having to edit an entire book on your own, especially if this is the first book you’re publishing. That’s why one of the best things you can do is break up the editing process into smaller steps.
A great way to break up the editing process is to edit for different things during each read through of your book (or section/chapter of your book if you prefer to edit in smaller chunks). To do this, you would start your editing process looking for high-level mistakes. Then, on your next read through you would narrow your focus. And keep narrowing your focus until you’re done. If you’re not sure how to go about that, try editing like this:
- Overview. This read through is focused on broad plot points, characters, and a bird’s eye view of your story structure.
- Now, look more closely at individual scenes, specific details about your story structure, and whether or not each moment in your story contributes to the overall plot.
- Finally, the last read through you do should be focused on tiny problems. Look for grammatical errors, individual sentence structure, and whether or not sections of dialogue are clunky.
Breaking up the editing process like this makes it less daunting and also allows for you to really focus on perfecting one thing at a time before moving on to the next step.
Read it Out Loud
One of the greatest tricks to editing writing is to listen to it. You can do that by either reading it out loud to yourself or by utilizing your word processor’s text-to-audio accessibility feature.
Why read your story out loud? It’s because our brains process things differently when we read them silently versus when we listen to them. Especially if you’re in the middle of the editing process and you’ve already spent a lot of time silently reading your work, experiencing your writing through a different sense than just a visual one can help you pick up on errors or things that don’t sound quite right that you otherwise would have missed.
Another great benefit of listening to your book when you edit it is that good writing should sound fluid and natural not just when someone reads it silently but when they listen to it as well. After all, storytelling began as an auditory experience. Ensuring that your writing is clear, concise, and flows well when you listen to it will ensure that readers feel as though the writing is natural however they choose to experience your story.
Utilize Tools Like Grammerly
With incredible technology at our fingertips, it’s easy to find cheap tools to help indie authors edit their books for a fraction of the cost. One great tool that you’ve probably heard of is Grammerly.
If you don’t know what Grammerly is, it is a program that uses artificial intelligence to read through your writing, analyze it, and highlight any grammatical errors you may have. Grammerly is fairly cheap and can make the editing process so much simpler, especially if grammar is not your forte.
But, Grammerly isn’t the only tool available to help you edit your work. A quick Google search reveals hundreds of available websites, apps, and plug-ins to help you easily make your work the best it can be.
Hire an Editor Who is Just Starting Their Career
Like every other job, editors make more money (and therefore cost more money) as they gain more experience. That’s why looking for an editor whose career has just begun is a great way to save some money if you don’t want to edit your book all by yourself.
While these editors may not have the expertise that comes with experience, they can still help you refine your writing. Not sure where to find someone like this? There are plenty of platforms out there that allow you to hire someone to help you with editing your book! You can look at freelancing platforms like Fiverr or Upwork, but you can also check out websites like Reedsy that are meant specifically for helping authors and editors find each other.
Editing your book can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be a miserable experience! By breaking up the editing process into smaller chunks, reading your story out loud, using editing software, and hiring someone at the beginning of their career, you can easily save money while still getting your book to be something you are incredibly proud of and ready to publish! Happy editing!
Katie Cole Writing 