Makeup Artist Uses Bodypaint for Diabetes Self-Expression

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Ever wondered what a ketone looks like? Or what it might resemble if it were a human being?

Just ask Alexys Fleming, a type 1 in Chicago who was diagnosed at age 13 about a decade ago.

She has an idea, because this 20-something has actually painted herself up as a diabetes ketone. No kidding.

Yep, as a self-taught makeup artist and bodypainter, Alexys uses cosmetics and brushes as tools to express how she feels. Tapping into her love for cosplay, she transforms herself into an array of different villans or other characters from comics, movies and television genres.

We came across her creative and ever-lively YouTube channel, which is a point of pride for her as Alexys is pretty much a professional YouTuber.

Check out her video page or website MadeULook.com and you can see the talent. Seriously, her body painting and makeup art is incredible, -- as good as anything you might see in movies and TV shows by special effects artists.

Her beginnings in this kind of artwork were humble, marked by her own personal experiences growing up and being diagnosed with T1D at age 13.

A Budding Artist

Alexys writes on her website that she"s always been an artist and done drawings -- especially when she entered high school and found herself bullied, at times because of peer pressure but also at times because of her diabetes. That led to her losing friendships (!), and Alexys turned to her artwork for an escape.

Soon she started using her own skin as a canvas, sitting in front of the mirror after school, channeling all of her negative emotions from the day to turn herself into various creatures and characters -- taking her to an imaginary world where she could be anything she wanted to be.

In her junior year, she enrolled in a half-day of cosmetology school and split her time between that and high school, even completing her senior year online. She enjoyed cosmetology and hair, but not as much as cinematic makeup allowed her to express herself. After graduating from high school, she turned to getting a license in esthetics (the study of philosophy focused on beauty) -- fueled in part by the acne she"d lived with as a teenager but also out of a desire to help other people.

With all of those experiences, Alexys realized that makeup could be used for more than just "basic mascara application," and that made her fall in love with the creative aspect of it.

"As I grew older, I also began to love that makeup could be used to make people feel beautiful," she writes. "Although many use it to fit in to societies perception of beauty, there are many people out there who also suffer from scarring, bruising, or discoloration that they hide using makeup. Makeup can be used to restore injuries, or tragic events that happened. It helps heal the mind, as well as make someone feel beautiful (or scary) inside and out."

Just a year after graduating from high school, Alexys earned licenses in both cosmetology and esthetics.

That led to the next chapter of her life when in September 2011, at age 19, she designed the MadeULook page on Facebook and her MadeYewLook channel on YouTube. Everything took off from there, she says.

MadeULook Business Line

Her YouTube channel is pretty engaging, and depending on how late you"re watching videos in the dark, it can even be a bit frightening.

For example, even in the telling of her diabetes story, she"s all the while painting herself as a creepy skeleton with a diabetes awareness ribbon wrapped around the neckbone. This video is a must-watch if we"ve ever seen one!

After her website and video page enjoyed some success, Alexys began to pursue the dream of starting her own line of cosmetics and makeup brushes. So began her "MadeULook" business. She offers a variety of products, starting with simple eyeliner pens and makeup brushes from $9 up to $60, to autographed prints of her own self-decorated styles featuring multiple characters and monsters (like zombies or comic fan-faves like Harley Quinn).

This year, she"s planning to open a second business called Lexx Cosmetics featuring even more makeup related products.

All of these endeavors are aimed at providing the best-quality makeup products to give people "the confidence to express themselves on a living, breathing, canvas," she says.

Wow! Her work"s pretty darn amazing, we think.

Diabetes Advocacy, with Style

Being a part of our pancreatically-challenged community, Alexys sometimes even puts a D spin on her artistic creations -- from painting herself a skeleton while telling her D-story as noted, to acting as a "diabetes hero" in one of her cosplay creations, to transforming herself into an electrified ketone for Diabetes Awareness Month while sharing details about aspects of living with T1D and the effects of fluctuating blood sugars.

A few years ago, Alexys even stepped back from her typical makeup videos and made a fun and sarcastic diabetes-themed film titled, "Dumb Things People Say to Diabetics."

She"s also been a part of her local American Diabetes Association chapter"s Step Out Walk, compiling her own MadeULook team for several years that"s raised more than $60,000. She also raises money on her own under the moniker MadeULook for a Cure, selling T-shirts and sweatshirts with that phrase on the front, while the back reads, "I Am a Hero." Not to mention how she donates some of her paintings to various D-related auctions.

It"s cool to hear that Alexys also participates in other Chicago area D-events that include face painting for kids and attending the local diabetes camps each summer.

Part of that advocacy work involves running a closed Facebook group, where Alexys "creates a safe environment, free of judgment, to gain new diabetic friends and share experiences."

Very cool! We can"t say enough about how awesome it is to see this creative spin.

In many ways, it runs along the same lines as the "ShowMeYourPump" effort a couple years ago after Sierra Sandison in Idaho wore her insulin pump on a bikini during the Miss Idaho crowning and did the same in vying for Miss America that year. The hashtag encouraged PWDs to post creative pics of themselves showing off their pumps. Or that time one of our own in the DOC wanted to encourage her T1 daughter that it was OK to wear both glasses and an insulin pump, so she recruited bunches of PWDs wearing both to help create this beautiful video.

It also reminds us of "lipstick artist" Natalie Irish, a D-peep who uses lipstick to create some pretty awesome artwork... What talent we have in the Diabetes Community!

We look forward to seeing Alexys" eye-catching body art entices people and hopefully reminds them that being different can be good. Very good.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn"t adhere to Healthline"s editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline"s partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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