Olivia Eden spent the best part of a year getting ready for one weekend.
By Halloween she had three costumes, a loyal fan with a glue gun, and a Wilma Flintstone look she promised would change a few minds.
The 30-year-old Babestation model planned to become Lara Croft, Catwoman and Wilma Flintstone across the adult streaming site’s annual Halloween Cosplay Weekend, which ran from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November, as reported by Creatorzine.
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“Wilma Flintstone might not be everyone’s idea of sexy, but just wait until you see what I’ve got planned,” she said.
A superfan with a glue gun
Olivia, who has more than 41,000 Instagram followers at @oliviaedentv, has worked on the outfits since last Halloween.
She didn’t do it alone.
“One of my most loyal fans actually helped make some parts of my costume and send them to the studio!” she said.
“My fan actually glue-gunned bits together and painted some glasses into the Catwoman-style ones with the yellow lenses and thick black rims. I also have a diamanté cat half-face cover for part of the show.”
Lara Croft gets cargo shorts, sunglasses and a leather holster.
Wilma gets a cavegirl dress and a chunky white necklace.
Bedrock has never looked so busy.
“Halloween is all dressed up, costumes, cosplay and completely themed shows around the outfit you’re wearing,” Olivia said.
“It’s almost as if I’m a virtual reality game, like you’re playing with Lara Croft and she is me.”
Last year she managed with one look: a “Bad Bunny” in a tight black latex bodysuit and bunny ears.
“I themed the show around a ‘Bad Bunny’, so it was about me misbehaving and needing to be told off, with spanking tip goals, buzzathons and ‘bouncing bunny’ games to keep it sexy,” she said.
“But this year I have three themed outfits, so it’s taken some graft.”
Superheroes are beating the witches
For most Brits, Halloween means dragging soggy children round the cul-de-sac in the rain, then spending hours persuading them to sleep off the sugar.
For Babestation performers, it’s one of the best-paying nights of the year.
The site says average tips per viewer rose 38% last Halloween.
Nobody piles into a party. Viewers log on, watch live and use the chat and their tips to steer what happens next.
The old favourites are losing ground. Witches, devils and other classic spooky looks took just 28% of Halloween viewing time last year, according to Babestation.
Pop-culture costumes took the other 72%, with superheroes and video-game characters out in front.
Villains did best of all. Antiheroes such as Harley Quinn and Shego, Kim Possible’s nemesis, drew 41% more visits per streaming hour than the same models’ regular shows.
“I’d like to Roger that rabbit”
Beth Bennett went as Jessica Rabbit. The 39-year-old, originally from New Zealand, has 152,000 Instagram followers at @mrsbethbennett and spent around £150 on the outfit and red wig.
“I wanted a sexy choice, and I’ll take any excuse to wear a wig and be a redhead for a day,” she said.
“It’s actually an outfit I’ve worn once before for a shopping day; I didn’t make any of it myself. I have many talents, but being a seamstress isn’t one of them.”
The dress has more than paid for itself.
“My fans loved it. I’ve done quite a few custom videos in that costume since then,” she said.
“I’ve heard ‘I’d like to Roger that rabbit’ more times than I can count. I used a toy, so my show involved a lot of ‘buzz bunny’ puns.”
From pussycat to superhero
Brooksie Brooks, 32, from Leeds, kept last year cheap and simple.
“Last year I streamed as a ‘baaad pussycat’ – because I am!” she said.
“It was really affordable and easy to put together with a bit of imagination. My fans really liked it and thought it fitted my personality. The show was very much centred around making the kitty purr.”
Brooksie, who has more than 20,000 Instagram followers, has since switched to superheroes.
“I’ve done some Supergirl cosplay and I’ve also ordered a Rogue outfit from X-Men,” she said.
“Halloween shows fit my naturally playful nature. It’s fun to find out what the viewers have been doing for Halloween.”
The vampire who cost under £40
Classic costumes still have some bite. Kiah Monae, 24, went as a Western-style vampire last year and spent less than £40.
“I dressed up as a vampire with a Western vibe because being a vampire is just a classic look for Halloween, but I wanted a bit more sex appeal,” said Kiah, who has 17,500 Instagram followers at @kiah_monae_.
“I got my inspiration from Pinterest and bought the accessories and outfit from Amazon.”
The corset did a lot of the heavy lifting.
“Over social media I received some cute messages and comments about how much people loved the look and the corset,” she said. “Some wanted me to bite them.”
This year she weighed up Tinker Bell and Little Red Riding Hood.
“This year I’m leaning more towards cute but still sexy vibes,” she said.
“I do have some naughty nurse outfits from previous Halloweens which are always in demand. I’ll definitely have to message some of my fans to get an idea of what they’d like to see me do, to make my Halloween shows more enjoyable and naughty for them.”
The witching hour rush
The real crowd turned up late. Between 11pm and 1am, active viewer numbers ran 46% higher than the same hours on a normal night, Babestation says.
Plenty came back for more. Some 43% of visitors returned for a second session that night, against 29% on an ordinary evening.
Free streams with back-to-back themed tipping goals held viewers 29% longer.
“Halloween gives our models a chance to bring their creativity into their shows, and each performer puts her own spin on it,” a Babestation spokesperson said.
“The costumes are only the start. The live chat and themed goals let viewers join in, which is what makes it different from simply looking at a fancy-dress photo.”
Why it matters
For adult creators, Halloween works less like a night off and more like a product launch.
If Babestation’s figures hold, audiences pay more when they can shape the show, and a recognisable character pulls them in faster than a generic witch.
A fan glue-gunning costume parts at home and posting them to the studio is the kind of loyalty most brands spend fortunes trying to buy.
Cosplay long ago escaped the convention hall, and tip-led interactive streaming now drives earnings everywhere from Twitch to OnlyFans.
Babestation hasn’t released this year’s numbers yet. Whether three costumes out-earned one bad bunny is the question.
Olivia, for one, was betting on Wilma.
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