Makeup For Adoption Friday!

Like I said, I want to share with you a little about our adoption story so far...

I won't get into all the dramatic details of how we got here, I will say though, we went through 4 years of infertility and 2 years of infertility treatments and 4 medical procedures to try to conceive. It was not easy, it was not fun, and it was extremely emotional. Thank God for my Boy and the hope he has always instilled in me. At times it felt like a child would never come (I'm a glass half empty gal)but Manny made sure to keep my spirits up and always keep me thinking positive- I wouldn't have survived without him!

So, 2014 arrived and we were planning on our 5th fertility procedure in February, when I had an epiphany... let's adopt! We had originally looked into adoption back in 2012 but quickly decided to try the treatments. Now, my brain had come full circle, knowing in my heart that adoption was the path we were supposed to follow. As far back as I can remember, I have wanted to adopt... even as a child when I would play 
"only-child-house" (which is playing solo with imaginary people), I would have tons of kids and some were always adopted. When we first got married I had mentioned to Manny, that I wanted to adopt someday, not yet knowing of our infertility. So, when my brain began to circle around adoption, it wasn't a difficult thing I had to give in to, or convince myself of... and my beautiful, perfect Boy agreed that it didn't matter how our baby came into the world as long as we had our baby. And some people may think, why wouldn't we continue trying to have our "own" baby... well, hate to break it to you "inappropriate commenters", this will be our own baby... one of the adoption quotes that keeps popping up for me is, "Little souls find their way to you, whether it's from your womb or someone else's." I truly believe, it is God's plan, destiny, meant to be, written in the stars (however you see it)for us to find our child's soul through adoption.

That being said, I quickly contacted a social worker that came recommended from another adoptive couple. After a million papers, background checks, and e-mails, she sets up our homestudy appointment. YIKES!!! Those who know the Boy and Girl, know that "homemaking" does not come easy for us... we are more of a go-with-the-flow kinda couple... well our flow had to speed up because the appointment was for the very next week. This complete stranger was going to come to our house, judge us and determine our future from one 3 hour visit. I didn't sleep that whole week and my Boy had several "sleep walking" fits at night... but my neat-freak mother came that weekend and gave us the white glove, eagle eye of approval. Tuesday was THE day!!!

Our social worker arrived 15 minutes late, which felt like 15 days... the doorbell chimed... this was it...

She was such a delight, she plopped herself comfortably on our loveseat and we seat across from her on the big couch, and talked for 2 1/2 hours straight. She would ask a question and I would answer for 10 minutes, then it was Manny's turn. We did this the whole time (Manny mumbled a little more that I did) and it went by in a flash. Questions, about how we grew up, childhood, schooling, parents, traumas or not, medical history, current finances... we answered everything honestly, anxiously, and comfortably. (I like to brag, I even made Manny cry- happy tears!!) It was great!!! She took a quick tour of the house, didn't open a single drawer or closet (which I had compulsively picked up and cleans), she had no white glove or eagle eye, she was kind, and interested in us. By the end of the interview she was excitedly telling us, "I can't wait to come back and see how you decorated the baby's room!" We knew we had passed with flying colors... and we did! 

She e-mailed me last week with the finished homestudy report and she will be sending it out next week to our adoption agency. Once, the agency has our homestudy, we will send them a profile book of our lives and our application, which will make us an official WAITING FAMILY!!! In my next adoption post, I will share more on how the process will work, and a little more about Domestic Infant Adoption!!!

We are soooo excited for this journey and cannot wait to meet our baby!!! Please, if you have any questions about our process feel free to contact me, I'd love to share!!!

Till next time, Imagine Adopting Babies- Alexis

BFFs &, Cats &, Babies, OH MY!

So if you follow Alexis the Makeup Girl on Facebook, you know I've been a little preoccupied with another big event in my life... My boy and I have started the process of adopting a baby!!! I won't get too into it in this particular post, I'll just say that we are EXTREMELY excited and this week we'll be starting a new step to our process... I would like to share a little more about adoption and our experience in particular to bring awareness to friends, family, and followers, so once a week I'll do an "adoption" post and update you all on our journey!!!

But, this is a MAKEUP BLOG after all, so here it is... 

The best thing about being able to do makeup, is making up my friends for their special days. I had the honor of doing my best friend's makeup for her Baby Shower!!! She was absolutely glowing and looked sooo beautiful!!! I've known My Bubs since we were 8 years old and it was very emotional, 22 years later, doing her makeup for her BABY SHOWER!!! I am soooo excited to meet her little one(which is due any day now)and hopefully soon, raise our babies together!!! Love you Bubby!!!

The whole gang of gals from childhood to motherhood and beyond!!!

In the face painting world... I was booked to do a small Kitty Cat birthday party! The Birthday Girl's mommy (who is a photographer), had a look picked out that she wanted me to duplicate... I added my own touch of glitter and eyeliner, what girly kitty doesn't need glitter and cat eyes?!?!

 

My Goddaughter slept over our house a few weekends ago, and she wanted Lexi to do her makeup, but she had to keep her little eye patch on... so her Lexi incorporated a dragon into the mix... being the "girly-tomboy" that she is, she looooved it!!!

Last but not least, this weekend was another BFF's special occasion... She was taking her Engagement pictures!!! She wanted a soft, natural look, while still looking glammed up!!! She looked gorgeous and I can't wait to see how her pics turned out!

I hope you all enjoyed this post and I look forward to sharing a little more about our adoption... in the meantime please visit my husband's website, GamingForAdoption.com , to find out more on how you can help us reach our goal of baby!!! 

Imagine Future Babies- Alexis

Face Painting Fun!!!

I have had the best time face painting the last few days... not to say it's my new following but a definite positive add-on!!! Last week I practiced a few cat faces for an event I was commissioned to. It was a high school homecoming fair and their school mascot is a green saber (or sabre as they spell it), and I knew I had to follow a cat theme.

  

Being the crazy cat lady that I am, I attempted their mascot and my own little blue kitty face.  

 For the event day, I got my cute handcrafted apron and rainbow face accent (and my Boy for support)and headed off to 4 hours of meeting, greeting, a painting: 

I painted enough green paws to last a lifetime...

Even a teeny baby one!

I also did my share of super heroes!!!

I love that my super heroes were mostly girls!!!

I really enjoyed doing these... tested my detail skills!!!

And the extent of my "cat theme", was dwindled down to 3...

This pretty blue kitty was my first of the day and my favorite... I had the time for detail and favor!!! This sweet little gal loved it... We saw her flaunting it all day long! :)

I hope you all enjoyed these fun faces because I really enjoyed doing them. There were so many painted faces that day, I wish I would've photographed everyone!!!

Imagine Happy Blue Faces-Alexis

Alexis the Face Painting Girl

As some of you may know, my makeup career began years ago when I was an actress!In high school I was very involved in the drama program and learned a few theatre makeup tricks... but it wasn't until college that I took a Stage Makeup class that I knew I loved the makeup thing. As much as I love the beauty/bridal/fashion makeup; I love (a little more) the freedom of fantasy makeup! And, I think that's why I am really enjoying face painting. I am able to use my theatre background and love of children to make little tiny works of art. This is something I am really looking forward to doing just as often as beauty makeup. Being able to do both would be the perfect balance for me of fun and work. 

I am currently using Mehron face paint and Silly Farm Rainbow Cake! 

If you, or anyone you know, are in South Florida and would like to book me for face painting (or beauty makeup), 

please contact me on my Facebook page @alexisthemakeupgirl 

...in the meantime here are 2 face painting looks I worked on last week... a little something for the girls and boys!!! 

Imagine Happy Face-Painted Kids- Alexis

Everyday Me!

 Good Friday Everyone!!!

Friends and family always tell me I have too much makeup and where do I store it all... well... I do have a lot of makeup and it is an on-going project to keep it organized and handy! Last year I bought this fun, light blue, kitchen cart from Ikea... more than my love for Ikea, is my love for this cart! It holds all my personal makeup, in a somewhat tidy way (tidy for me anyway)and is on wheels... I can move it out of the way when our bedroom is picked up (key word: when) and I can always have it in a comfortable spot for doing my makeup, instead of just in the dresser drawer. 

On the top, I keep all my "everyday" stuff... and even that, I use only about 1/4 of it really! lol! The 2nd level, was mostly eyeshadows in palettes and loose pots. The last level was organized originally, but now is just a mess of my eyebrow waxing supplies, fantasy makeup, a huge face powder and whatever else I can't find a place for.  :) 

So, I wanted to do a makeup look, using my everyday, personal makeup, and ending it using my new Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette!

My lovely "before" face... pores and all!

Like I shared last post, I have been using the Makeup Forever products I bought at their Pro Artistry Weekend. There was such an array of students that weekend, they gave us a dark and light color face and body foundation. So, I combine the two colors on my "hand" palette, a 2:1 ratio of light:dark, then I use their 122 Face Brush to swirl it all over my face.

Then, with the Full Cover concealer I add highlight under my eyes, down my nose, and the center of my face... and contours under my cheekbones, on my jawline, temples and forehead.

I set all my liquid makeup with the super matte powder. Then redo my highlights and contour with powders. The highlight is 

 Mac Cosmetics Mineralize Skinfinish in Gentle. The contour powder is a simple face powder from Drew Barrymore's line in Wal-Mart called Flower.

 

Once, I have my face base done, I add eyeshadow (using my Naked 3 palette), eyeliner, blush, eyebrows, and lips.

The finished product...

 

Wouldn't this be a pretty bridal makeup? That's why every makeup artist should have one of the Naked palettes in their pro kit!

I hope you enjoyed this little peak into my personal makeup kit... I look forward to my next blog post, a peak into my fantasy/facepainting kit! :)

Imagine a great weekend with organized makeup- Alexis