Miss England finalist makes history as 1st makeup-free contestant

A pageant contestant in the U.K. stood out from the competition when she chose to walk the stage without wearing makeup.

Melisa Raouf, 20, entered the Miss England 2022 Contest earlier this year and made it to the competition’s semi-final round, which was held on Monday, Aug. 22, at the Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites and Residences in London.

Forty women were invited to compete in the qualifier and Raouf was one of 16 contestants who made it to the grand finals, according to the contest’s press release.

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Before she became a finalist for Miss England, Raouf won the title of Bare Face Top Model during the Miss London 2022 competition, which was hosted a month prior.

The company that sponsored the Bare Face Top Model Award – Cetuem Cosmetic, a natural skincare company based in London – commended Raouf on her makeup-free campaign.

"As a cosmetics company specializing in natural skincare, we are proud to help the contestants to look after their skin, so their natural beauty can shine through," said Andria Vassiliou, co-founder of Cetuem Cosmetics, in a statement. "This gives them the confidence to throw away their makeup and not be influenced by the unrealistic filtered images that appear on Instagram."

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Raouf’s Bare Face 2022 profile on the Miss England website says she aims to continuously promote natural beauty because she wants to help women feel empowered and comfortable in their own skin without makeup.

The Miss England Contest reportedly introduced the Bare Face Top Model photo round in 2019 to encourage contestants to show their natural beauty, and while winners have won the title since its introduction, none had taken the stage bare face until Raouf.

Raouf is said to be the first makeup-free contestant in its 94-year history, according to an interview in The Independent, a British newspaper.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Raouf and the Miss England Contest for comment.

Aside from her pageant endeavors, Raouf is a university politics student at King’s College London.

"Global politics is of keen interest to me, both personally and as an aspiring diplomat," Raouf wrote in her contestant profile. "I would love to focus on getting more women in the political field due to high male dominance in world politics."

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Raouf will compete for the Miss England crown in October.