Natural Beauty: Miss England Finalist Melisa Raouf Becomes First Ever Contestant To Go Makeup-Free

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Embrace your natural beauty. Celebrate your perfection & flaws as they are. Well, these empowering statements are not limited to beauty guide articles or speeches anymore. Turns out, real women are waking up to this beautiful fact of life - You are beautiful as you are! Melisa Raouf, Miss England finalist became the first-ever contestant to feature makeup-free in the beauty pageant's 94-year history!

Image: Instagram

Melisa Ditched The Makeup

20-year-old Raouf is a college student from South London and is studying politics. The contestant made it to the semifinals on Monday and is ready to compete against 40 other contestants in October. The race is on for the crown!

Participating in beauty contests by showcasing your finest self is not new or unusual. But when you appear at your raw best, it becomes a talk between beauty circles. Melisa decided to ditch the makeup for her preliminary and semi-final rounds. This move was indeed a welcoming change on the contestant's part where otherwise a beauty is crafted into perfection with perfect dress, hair, and makeup!

Was Never Comfortable Wearing Makeup

The young semi-finalist said, "It means a lot to me as I feel many girls "If one is happy in their own skin we should not be made to cover up our face with makeup. Our flaws make us who we are and that's what makes every individual unique".

Melisa added that she too started wearing makeup at a young age but never really felt comfortable in her own skin. She further said, "I never felt I met beauty standards. I have recently accepted that I am beautiful in my own skin and that's why I decided to compete with no makeup".

Pressure To Look a Certain Way

Rouf mentioned that girls of different ages wear makeup because they feel pressured to do so. To each, his own but it's time women embrace their true selves and be comfortable and super-proud of how they look!

Image: Instagram

Advocate For Mental Health

The pretty contestant is truly an advocate for young mental health through this pageant. She even raised money for thoughtful initiate Papyrus, a UK-based organization that works for suicide amongst young people.

Love and embrace your flaws and blemishes. The real beauty lies within simplicity! One shouldn't take any pressure to appear a certain way. Mental health is a big concern and awareness should be raised about "how one should look", Melisa added!

Ms. Raouf explained that she wants all girls to feel good and wish to remove all beauty standards. Every girl is beautiful in her own way. And her bare-makeup move is a tribute to all the girls out there!

Will Go Makeup Free Again

The Miss England pageant includes a round wherein contestants are asked to present themselves without any makeup. The Bare Face Top Model round was introduced in 2019 and the same was initiated after a lot of contestants were submitting their pictures with edits and loads of makeup. The officials wanted to see the real person behind all the makeup look, Angie Beasley, director of Miss England shared to tabloids.

Melisa opted for a bare-faced makeup look for the semifinals and wants to follow the same route for the finals too!