Daily Times

Have you seen the beautiful Disney princess Snow White? It’s actually a 21-year-old make-up artist who has spent years dressing up as incredibly life-like Disney princesses.

Named Richard Schaefer – he is a freelance make-up artist who regularly transforms himself into a number of beautiful Disney princesses, from Snow White to Cinderella, using just his make-up brushes and his contouring skills, reported the Metro.

He says people are always shocked when they discover the picture-perfect real-life princess is in fact a man. He started cosplaying as Disney princes and princesses four years ago.

“I think it’s a real compliment when people think that I’m a female cosplayer because it means that my transformations must be convincing,” he says.

Each transformation takes around two hours and Richard often makes his own costumes.

“Chest padding is also necessary to become any princess,” he explained. “I try to make as many costumes as I can at home, using materials that I find online. But when I’m too busy to make costumes, I cheat and buy them online instead.”

He added that regularly dressing as a princess has really boosted his confidence.

He was bullied because of his weight as a teen – he weighed around 18st 13lb, before losing almost seven stone in his senior year of high school – and used to make clothes as an escape.

Losing the weight gave him the push to try cosplay.

“I decided to start cosplaying as princesses because of how androgynous people used to say I was,” he recalls. “Curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to transform myself into my favourite princess – Ariel, who I have loved since I was a child. I was pleasantly surprised at how convincing I looked so I decided to stick at it and try different princesses too.” He has also dressed up as Peter Pan and Aladdin.

The make-up artist has garnered fame and has over 80,000 followers on Instagram.