THESE creative individuals show that creepy and mysterious doesn’t just have to be for Halloween... They’ve taken their love of fantasy creatures such as Mermaids, Vampires and Elves and really rolled with it. For many, these looks go beyond just makeup and clothes - it’s a way of life.
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00:00These creative individuals show that creepy and mysterious doesn't just have to be for Halloween.
00:06We all identify as witches. I call upon the element of fire, of passion and purification. Hail and welcome.
00:12It just feels like it's like caught into my eye, but it's okay. Anything for the look.
00:18They got permanent fangs.
00:20They have taken their love for certain fantasy creatures and really rolled with it.
00:24I did quit my day job so that I could focus full time on being a mermaid.
00:30Walking with a goblin isn't something I experienced before.
00:37Plastic surgery is a very, very important part of my transformation.
00:42And for many, the look goes beyond makeup and clothes. It's a way of life.
00:48We use the term coven because we do practice magic together.
00:51At first I was like, is that a dolphin that got into the lake? And here comes this giant tail.
00:59For Victoria,
01:06If I would get the opportunity, I would turn you into a vampire today.
01:12And Dracul,
01:14Who wouldn't want to live forever?
01:16Their love of vampires has shaped their lives completely.
01:20It takes me around 30 minutes to get ready in the morning.
01:24Usually, Victoria takes around three hours to get ready.
01:28I'm usually ready and just waiting for a while or make breakfast.
01:34Victoria took her love of the vampire aesthetic even further by making part of the look permanent.
01:42They got permanent fangs.
01:44So I have them forever now and I'm very happy with that because that's making me feel like myself, especially for my style.
01:51Well, since I was a kid, I've always watched horror movies.
01:55I always liked like Nosferatu, vampire movies, Dracula.
01:58I became obsessed more with like vampires, dressing in black.
02:02So for me, it was like, well, maybe I'll go to a funeral every day.
02:05You know, like, you know, it's just it's my comfort zone.
02:11How are you guys?
02:12Good to see you.
02:13Hello, Victoria.
02:14Good to see you again.
02:15Nice to see you guys.
02:16Want some tea?
02:17Sweet corpse paint.
02:19Where are you?
02:20Oh, what are you guys up to?
02:22Well, my first impression of him, I thought he was, I thought his style was like pretty cool.
02:29When I heard him play, I was blown away.
02:31I was like, wow, this is, this is awesome.
02:32It's kind of hard to describe them.
02:34I walked in, they were drinking blood.
02:36Yeah, they drink blood.
02:39They drink each other's blood, each other's blood.
02:42Apologies.
02:45Do they?
02:48Well, whenever I cut myself shaving, she'll come along.
02:53It's a joke.
02:54Living in sunny Los Angeles means that these two are never short of attention when leaving the house.
03:00People stare, but I think here in L.A. it's a little bit better than where I'm coming from.
03:06I'm coming from a small town in northern Sweden.
03:09People just stare there.
03:10They just stop and stare and they don't say anything.
03:14What I like here in L.A. is that people actually come up to you and they say like, oh, you look nice.
03:20That's a cool style.
03:21Or can I take a picture?
03:23And I'm very happy to take a picture with people if they ask.
03:26Yeah, well, she's a pretty goth girl.
03:30And I'm more like on the obscure side, so I don't really get the nice, so nice comments.
03:35I've gotten some where people say like, oh, you should kill the devil.
03:39Or you're a freak.
03:41Or why are you wearing girl's shoes?
03:44Oh, look at that.
03:45Movie star.
03:46Ghetto worshiper.
03:47I mean, devil worshiper.
03:49Look at the devil worshiper.
03:51God, devil worshiper.
03:53Well, I call myself a magical vampire princess.
03:57And I had also a dream to live in that magical world.
04:01Gothic castle, beautiful clothes.
04:04Black cats, bats, everything that's really dark and ugly.
04:08And that's why I chose drag, cool, grotesque.
04:11And I find beauty in things that are ugly.
04:14Somebody thinks something is ugly, like a bat.
04:17I think it's like the most beautiful thing.
04:19But for me, it's just everything black makes me feel comfortable.
04:22So that name, Dracula, it's like comforting.
04:26I feel happy to know that I am who I am.
04:28And I never change for anybody.
04:30And I never will.
04:31And still who I am.
04:32I think for me, it's a lifestyle.
04:35And I'm not taking that off because I go to work or to school.
04:38Yeah, sure you are.
04:40Hi.
04:42Hi.
04:43I'm not going to hurt you.
04:44No, I'm not going to hurt you. I'll be shy.
04:46Cheers.
04:49Cheers.
04:51Yeah, no problem.
04:52You're welcome.
04:59While these two make a point of showing their softer side to the public,
05:03the same can't always be said for Jasmine.
05:07I don't mind people being scared of me.
05:09I actually enjoy it.
05:12It's just like funny because under this, I'm literally just like 5'3 human.
05:19I have days off because obviously I'm not trying to get harassed every day.
05:24There's a lot of loud reactions, especially looking like this.
05:30I don't know, it's strange.
05:32I'm Jasmine Bean, and I'm into post-human, creepy, and Japanese fashion.
05:40A lot of people feel like people that dress like this are wasting their body,
05:44but I feel that I'm wasting my body by not doing this.
05:55I'd like to say my inspiration is a bit of fantasy, fairies,
05:59and cool little creatures, mythological.
06:05This spider, I wore it to this con and I was carrying the spider around like that
06:10as if it was my pet.
06:13I have a lot of Japanese toys, and also the more Tim Burton-y side,
06:18dark, creepy.
06:22What the hell?
06:23I can see the bacteria.
06:26I started just with drag makeup.
06:29I was doing face looks, and it just kept on evolving and evolving.
06:33It just feels like it's cutting into my eye, but it's okay.
06:37Anything for the look.
06:39Everyone has to suffer a bit for fashion.
06:49A nullification is just when you have no sexual organs,
06:54or at least that you can see.
06:55Right now I'm wearing a binder, just to give off more of the alien,
07:01genderless look.
07:04I'd like to wear it more on my off days,
07:06but it does get quite damaging for your ribs.
07:09Jasmine is even thinking about making her genderless appearance
07:12more permanent in future.
07:14One day, hopefully I'll have surgery just to be completely like nothing.
07:19This is gum.
07:21That's her name.
07:22People think that if you're looking like this,
07:24that you just are in some fantasy world,
07:26not having a job, and you don't do real life stuff.
07:29Mary and Jesus with my nose.
07:32But you have to as much as you don't want to,
07:34and that's just the reality of it.
07:41Come here.
07:44Come on.
07:47This is Elmo.
07:50He's blind, or mostly blind.
07:55Stop. Oh my God, you're making me look like such a bad mum.
07:59No.
08:01F**k.
08:04Cubby, come on.
08:06Jasmine has found that her monster aesthetic doesn't always bring about
08:10the most positive reactions.
08:13I just want to go and leave the house and do stuff,
08:16but people are very mean.
08:19And obviously I'm just trying to go and do my thing.
08:22I don't really want all the attention.
08:25So she prefers going out with friends who also share a similar style.
08:32I met a lot of my friends from online.
08:36One of them, Salvia.
08:38We met at Electroworks.
08:40It's a club in London.
08:44When a body meets a body,
08:45there's just no choice but to become bestie-westie.
08:48Definitely it's helped with my anxiety a lot.
08:50I remember before I started doing this,
08:52even taking a picture in public would be like,
08:54oh my God, don't let anyone see they're taking a picture of me.
08:57Now I think being so outrageous in this element
09:00helps me to not be afraid.
09:04I don't think I'll ever stop.
09:09When I'm just like 17, before I die,
09:11I want to just try everything.
09:14Seeing people like what I do and be inspired by it,
09:17most of all, is lovely.
09:20Find your own thing before anything,
09:22because obviously we don't like copiers.
09:29You may think that mermaids are only seen in fairy tales or Disney films,
09:34but there's a secret group of merfolk growing.
09:37At first it looked like I thought I was seeing things, you know?
09:41I was like, what was that?
09:43Is that a dolphin that got into the lake?
09:46Because every once in a while we get seals and whatnot
09:49that'll come into the lake.
09:51And here comes this giant tail, and then up pops Ed.
09:55And I was like, it shocked me.
09:57It was really, it was crazy.
09:59It's a bit of a lifestyle for me because I live on a boat.
10:02I always like to be around the water.
10:04I work on a boat.
10:06My mer-name is Modellini.
10:08I think it can be like a hobby and a passion
10:11and a way of life for a lot of people.
10:14It's all three wrapped into one.
10:16People are into it for conservation reasons
10:19because they want to try and promote conservation of ocean life.
10:22Ed, Tessie and Caitlin are all part of an emerging community of merfolk
10:26living in Seattle.
10:28My mermaid name is Cyania.
10:30A little while back I did quit my day job
10:33so that I could focus full-time on being a mermaid.
10:35So now I currently work out of my home
10:38in this little studio that I've set up in our spare room.
10:41And I make prosthetic quality silicone tails
10:45out of dragon skin platinum silicone.
10:48I also make accessories and I make little sea creatures as well.
10:52This is my sea serpent tail.
10:56The inspiration for this was part biology and part fantasy, obviously.
11:01It took me an entire year to make.
11:05When I was in kindergarten and the teacher asked everyone
11:09if they wanted to go around and say what they wanted to be when they grew up,
11:11I said a mermaid.
11:13Everyone laughed at me and now here I am.
11:15I'm a mermaid.
11:17As a merperson I'm not that different from the way I am on land
11:21but I feel like I'm a lot, it's a lot easier to talk to people.
11:25If I'm in street clothes and I'm out on the town
11:28I really don't like it when people talk to me.
11:31I get really nervous.
11:32But when I'm in my tail it's a lot easier to talk to people.
11:35I can totally see myself being a mermaid forever.
11:38My mermaid name is Mermaid Essie.
11:40I have a lot of body insecurities.
11:42I think a lot of people do.
11:44But when I'm in my tail I don't feel insecure anymore
11:48because suddenly it doesn't matter what size I am
11:51because I'm a mermaid.
11:53And that's what people really focus on.
11:56When I take my tail off it almost feels like a piece of me has come off.
12:00These merpeople make regular time to indulge fully in their passion
12:04at a local swimming pool.
12:06I've always been a little bit of kind of an outsider, a loner
12:09and a little bit eccentric.
12:10So discovering that there was a mermaid community
12:13and that I could actually wear a mermaid tail
12:15and outwardly express what I always felt that I was inside
12:19it was really freeing.
12:20And so I do feel like I'm showing my true self to the world.
12:28I think a lot of people do get into it
12:30because putting on a tail is probably one of the greatest feelings in the world.
12:34It really is.
12:35And having a beautiful fishtail is absolutely imperative
12:39to being a dedicated merperson.
12:42I do feel like my tail is a part of me
12:44and I do actually feel like it is a prosthetic limb.
12:46I sometimes joke that I wear a prosthetic
12:49because I was born with a terrible birth defect, which is lice.
12:52I like it because I personally think it's fun.
12:56Like I could never have a bad day swimming, no matter what happens.
13:00When I'm in the water with my tail on it's just, it's like magic.
13:04I just automatically feel less like an awkward person swimming
13:08and more like a creature that belongs in the water.
13:12When I put it on it's like nothing else matters
13:16and I'm a mermaid and I can do whatever it is that I feel like doing.
13:21But being a mermaid isn't something that's easy for everyone to understand.
13:25When I told my mother I wanted to be a mermaid she just kept laughing at me.
13:29I thought it was a stupid idea at first.
13:32I thought it was going to just be a waste of money and a waste of time.
13:38I didn't want to be a mermaid.
13:41I didn't want to be a mermaid.
13:43I didn't want to be a mermaid.
13:45I didn't want to be a mermaid.
13:47I thought it was a waste of time.
13:50I thought her time can best be used studying her lessons as a graduate student
13:58rather than swimming with a tail in the ocean or swimming pool someplace.
14:03And I said, forget it.
14:05That's a lot of money invested in tails.
14:08And she said, I'll save every money that I have and I'm going to get my first tail.
14:14My mother has been incredible despite the fact
14:17that she thinks that this is an absolutely ludicrous thing to do.
14:21The best part of being a merperson is I think the chance to sort of live out
14:27a dream or a fantasy to be something other than who you are for a little while.
14:32I've always felt really at one with the water and the ocean.
14:38I love how children's eyes light up.
14:40I love the way that when they look at you as a mermaid,
14:44suddenly everything is possible again and that magic is real.
14:48There's no rules involved.
14:50You can do whatever it is that you want to do
14:53and no one can tell you that it's wrong.
14:55For Luis, makeup, clothes and accessories are not enough
14:59in order to achieve his desire to be a real life elf.
15:02I usually spend around two hours a day to do my makeup
15:07until it looks exactly as I want.
15:10I try to make it look as natural as possible,
15:14but at the same time looking fake as a fantasy being.
15:22Hello everybody, my name is Luis Padrón,
15:24the human elf or how they call me on the internet, the plastic prince.
15:29I am undergoing plastic surgery to become a real life fantasy being.
15:33I call myself plastic prince because it's a mix between fairy tales
15:37and the modern world, that it's full of plastic.
15:40Luis has already started to alter his appearance using cosmetic procedures,
15:45but he's nowhere near finished.
15:47I have around 40 procedures in total.
15:50Some of them are really big and some of them are really small.
15:54I have spent around 60k US dollars in total.
16:00Plastic surgery is incredibly popular in Luis's home country, Argentina.
16:05However, wanting to use it to look like an elf is definitely less common.
16:10Under these prosthetic elf ears, I have my real ears shaped more pointy like an elf.
16:16I have my eyes done, I changed the eye colour six times now.
16:20I did my nose two times, fillers in my whole face multiple times.
16:26The last one was very heavy, it was my entire jawline reshaped.
16:32They have to cut the bone in four parts, then they remove a little part from the bone
16:37and then they make it really sharp like a diamond.
16:45Some surgeries hurt a lot.
16:48I have to admit that sometimes I am like...
16:51I can't stand it, but it's a part of the journey.
16:55Luis's lifestyle choices haven't been easy for his family to understand.
16:59Oh, my family, they didn't like it at first.
17:03They were scared of what I wanted to do,
17:07but then I did my first surgery, then I did my second surgery and my third surgery
17:12and they were like, we can't stop him.
17:25As a child, I loved fantasy movies, also fantasy books like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
17:45When I was a teenager, I found these creatures from Love and Light called Pleiadians.
17:52They are perfect human beings from the space.
17:56They are a mix between elf and aliens.
17:58They are very pale, they are very tall, they have this silver long hair, big, big eyes
18:05and I took them as the icon I want to become.
18:08And it's not just plastic surgery that allows him to achieve his elvish looks.
18:13I use a lot of designer clothing, I use a lot of unique pieces, they are one of a kind.
18:20I wanted to do a hair transplant, so I had to cut it and let it grow black.
18:28So to keep maintaining my elf look, I started using white wigs.
18:35I don't use the wigs that often unless it's a special occasion.
18:39I have a huge collection of 500 contact lenses and I use them all the time.
18:47I have different models, different colors, I am a huge, huge fan of them.
18:52These are one of my favorites, the sclera lens.
18:55They give me this fantasy look, this strange old worldly look that I love.
19:02This may be too much for the doctors, so I will change the model.
19:08Now I need the kiss and goodbye fantasy world and hello real world.
19:16Today he's heading out to a consultation
19:19and to discuss future plans for more surgery to shape his fantasy look even further.
19:27There are certain activities that I can't do when I do plastic surgery.
19:33For example, when I did my jaw, I had to eat only liquids for one month.
19:38It was very hard for me because I love eating.
19:41The reaction in public is really...
19:46Some are good, some are bad, but most of them are just...
19:51They usually want to take pictures, take selfies with me.
19:54They treat me very well, like a real prince, so I'm okay with that.
20:02The people are really, really nice on the internet.
20:05Some of them are nasty, but I think the problem is not with me, it is with them.
20:22We arrived at the doctor's place, so we are going to have the meeting now.
20:27I hope everything goes well.
20:29Let's see if I can have the surgery I want.
20:39It was to the other side.
20:41Wait a second, I'm lost. Does this go up or down?
20:46Down, for sure?
20:47It goes down that way.
20:49Yes, it goes down that way.
20:54Will the doctors agree to do more work on his face, so soon after his recent jaw surgery?
21:00I still have some surgeries on the way to become what I want to become.
21:07I still need some liftings, then an Adam's apple reduction, cat eyes, another eye color change,
21:16and then some more fillers, another nose job maybe, and I can be done with that.
21:23I also want to add some fangs to my teeth.
21:36I love that it is a plastic surgery and that it is something extreme.
21:40One important thing is that you have an idea in your head.
21:45Extreme, but I also need to know what kind of extreme idea.
21:49We need to understand where your ideal of achievement is going.
22:06It's very tempting to perform the surgery because this is the first time ever I have this opportunity.
22:37I really don't dress like this to provoke a reaction.
22:41I dress like this because I like to look like this for me and not for the others.
22:46It is important for me because I feel like I want to express how I feel inside, like a fantasy character,
22:53and I want to take this to the outside world.
23:00I am a polyamorous vampire fairy witch.
23:03She fell in love with Logan.
23:05Logan and I have been together well over 10 years now. We got married in 2016.
23:09They also live with Logan's girlfriend, Ilona.
23:13And today, Dailey is celebrating her two-year anniversary with her coven of polyamorous witches.
23:20I would describe our relationship as definitely like a life partnership.
23:24We make each other laugh constantly. We tease each other constantly.
23:28He loves to tickle me until I throw him off me.
23:32He's extremely supportive.
23:34I've always been very attracted to her unique energy spectrum that she puts off that no one else does in the same kind of way.
23:41Good morning.
23:43Our relationship was polyamorous from the beginning.
23:45His girlfriend is just as important as I am.
23:47Now we are married, so obviously that comes with some responsibility.
23:50But as far as relationship, both relationships are equal.
23:54She's always been here. She's never not been here.
23:57I think I moved in with you guys, like what?
23:59It was like six years ago.
24:00No, but it was like two months into us actually dating.
24:03Oh, for sure.
24:04It was really fast.
24:05All three of us used to be together, and then they broke up, and then we broke up, and then we got back together.
24:09She's just been here ever since.
24:11So today is actually the two-year anniversary with me and my three other partners.
24:15And it's also the anniversary of our coven forming.
24:18So today we're kind of celebrating our anniversary.
24:21Dailey and her coven of witches are marking their anniversary by performing a magic ritual.
24:27So we are in a polycule.
24:28And a polycule is essentially just the word for a network of people that are all dating in some way.
24:35All connected through dating.
24:36They're all connected through a romantic relationship.
24:38So in our polycule, we have me and Logan who are married.
24:41And then I have my partner, Jeffrey, who is a gay man.
24:44And then I have my girlfriend, Zoe, who is married to my boyfriend, Zef.
24:49And then Logan has his girlfriend, Alona.
24:52And then Jeffrey also has a boyfriend.
24:57The coven is myself, Jeffrey, Zoe, and Zef.
25:03We use the term coven because we do practice magic together.
25:06We identified that we each represented one of the elements.
25:10And we did a ritual together, and it was just like the energy was so palpable.
25:15And we kind of all just looked at each other and were like, what happened?
25:18After we started doing rituals together, we started forming a romantic partnership.
25:23We would get together, and you could feel the magic and the connection and the chemistry.
25:30I just found myself falling in love with these people.
25:33I call upon a direction of the east, the watchtower of the east,
25:37the direction of new beginnings and transformations and change.
25:42Join us now. Hail and welcome.
25:44Hail and welcome.
25:46I call upon the watchtower of the south, the element of fire, of passion and purification.
25:51Bring strength to our circle. Hail and welcome.
25:54Hail and welcome.
25:56I call upon the watchtowers of the west, water, intuition, sacred knowledge, and the ancestors.
26:03Hail and welcome.
26:05Hail and welcome.
26:07I call upon the watchtowers of the north, the guardians of earth, the roots of old and new.
26:13Bring strength and life. Hail and welcome.
26:17Hail and welcome.
26:19We all identify as witches, and basically what that means is we work with the energies and the elements around us
26:25to create alchemy and to create changes in our lives.
26:29Roots of old and always binding.
26:32Roots of old and always binding.
26:35Roots of old and always binding.
26:37This planet is very much alive. It's a breathing spirit, and we are in communication with it.
26:45Daly has found that other people's perceptions for her being poly differ to how her husband is perceived.
26:51I feel like there is a negative kind of aspect when a woman is poly because…
26:56Misogyny.
26:57Misogyny, yeah, because when you see a man with multiple women or multiple partners, you're like, oh yeah, high five, you know?
27:02But when a woman is with multiple men or, you know, multiple partners, it's like, oh, she's a f***ing twat.
27:09All right, let's go eat!
27:12I always get these b****** who will walk up to me, and they'll go, hey, man, I just see that you've got all these chicks, man.
27:19Like, how do you do that? Like, just, like, teach me.
27:22And I'm like, well, I'm polyamorous.
27:24It's just one of those things where, like, you know, as long as you are being open and everything is consensual between you and your partners,
27:30you're consenting adults, doing whatever you want, that's great.
27:34People see, you know, us, and they find out that we're poly, and they're like, oh my God.
27:37I could never do that.
27:38But they've cheated on their husband, like, three times, or their wife, or they've divorced and remarried with people they've cheated with.
27:44I'm like, and that's normal for you? That's what you consider normal?
27:47Just, you know, if you want to have sex with other people, if you want other relationships, just say that, admit that.
27:52You'll find someone who's cool with that.
27:54Well, and life is so short, and life is hard.
27:58You find those pockets of joy and love.
28:01Like, hold on to it.
28:02And, like, screw what everybody else thinks.
28:05Or screw everybody else.
28:06Or screw everybody else, if that's what freaks you to try.
28:11All right, I want to make a toast.
28:13Here is to two years of my beautiful coven being part of our polycule.
28:19I love you guys so much. Thank you for bringing so much magic into my life.
28:22I love you guys.
28:23Cheers!
28:24Yay!
28:25She had to say magic.
28:27Across the pond, Alice has created her own world as a real-life space goblin.
28:32So I'm going to transform into a pink slash green slash special goblin.
28:41So the first step is paint myself green.
28:49It's going to take two hours.
28:53It's a funny look because it makes fantasy with the goblin.
28:59I will add some glitters and some pink.
29:04My face is like a playground, and I can create whatever I want.
29:12It's complicated for me to describe my look because it's different every day.
29:17I would say that it's a mix between goblin in the fantasy and Harajuku with pink and glitters.
29:24Alice has always dressed unusually as a child.
29:27And despite being picked on, she never let it hold her back.
29:31When I was younger, I received bullying from other students.
29:41Some boys started yelling insults towards me,
29:45and they started spitting on me and on my backpack.
29:53Even though I suffered from bullying in the past,
29:56it never stopped me from being myself and from having an alternative style.
30:06I love to be green because it brings me a lot of joy.
30:11I just want to feel 100% myself.
30:14It's just about self-expression and feeling comfortable and happy with how I look.
30:27My boyfriend has a very classical and simple look.
30:35He loves how I look, even though I don't like it.
30:39He loves how I look, even though we are really different.
30:48My boyfriend's name is Nicolas.
30:58It's so funny because no one expects to see us together, especially on the street.
31:04Alice's boyfriend doesn't dress the same as she does,
31:07but that hasn't impacted their relationship.
31:09When I first saw Alice's style, I was intimidated.
31:15That's the first thing.
31:18At first, I was like, we are from two different worlds.
31:21But by messages and by talking, I saw that we were not very different.
31:26Going out in her goblin persona, Alice often receives unkind reactions from the public
31:31about her unusual style.
31:33When I go outside and when I walk in the street, sometimes people can be really rude.
31:39We feel the gaze of other people, and so we can't act naturally.
31:46Walking with a goblin isn't something I experienced before.
31:53But I'm not a goblin every day.
31:55But luckily, she has a great group of friends who always appreciate her style.
31:59My group of friends represent a lot for me, of course,
32:02because even though we don't have the same style at all, we share the same interests.
32:11Alice's look is very colorful. I think it's evident.
32:15It's an explosion of colors.
32:19It's a sort of alien. An alien in neon.
32:25It brings joy in a gray world.
32:30My dream is to stay myself and to find my way as an adult.
32:38I like dressing this way because thanks to that, I'm confident and I feel pretty.
32:45I feel comfortable and 100% myself.
32:51Do you dress like a fantasy character every day?
32:55And want to tell your story?
32:56If so, get in touch.
32:58And if you enjoyed this film, please let us know in the comments.
33:01And like and subscribe.