#NoMakeupSelfie craze raises €400,000 for cancer research

A wave of 'nomakeupselfie' pictures has flooded social media over the last 24 hours, raising over €400,000 for the Irish Cancer Society.

“We’ve had a massive jump in donations. Yesterday there was €200,000, we’re getting texts all the time,” said a spokeswoman for the society.

The phenomenon has gone viral across Twitter and Facebook newsfeeds in the UK and Ireland, with women posting fresh-faced photos of themselves without makeup to raise awareness for cancer research. The viral trend has witnessed an increased number of younger people showing support by nominating friends to follow suit and donate €4 by texting Pink to 50300.

“We welcome donations from anyone but it’s great that younger people are getting involved,” said the Irish Cancer Society spokeswoman. “We rely on these donations to deliver our vital services, including our free night nursing service, our volunteer driving service Care to Drive, our free cancer information services and to fund cancer research.”

It’s not clear where the trend started, although it’s believed it could be in response to the NekNomations craze that hit the nation last month and resulted in the deaths of several young men.

Cancer Research UK has also witnessed a massive soar in donations, raising more than £2million over the last 48 hours.

“Thanks to people choosing to donate to us as part of the #nomakeupselfie trend, we’ve been overwhelmed with donations and support in the past 48 hours,” said Carolan Davidge, Director of Communications. “The trend isn’t something Cancer Research UK started so it’s been fantastic to see so many people getting involved and wanting to use their selfie to raise money for our life-saving research.

There has been a backlash against the #nomakeupselfie with the UK Independent' s Yomi Adegoke writing the "craze seems like narcissism masked as charity."

“Thinly veiling vanity as philanthropy more than irks,” she writes. “The entire thing smacks of the Beyoncé “I woke up like this” arrogance social media has seen us become so accustomed to.”

"If the craze is truly about the cause, why not ditch the Marie Claire and donate to Marie Curie this month?"

The Irish Cancer Society will celebrate its 27th Daffodil day on Friday 28th March. Organisers are hoping to raise €3.45 million despite a decline in last year’s donations and negative publicity towards a small number of charities at the end of 2013. People can donate online or by texting daff to 50300 on the day.

More information can be found on the cancer group's website