(Photo Credit: Mercury Press)

The Natural Beauty Pageant

The Miss England pageant is adding a makeup-free round to its usual competition. The round, dubbed “Bare-Faced Top Model,” is optional.

The pageant added the round after seeing an influx of contestants with fake eyelashes, eyebrows, Botox, and fillers, said Angie Beasley, organizer of the pageant.

“I’m hoping this round will encourage our contestants to wear less makeup,” Beasley said. “I see so many of our contestants entering with a face full of makeup covering their natural beauty. Fake eyelashes and brows, there really is no need for this to enter our contest.”

Contestants are required to submit a headshot and full-body photograph of themselves with no cosmetic enhancements, and must post the photos on social media, Beasley said. The photographs will be judged by representatives from a modeling agency.

One contestant, Bhasha Mukherjee, posted her makeup-free photo to Instagram with an inspiring caption.

“So as part of my #MissEngland2019 journey I had to rise up to the challenge and bare it all on camera,” Mukherjee wrote. “Makeup is a means of enhancement but how often do the lines get blurred between enhancement and concealment. So often we just hide behind a film of products and even artificial cosmetic enhancements be it Botox or fillers. it’s just easier to blend into the crowd than own your flaws forgetting that it’s these that make you you. So here I am owning my flaws. My imperfect skin. My short sparse eyelashes and brows. No filter. No enhancement. No Photoshop.”